MM: Dissecting the best of the Raiders

The Oakland Raiders have a long and glorious history, and here on TFDS we will be running two article series to help pass the dead zone and honor the “Greatness of the Raiders”

For one, we will be counting down the top 15 Raiders of all times. Basically, how we are determining the top 15 Raiders will be a combination of their contributions on the football field as well as their contributions to the Raiders mystique.

The prime requirement is that either they spent the vast majority of their career in Oakland or the story of the Raiders cannot be told without them. For example, even though Jerry Rice is probably the greatest receiver of all time, he was only a Raider for a short time and was not a prime mover in the grand history of the Raiders.

The other series we will be running is the Raider all time team tournament. Using the magic of whatifsports.com we will conduct an eight team seeded single elimination tournament to determine the best Raider team ever. The seedings are as follows:

1–1976 Oakland Raiders–

8–1990 LA Raiders–

4–1967 Oakland Raiders–

5–2002 Oakland Raiders–

3–1980 Oakland Raiders–

6–2000 Oakland Raiders–

2–1983 LA Raiders–

7–1972 Oakland Raiders–

The non-Super Bowl choices were made for the following reasons. The 1972 team was the team that lost in the AFC Divisional round to the Pittsburgh Steelers based on Immaculate Deception. The 2000 team was chosen based on the Tony Siragusa flop on Rich Gannon, and it was taken over the 2001 Tuck Rule team because there are more significant differences between the 2000 and 2002 team. The 1990 team was selected from the teams that lost the AFC Championship game to give recognition to a second team from the LA era.

Look for both of those series to be run intermittently between now and the opening of training camp. We’ll also keep you posted on the rookie signings as we hear it.

*****

It had to be done, so I played the 1997 Raiders against the 2006 Raiders for the worst team in Raider history: The 1997 team won 28-21. Napoleon Kaufman was the player of the game with 217 yards and 2 touchdowns. Tim Brown added 6 catches for 143 yards from quarterback Jeff George. Justin Fargas had 70 yards and a touchdown, whilst LaMont Jordan added another touchdown on the ground in a losing effort.

*****

Comment of the week:

This one was far too good to pass on. I nearly spit my all over my laptop when I read it.

On the article: Breaking the Raider Nation stereotypes
written by EndZoner, June 19, 2010
I have the perfect reply to those haters out there. When I show my Raiders tattoo and say that I am a fan and ticket holder, they like to reply “Oh. You must have been to prison.”

My response is simple. “Sorry, dude. That wasn’t me that raped you.” Shuts them up 100% of the time!

*****

Classic movie of the week: Jaws

I just watched this movie again last night in HD, and it may be 35 years old but it still kicks ass. This is the tale of a Great White Shark that is attacking swimmers off of Amity Island. It is an early Stephen Spielberg masterpiece. The tension builds as the three men go hunting for this monster shark. The ubiquitous score from John Williams that has become a cliche now (da dum) as the killer hunts from the deep, and the old fisherman, chief of police and sharkologist hunt the hunter. Will it be the men who get the fish, or will the perfect hunting machine take out the three men?

http://youtube.com/watch?v=
ucMLFO6TsFM[/youtube]