Email from the Raider Nation

By Os Davis  |   Thursday, January 22, 2009  |  Comments( 9 )

Oakland Raiders
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Dear Raider Nation,

How’s it going? OK, you don’t have to answer that. Just dropping y’all a quick line today to say first how much I appreciate your continued readership at RealFootball365.com, not to mention the care and diligence you take in considering my articles. Despite the fact that we don’t always see eye-to-eye, I know you really care about your Oakland Raiders, about setting the record straight, and about the game we all love to the point of terminal addiction.

I wanted to take the time today, while the coach-hiring process grinds on and on, to respond to a few emails from our excellent readers. Thanks for taking the time to write me personally via email; since we opened the “Email Author!” feature at the end of RF365, four or five letters per week hit my inbox and most of these are credibly written, thought-out notes. I’m only sorry I can’t personally reply to everyone; three kids, wife with eccentric schedule, blah blah et cetera, et cetera.

To the inbox, then!

A couple of pieces on the coaching situation garnered me a lot of mail; it seems y’all are a bit divided on the Tom Cable subject, after all. Ben, in an email with the succinct subject header “You are crazy,” defended the sitting leader with:

Tom Cable deserves this job. Don't forget, part of the reason he had the record he had at the beginning was he was taking over the mess left by Kiffin. Look at how the offense performed the last 4 games of the season? Even against NE, they got blown out, but still scored 26 points. That was while handling the head coaching duties, as well as the line, as well as calling the plays, with the youngest QB in the game and no proven receivers. Did it take him too long to start involving Dmac? Yes, but remember Dmac was dinged up most of the year. That team played with more heart under Cable than it has under any coach since Flores. Cable is a Raider fan... always was. He wants this team to succeed... it's not just a paycheck. He understands Al, and is willing to accept his role under Al. After a rough start following Kiffin, he finished a strong 3-3, including back to back wins against a pretty good Houston team and he ended Jon Gruden's career in Tampa, with them having the playoffs on the line, as well as the revenge factor for Monte's son. If Cable doesn't get this job, it's a damned shame. ...

A damned shame? Really? Wellllllllll, I’m sure that many front offices out there wouldn’t mind what Kiffin left, and it’s hardly a mess. Everyone knows how much talent the Raiders have amassed; it’s the interplay between coaches, front office, owner, etc. What Oakland has there is a failure to communicate.

It was pretty sweet how Cable managed to get Chucky axed in Week 17 – a game more than one Raider fan had marked on the calendar since June – and wouldn’t it be ironic if somehow Gruden ended up back in silver and black?

Ben continued, in part, with:

Rich Gannon as QB coach? Are you friggin’ kidding me? After the way he blasted the Raiders and Al in the press? Fassell? A retread that no one else has found worthy of giving a second shot to...? Don't forget, he was at best an 8-8 coach most the time he was in New York with one lucky run to the Super Bowl that he lost worse than Bill Callahan lost the one to Gruden.

Os, get real.

No, I won’t get real! It’s taken me far too long to get surreal to start back for reality now!

An unnamed writer with the enviable (and probably very old) email address of OAKRDR1@aol.com was pretty much in agreement with myself and the anti-Al crowd and appears to be accepting the inevitability of the Cable Era:

Unfortunately Davis is still looking for a yes man to coach his team. Why else would Robiskie's name come up? I would love Cowher, but that wouldn't happen. If Al could only step back and let someone else do this. Don't the results the last six years show he just can't do it anymore? I also like the Shanahan pick. Actually I thought that as soon as he was let go, but no way. Not the way Al holds a grudge. We need a proven winner, NOW! I can't even stomach watching a whole game anymore. I have watched the Raiders for over 30 years and just makes me sick to my stomach. So let's set the record straight here. The Raiders will NOT WIN PERIOD as long as Davis still plays GM/coach/personnel guy. This team has had one good run in the last 20 years, and that was with Gruden. There is a reason this team does not win and it starts with the guy in the white jump suit with the walker! For God's sake, swallow your pride Al and get some REAL FOOTBALL people running the show. Terrible drafts, lousy free agent pickups, overpaid players, and no one wants to coach this team. BLAME DAVIS....................

Just to clarify: He does mean "Blame *Al* Davis," right? Sorry about your stomach condition, OakRdr1.

From back when the Raiders were still actually playing ball, one P.B. Mistretta stated the case for JaMarcus Russell:

Hey Os,

I have been a long time Raider fan. I am from Louisiana, so as one could guess, I have an especially keen interest in the development of Jamarcus Russell.

As you may know, Russell only started for two seasons at LSU. But it was amazing to watch his progress. I saw a notable difference even in the second half of his last year at LSU. Russell is a quick learner, and he improved quickly.

Also, despite his slow and sometimes awkward speaking, he is a smart person. He scored a 32 on the Wonderlic test.

I believe, given the time, Russell will be a great quarterback in this league. He just needs to settle in, and it would help if the offence would develop some kind of identity.

I would also like to point out the unfair way that some view young quarterbacks. I've noticed that veteran quarterbacks mistakes are often overlooked, but when a young QB makes a mistake it is because of his inexperience, or in Favre's case, "He was just trying to fit it in”...

Hey, I like Russell at times. At times, he looks brilliant. At times, he looks like a candidate for Top Five QBs of 2013 with the Jay Cutlers and Matt Ryans. At other times, though, he looks like the product of stunted, dysfunctional development. He certainly does not yet resemble the quick learner; the only conjecturing to be done at this point is the extent to which this can be blamed on the staff and how much on Russell.

Now if you’ll excuse me momentarily, I have to dodge a couple of shoes being thrown my way, first from Maribel, responding to a comment about the Raiders’ paucity at fullback:

You are a typical internet idiot. How many teams go three deep at the fullback position, you moron? Any team that loses it's top two fullbacks is going to have to scramble to find someone. Go back to film reviews. Maybe you sucked at that too?

(Duck.) But here comes Rod:

Week after week, it’s criticism and parody. Maybe you should read your senior writers’ articles, much better.

(Duck.) Wait a minute ... was that you, Carroll?

Another story drawing much commentary was “Pink slips for...” A few of you can’t wait for more heads to roll, it seems. Here’s Brian:

Os, excellent story. Of all the people you said should get the ax, my favorite was Ryan. He has done nothing to help this defense. I pin the Buffalo loss directly on him. Is he so smart he thinks he can run a defense that no one else in the NFL is running? That really worked for him. I wonder if the team record would be much different if Al would have let Lane hire daddy and Lane stuck around for the season. At least the games were competitive when Kiffin was head coach.

I’m down with Brian. And Jeremy pointed out a serious omission on my part:

You didn’t even mention Kwame Harris? OUCH!

You’re totally right, Jeremy, but I thought they’d traded him to the Miami Heat already. Sorry about your stomach condition, too.

And here’s a personnel change I hadn’t considered, slathered in some nice flattery; just don’t take away this guy’s Raider Nation citizenship card, all right?

I know you get razzed (putting it lightly) a lot by Raiders fans for your articles, but I must confess that I enjoy your "punchy" style. You may be flip most times, but come on, with a team that we have...it's safe to say that they're a walking punchline.

I'd really enjoy reading your insights as to how Al Davis (other than relinquishing control) could make specific moves in the front office and on field staff to resuscitate his franchise. His controlling, paranoid, and relentlessly mettlesome management tactics are the proverbial dead horse.

Let's get creative!

I'll even start:

1) Tim Brown for GM

Respectfully yours,

Non-costume-wearing-Raiders-fan

Check this out: Here’s a letter from Patrick Stewart.

We offer you fast, secure and interesting way of making some extra cash.

All right, I know it’s not about the Raiders, but how often do you get an email from Captain Jean-Luc Picard his bad self?

One of the worst things about email and the Internet in general is the difficulty in detecting sarcasm and/or irony. I got this email from Vince:

What makes you an "expert" on the Oakland Raiders? You seem to be pretty smart and knowledgeable. I was just curious.

P.S. Give Davis a break, he's old, but still fire still burns! Keep up the good work.

He’s baiting me, right? Finally, lest my head swell too much, Kurt (or quite possibly Uncle Al using a pseudonym, though how he got the California state government email address is a mystery) brings me back down to earth with:

Dude, you’re completely out of touch, Al Davis is one of the greatest minds the NFL has ever seen. Without Al Davis, there would be no Oakland Raiders, since Davis arrived there has only been eight losing seasons in team history. Unlike other franchise owners, Davis made his money through the game of football he knows more about the game then you do about your own kids. Seven years ago, the Raiders were on top of the AFC playing in the super bowl, the team has only been in a slump the past few seasons as all teams eventually do slump in free agency era, and you think Davis has forgotten how to control his team. People like you hate the Raiders and will take grabs at them every chance you get regardless of their record. Davis hasn't lost his touch with today's game in six years time. Draft picks not turning out, coaches being soft and free agents not giving it there all has led to the Raiders not picking themselves up quickly. If you knew anything about this team you'd know that since that super bowl lose they lost their most valuable player Lincoln Kennedy, they’re yet to fill that slot with a player of that magnitude, so quick bitching about Davis and get some thicker glasses so you can see the garbage you’re writing.

See, here’s the thing. I don’t know how Kurt defines “people like you,” but I don’t hate the Raiders. The truth is, in the two-plus seasons I’ve been following your Oakland Raiders in prose form for RF365, I’ve developed this strange sort of liking for this team, this tantalizing tease of talent waiting to happen, this infuriating hotbed of ESPN fiction and innuendo. I dig on football and so would love to see the 2009 Raiders with basically the same bunch they have now plus a couple of receivers and a couple of linemen. And a long-needed replacement for Lincoln Kennedy. And a competent coach. And ... you know what I mean.

As far as Vince’s question on being an expert, I would never claim to be such; no question some of you know lots more about the game than I do. I think my function as an NFL and Raider enthusiast – not fan, mind you, I would never be so arrogant as to claim that level of affinity with some of the NFL’s great die-hard fans – is to spark debate, to chat with and get folks chatting about the greatest game ever. Plus, when it all works, to put some fun and/or interesting stuff online.

But folks, seriously, nobody really knows about this stuff, right? I mean, we’ll all mostly throwing opinions around, stat-backed or not; if we all knew the future, there’d be no debate. And the debate is half the fun, isn’t it?

Again, thanks for reading, Raider Nation. You guys ‘n’ gals are appreciated.

Yours,

Os.
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About Os Davis

Os Davis has taken a twisted route to get to RealFootball365.com in his nearly 17 years in professional writing, working in any number of capacities in the sportswriting, news reporting and film criticism worlds. In print media, Os has served as editor at a few publications, including Albuquerque's...
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