Raiders’ history and Ken Stabler’s ‘speed-boat driving, hard-living, gunslinging’ lifestyle are big part of vintage sports Twitter feed

The 1970s era Oakland Raiders speak to Ricky Cobb’s soul.

That wonderful group of renegade bad asses and their marauding quarterback are often inspiration for the Illinois college professor’s wildly successful Twitter feed @Super70sSports, which boasts 435,000 followers.

The site celebrates vintage sports — among other pop culture nostalgia of yesteryear — and the Raiders often supply the fuel to Cobb’s mastery.

“If you’re going to cycle through and cover ‘70s and ‘80s sports, you don’t want to just tell stories, but the most entertaining stories and the Raiders just keep popping up,” Cobb said in a phone interview with Silver and Black Pride on Wednesday.

“(John) Madden, (Ken) Stabler, (Lyle) Alzado, (Fred) Biletnikoff, (John) Matuszak, Al Davis for God’s Sakes! You try to be funny and try to be entertaining and the Raiders do half the work for you. With the Raiders, the captions just write themselves.”

Legendary quarterback Ken Stabler is Cobb’s favorite Raiders’ folk hero and one of his most prized subjects to feature. He and former Houston Oilers running back Earl Campbell are his favorite NFL players of all-time. The fact that the two played together with the Oilers was almost too much for Cobb to handle.

“I love Ken Stabler as an idea, for what he represents,” Cobb said. “Speed-boat driving, drinking, hard-living, gunslinging, holy-rolling. What’s not to like about Ken Stabler? I don’t think we can be friends if you don’t like Ken Stabler.”

This tweet is one of Cobb’s favorites of all-time:

A couple of years ago, one of Stabler’s daughters wrote a personal note to Cobb thanking him for keeping her father’s legacy alive. She told Cobb if he is ever in Alabama, she’d buy him a couple of drinks because that would what he father, who died in 2015, would do.

“That’s the highest blessing to have his daughters to follow the feed,” Cobb said. “and they like it.”

While Cobb celebrates all sports, the NFL has a special place in his heart and as inspiration for his vintage tweets.

“Those Raiders were about as interesting as any team out there,” Cobb said. “They were among the best. I just love what they embody and it’s easy to celebrate.”