Silver and bleak
After seeing the Raiders drop a 35-21 contest, at home in the
season opener, to Detroit
– the team that finished second to the Raiders last year in a
battle for the worst record in the NFL – I ask myself how in the
hell do Al Davis and his cronies even have the gall to stick with
the team’s infamous
”
Commitment to Excellence
”
slogan?
Silver and bleak
After seeing the Raiders drop a 35-21 contest, at home in the season opener, to Detroit – the team that finished second to the Raiders last year in a battle for the worst record in the NFL – I ask myself how in the hell do Al Davis and his cronies even have the gall to stick with the team’s infamous “Commitment to Excellence” slogan?
Here the Raiders are finishing up last season with a record of 2-14, riding a current losing streak that is now at 10 games and they didn’t even sign the quarterback that was supposed to save face this season and resurrect the franchise over the next decade or so until two days ago.
And then you have their new coach Lane Kiffin, a guy who is supposed to be a modern day football wiz, yet he doesn’t have enough smarts to start Culpepper. Lane, read my column from Aug. 24, “Fear not Raider fans, Culpepper has arrived.”
I don’t care that Josh McCown helped jump-start the Raiders’ second half comeback that transformed a 17-point deficit into a brief fourth-quarter lead. What does it all matter now? A loss is a loss. Yes, McCown may know the offense better but at this level it’s all about intangibles, not the being a savant of offensive schematics. Maybe now that McCown is injured, Kiffin will finally figure it out.
No wonder Raider fans dress like it’s Halloween everyday – they simply don’t want to be seen. That’s got to be it. Instead of calling it the Black Hole maybe it ought to be the bottomless pit or something similar.
Forget about the Darth Vader costumes too. It’s about time to break out something a lot meeker. Maybe if everyone wore one of those shiny, Studio 54-style jumpsuits that Al Davis drapes over his 77-year-old frame, it would best fit the current image.
After all the moves this off season, I was actually expecting the Silver & Black to go 10-6, but if you can’t get by the Lions on the easiest day of the season to get fired up then I’m afraid 6-10 is much more realistic.
Yes there were some bright spots. I’ll agree I didn’t expect McCown to throw for 313 yards. Then again, that’s what happens when you fall way behind in the NFL – the running game gets tossed out the window. LaMont Jordan also played well and so did Ronald Curry.
I’ll admit I’m a 49er fan but even when they were the mightiest franchise in the NFL there was never a slogan that bragged about their greatness.
Al, drop the slogan. It’s starting to get embarrassing. After all, if you’re truly committed to excellence at some point you should attain it. And sadly that hasn’t happened since January of 1984. What year are we in? Oh yeah, 2007 – light years away from Super Bowl XVIII.
