Raiders, Still Living in the Past

How many times do you hear grey haired guys like me start a sentence by saying…”back in my day”.

It’s true the older we get the more we seem to look in the rear view mirror but I do remember growing up in the bay Area in the 60’s and 70’s there didn’t seem to be such a “hater attitude” when it comes to our local sports teams. If you were from this area you pulled for the teams that played here Giants, A’s, 49ers, Raiders and Warrior.  I was every bit as happy if any of those teams won as the other.  These days it seems you must choose one side of the bay or the other.  It is not o.k. to pull for both the Raiders and 49ers.

I say all this because I am about to criticize the Raiders and I know fans of the silver and black will just rip me because they think I am a 49ers fan….not true! I really do want the Raiders to do well but it is not happening right now in fact it is not even close to being a positive situation.  As I see it the biggest problem with the Oakland franchise is they continue to live in the past.  You can’t hire a coach who hasn’t even been in the league since 1994 no matter how great Art Shell was as a player, they even brought in an offensive coordinator who was running a bed and breakfast last year.  Give me a break!  But the bottom line is as long as Al Davis is running the show those things are going to happen.  Simply put the game has passed him by.

But I want to address Raider fans.  There are no more fervent fans in the NFL but I plead to you all, Halloween must end!  Give Raider management a message and tell them you’ve had it with the same old tired routine.  The past is gone and the whole “intimidation factor” doesn’t exist anymore.  Visiting teams are no longer intimidated by the rowdies in the stands dressed like cartoon characters.  It just doesn’t work looking so tough and then have your team come out and get hammered every week. For example, Robert Gallery with long flowing hair, the scraggly looking beard and then he doesn’t have the game to back it up! Clean up your act and maybe if you start protecting the quarterback and opening some holes for the running backs you can create a “tough guy” image.  Right now it’s a tired act!

There is one thing Raider fans can take from the past the old slogan “pride and poise”, it’s time for the entire organization to start showing some.  The hard working ticket buying fans deserve more.  They deserve to see some “greatness” from the Raiders for a change!

That’s the sporting life,
Mark Ibañez