Raiders

The first day of the 2009 NFL draft is over and what a day. The most surrealistic first round ever and the inevitable onslaught of stupidity that is the Oakland Raiders is the high point or low point for me on day one.

The Raiders… What do you say about the enormous pink elephant of ineptitude that is the Raiders war room?

The Raiders were once a proud franchise, they had Kenny Stabler and the John Madden led 70’s squad and Marcus Allen and good solid teams in the 80’s even into the 90’s there was talent. But I see this joke now and I feel really depressed.

 Remember the Raiders represented the outsiders, the outlaws the hooligans of the NFL but damn it they won. Now the Raiders have become a flacid, useless and ironic joke. When the Raiders drafted Darrius Heyward-Bey today I let out a resounding “What the Fuck” and my wife looked over at me and asked what the problem was and I just shook my head in disbelief.

"Pick Analysis:In a bit of a head-scratcher, the Raiders bypass Michael Crabtree and Jeremy Maclin to select Heyward-Bey. Although the former Maryland speedster recorded the best 40 time (4.30) at the combine, he is raw and unrefined as a receiver. He may eventually develop into a big-time weapon in the Raiders’ offense, but he is a bit of a reach as a potential No. 1 receiver."

I think that anyone who listened to that pick heard the death rattle of the Raiders today and you know what? I am saddend by it.

 I have nothing against Darrius Heward-Bey and I do wish him well, but I am afraid that if he becomes another James Jettthat no matter what Heyward-Bey could become synonymous with the failures of Al Davis and his obession with speed and inability to look at anything practically.

 Maybe that lack of practicality is what is so interesting though? What if Al Davis represents that amazing feeling one has when the screw something up just to screw something up? What if he is enjoying “watching the world burn” like Michael Caine says in The Dark Knight?

I think there is a bit of poetry in the insane moves Davis makes, a sense of a big middle finger to the good ol’ boys network the NFL has always been. Maybe the way Davis keeps the Raiders the Raiders, the outlaws in black is by doing things backwards and bucking the trends of useless things like draft reports and scouting things other that 40 yard dash times is Davis’ swan song to the NFL. A way to say you know what? You may not have liked how I did it but you still watched didn’t you?!

I don’t know if I respect or like Davis, actually I know I don’t, but his absolute refusal to play to the conventions and do things the way the other 31 teams do right or horribly horribly wrong is by definition kind of well, “Raider-esque” isn’t it?