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Cancer fund-raiser draws 150 women
Oakland Tribune, Oct 21, 2005 by Kristin Bender, STAFF WRITER
ALAMEDA -- It was Football 101, and the questions came one after another from the all-women audience at the Oakland Raiders training camp Tuesday night.
But the female fans at this fund-raiser weren't inquiring about running plays or the West Coast offense or 4-3 defenses.
No, this group had a whole different set of questions for the men who wear silver and black oh so well.
"Are you single?" a woman yelled to Raiders quarterback Marques Tuiasosopo, 26.
"No, I have a girlfriend," the player said, smiling at the crowd of 150 women who attended the fund-raiser for low-income women with breast cancer.
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"Well, do you like to play around?" asked another in the crowd at the Raiders Training Facility in Alameda.
And so it went.
The women were more interested in the players' astrological signs (linebacker Kirk Morrison is a Pisces), their availability (not shocking -- most Raiders are taken men) and their favorite foods (safety Jarrod Cooper digs chocolate chip cookies) than hail mary passes and penalty calls.
For the eighth year, women came from all over the nation (and even Germany) to attend the fund-raiser sponsored by the Oakland Raiders and Alta Bates Summit Medical Center.
Gail Biben flew from New York City for the event. "I'm the one who screams (at football games) in my house. My husband watches with the sound off," Biben said.
The event raised $25,000 for Alta Bates Summit's Markstein Cancer Education and Prevention Center, which will open in spring 2007.
The money is critical to helping low-income women with breast cancer in Alameda County, medical center officials said.
"There is a lot of low-income women, particularly low-income Latina women, who have a breast cancer diagnosis and need some help coordinating all of their appointments, making arrangements, and some emotional support as well. We have a Latina outreach program and that is what that program does," said Meridithe Mendelsohn, manager of the Alta Bates' Carol Ann Read Breast Health Center.
The evening started with remarks from former Oakland Raider cornerback Willie Brown, who played for the silver and black from 1967 to 1978, and was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1984.
Brown, 64, wasted no time joking with the women, many of whom were clad in pink jackets and pink ball caps in support of October's Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
"Someone wanted me to wear a pink cap and I said, 'No way ... someone will take a picture and before you know it, it will be all over,' " he said.
KIIS Fm 98.1 radio personality Renel kept the bachelorette party spirit of the night going when she took the stage to introduce the players. "Do you know who is going to be here?" she asked the women.
"I'll just tell you -- they are young and they are hot." she screamed.
The crowd went wild. And then Tuiasosopo took the stage, taking a few minutes to show some recorded football clips and explain the dynamics of a "naked fake," a play the women yearned to hear more about.
"Can you illustrate it?" one woman yelled.
"Can you show it?" another chimed in.
"I'm not getting it in the back row... we need the visual," someone at the back of the Football 101 class said.
If Tuiasosopo was blushing, it was hard to tell. He seemed to take the good-natured ribbing in stride and moved on, steering the subject back to touchdowns and play strategies and even handing out kudos to some of the students.
"You guys would be good football players," he said.
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