MM: NFL Network’s missed opportunities

Its Monday, again. OK, its still Sunday night as I am putting this edition of Monday Mumblings together. Although, the time it was written matters not, once it is live it becomes a historical document. It was written on Sunday, and if you are reading it on Monday or Tuesday, you are momentarily stepping back in time. But enough of the time travel talk. Leave that to Scott Bakula trying to find his next leap home, or Al Davis running the team like it is 1973.

The NFL free agent period started with a trickle instead of the usual torrent. As midnight eastern time, nine o’clock pacific time approached Levi and I were on our Blackberries coordinating our coverage and waiting to hear from our sources. He drew the short straw and was going to be glued to ESPN, whilst I was going to be watching the NFL Network, (Actually, my cable system has the NFL-N is how I got the cush assignment on this one) as I waited for the inevitable flood of emails from the Raiders that they had signed so and so and, OK, the Raiders don’t normally send out those kinds of emails.

Levi kept giving me updates that he was seeing on ESPN. Twitter was abuzz with rumors of players going everywhere. Right there in my living room in high definition was Michael Lombardi talking about what may happen. The clock was counting down towards midnight. Twitter was exploding. ESPN was right on top of everything, as my Blackberry was exploding. However, there was no build up to midnight NFL Total Access. Apparently, they took their cues from NBC’s awful coverage of the Olympics and were showing a “preview” that had been taped earlier.

The NFL is so obsessed with prepackaging everything for maximum exposure it is surprising that their wholly own subsidiary television network all but ignored the biggest moment since the Super Bowl. I would have thought that they would have had Rich Eisen lead a countdown until a football dropped at midnight.

Other than imitating Darrius Heyward-Bey and dropping the ball with their coverage on Thursday night, NFL Network has done a good job of covering the free agent non-frenzy. However, they need to have more live segments. Rather than repeat the entire Total Access show with fresh break ins to report updates, they should do a second show later in the day.

With Joshua “Pay da Man” Cribbs finally getting a fat contract extension from the Browns, how much of a percentage is Deion Sanders entitled to for his endless shilling for Cribbs. Throughout the season every time Cribbs had a highlight Deion would beller “Pay da Man.” It got to be obnoxious, and hopefully Deion enjoys the cut.

With the Raiders doing absolutely nothing of note, it was an exercise in futility. Normally, we can get a good pulse on things before they are picked up on TV, but we weren’t getting anything either.

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Inevitably, this is the time of year where fans of certain teams feel like the poor kids at Christmas. They get to see the other kids open up the shiny new toys. The Bears and the Lions have had the most under the tree. The Cardinals and the Panthers have watched the most leave. The Raider Nation got to see Khalif Barnes for next season. That cheer that went up was because it wasn’t Cornell Green.

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Is it just me, or does Adam Schefter have a perpetual look of smug on his face?

He has great contacts and seems to consistently have good information, but he always look that petulant teenager who just has to have the last word.

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Now that the trickle started, wait for the Brandon Marshall deal to be done. Both Seattle and Cincy are said to be interested. Once the deal gets done and the Broncos respond, then the door will be cracked on the restricted free agents.

On Examiner, I wrote why I think the Raiders may lose both Morrison and Howard despite their tenders.

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Comment of the week:

On Levi’s article Up to 100 Al, Hire a GM billbaords planned:

written by Sonnyjj, March 04, 2010
There is no way to know if those signing the petition are real Raider Fans or Raider Haters that are getting a kick out of this. My guess is the bulk of the petition is not Raider Fans but Raider Haters.

It is a shame to see the younger generation of Raider Fan. We were one of a kind for many a year good times or bad. Just as a team finds out about it’s character during bad and rough times so does a Fan base. With so called fans like these who needs enemies.

These new so called Raider Fans are nothing more than punks to me and my hope is that the 49ers start winning again so they head back across the Bay Bridge. This dude is nothing more than a clown and cares nothing for the Raiders. It is all about getting his name out there. The funny thing is how stupid this cat is, I know 3 guys that are not Raider Fans that told me they signed the petition and are loving every minute of it.

Raider Fans my &^%, these guys look way to much like the other ^%$ fan bases around the NFL and being a member of Raider Nation for many a year that supports my team with owning season tickets and attending the games I do not claim them as my own and call them all out as the PUNKS THAT THEY ARE.

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Movie classic of the week: A Clockwork Orange

Stanley Kubrik at the top of his game. This masterful work set in “near future” London tells the story of Alex DeLarge (Malcom MacDowell). At first he and his Droogs (gang) partake in acts of ultra-violence and the old in out. After one of their sessions of ultra violence goes wrong, DeLarge is ‘rehabilitated’ by the state. However, his rehabilitation goes too far and he is unable to defend himself.

Rated R for violence, nudity, and strong sexual situations.