MEXICO CITY -- Fernando Arias was a high school junior at Instituto Mexicano De Bachilleres in the early 1980s in Mexico City when Tom Flores and Jim Plunkett won Super Bowl XV as coach and quarterback, respectively, of the Oakland Raiders.
The reverberations of the trail Flores and Plunkett blazed as Mexican-Americans were felt in the Mexican capital 35 years ago and still are today. On Monday night, the Raiders serve as the “home” team at Estadio Azteca against the Houston Texans.
“I came from the province to Mexico City; I’m from the state of Guanajuato, so for me it was like a new world and football was a new sport,” said Arias, who is in his sixth season as a Spanish language broadcaster for the Raiders.