Some scents are permanent, stitched to a town like a tattoo on the small of your back. Buffalo, cereal. New Orleans, sawdust. Chicago, chocolate. Oakland?
“It was like sewage, garlic fries and cigarettes,” Broncos tackle Jared Veldheer offered after a considered pause.
The subject was the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, for whom the NFL fat lady appears to be singing after 24 consecutive — and occasionally funky — seasons once Denver (6-8) visits the Raiders (3-11) in a Christmas Eve showdown for the Silver and Black’s home finale.
Veldheer, 31, was birthed into the NFL on the autumn wind, drafted by Oakland as a third-rounder in 2010.