Yep, its Monday and it is time for my mumblings.
Apparently there are many in JaMarcus Russell’s home state of Alabama that are angry at the Oakland Raiders for cutting the disappointing quarterback and bristle when he is called a bust. However, when a player is drafted with the first overall pick the judgement of their success or failure comes down to how well they performed on the football field. Russell didn’t.
Even moreso, he never showed the leadership required of an NFL quarterback and lost the support of his teammates. The energy was just sucked out of the team during the Washington Redskins game when Russell relieved an injured Gradkowski. The team simply fell apart after Russell came in, and the Redskins left Oakland with a victory.
Russell biggest detractors were the fans. It reached the point where the sparse crowds ensured that he received thunderous boos every time he trotted onto the field. As the team fell into an abyss early in the season, the only passion to come from the fans was pure unadulterated hatred of the former number one pick.
The most telling aspect of how Russell is viewed around the NFL is the complete lack of interest in him from any of the other teams. There were rumors of the Bengals interest, but that has wained and no other teams seem to want to even take a chance on him as a project. It seems that his reputation may have pushed him out of the league in only three years. If he wants to find his way back into the NFL, he may have to consider the UFL or the AFL to prove he wants to work.
Either way, even though the people back home don’t like it, Russell was an unmitigated failure in Oakland and will be remembered as one of the biggest busts ever.
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Rest in Peace Ronnie James Dio!
One of the Masters of Heavy Metal Ronnie James Dio passed away from stomach cancer on Sunday. He was known as the lead singer of Rainbow and Dio, as well as having taken over for Ozzy Osbourne as the lead singer of Black Sabbath.
Back when I was in a band, when we weren’t rehearsing me and the other guitarist would get wasted blasting Dio. Good times… good times.
Holy Diver!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=
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The Last in Line!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=
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m/ m/
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Comment of the week:
On the article Reflecting on the LA Raider years
Commenter: Autumn Wind
I was 22 years old when the Raiders moved to LA. I grew up in the east bay and my father had Raider season tickets for the whole family since the first game at the Oakland Coliseum until they moved to LA. The Raiders played their first game in the Coliseum on September 18, 1966, and I was there to witness it at the age of 7 years old.
The Raiders were the face of Oakland and as well of the people that lived in the surrounding Oakland area. People around the country didn’t even know where Oakland was until the Raiders surfaced there. Now people around the world can identify Oakland because of the Raiders.
It was a sad day when the Raiders moved to LA. But for me, it wasn’t as bad as it was for most Oakland Raiders fans, because I moved to Playa Del Ray in the Los Angeles area that very same year, and bought season tickets at the LA coliseum. The Raiders moving to LA played a big part in me moving to the LA area.
Even though the Raiders won a super bowl in LA, it just wasn’t the same feeling as it was in Oakland. Nor was it the same as watching them play in Oakland throughout my adolescent years. LA Raider fans just didn’t have the same passion for Raiders football like the fans did in Oakland.
In 1991 I got transferred from my Job in LA to Midland Texas, but didn’t miss a Raiders game, because that’s when the NFL Sunday Ticket come out on satellite. Just about every sports bar had it. By 1994 I was growing a little tired of living in west Texas and wanted to move back to California. When I heard that the Raiders were moving back to Oakland, that helped me make my decision to move back to the bay area where I and the Raiders truly belong.
4 years ago I moved to Costa Rica, but I wouldn’t have if they didn’t have the NFL Sunday ticket here on satellite TV. Not only do they have it, but it’s only 100 dollars a season. I fly into Oakland and attend 4 Raiders home games a year. I also attend one away game a year throughout the USA. This year I’m going to Jacksonville and watch the Raiders play the JAGS, it’s only a 3 hour flight from Costa Rica. I always attend the season opener, then back to back home games durning the season, then one home game in December.
For me it’s just not about being an Oakland Raiders fan, it’s a way of life, all my life, and nothing will ever change that. I simply bleed Silver and Black.
Last year, I was watching a Raiders game on TV, and the camera panned over to the owners box, AL Davis, Jim Otto and John Madden were sitting side by side, I couldn’t help but shed a tear, because of all the great memories these 3 men gave me in my youth and influenced my life to this very day.
=>Thank you for sharing this story.
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