Favored Raider rumors

By Os Davis  |   Tuesday, February 17, 2009  |  Comments( 10 )

Oakland Raiders
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While mired in a lull before the draft and free-agency periods, NFL fans are once again reduced to the practice of serious rumor-mongering. You've gotta love the pure speculative qualities and the excellent opportunity for wild debate. Here’s what’s been on virtual tables online and on the tube in recent days with regard to the 2009 Oakland Raiders; feel free to weigh in, Raider Nation!

Kirk Morrison is out. This kind of talk is to be expected, one supposes, when the Raider Nation’s citizens look to assess blame for the team's problems of recent years, but wouldn’t such a move be cutting off the nose to spite the club's face?

Stat totals may mean little, particularly on defense, but Morrison notched his best season by the numbers with 135 tackles (99 solo) and has consistently been a top Raider performer in the category. Morrison may show some lack of team leadership and be inconsistent, but how much of this can be blamed on coaching of questionable competence?

Not even the meanest of Raider backers would label the former third-round pick a bust and, while perhaps slightly overpaid, Morrison at just 27 is potentially entering his prime for 2009. Like it or not, it appears the Raiders will have to stick with Morrison at MLB. Perhaps they can artificially induce some pass-rush aggression in the man and switch him to an outside linebacker spot. Or maybe John Marshall can bring in a 3-4.

Michael Vick is in. Did anyone miss the former Madden cover boy while he was virtually media irrelevant throughout the 2008 season? If it weren’t for Tony Kornheiser refreshing the excellent picture of Vick angrily stewing over Matt Ryan’s nearly unprecedented success (thank you, Tony), we might have forgotten all about this criminal.

Speaking of Kornheiser, his co-host suggested on "Pardon the Interruption" last Friday that Vick would be wearing black and silver in 2009. Mike Wilbon is hardly the first to suggest such an idea and surely won’t be the last. Tell you who won’t be publicly backing such a ludicrous, possible franchise-wounding maneuver: Os Davis.

Seriously, how can anyone be putting forth this notion with a straight face? Aside from ESPN.com, whose NFL headline story of the day is subheaded with “The NFL should approve Michael Vick's return, Gene Wojciechowski writes. Vick's paying for his crime.” Yeah, and he’ll certainly be psychologically rehabilitated once he springs the joint, too, eh?

Even if one conveniently forgets the moral issues here – as did the "PTI" guys and Wojciechowski, the latter despite his acknowledgment of Vick’s “operation” as a “dog-killing factory” – let’s remember JaMarcus Russell and his prospective move to The Leap set for 2009 despite Tom Cable calling plays. Here’s a suggestion: How about instead obtaining a backup quarterback who isn’t utterly laughable?

In response to Wilbon’s offering, Kornheiser countered with talk of Vick to the San Francisco 49ers. Wouldn’t the Raider Nation agree that the Niners can have him? Or maybe the teams could share Vick along with the proposed new stadium, and Vick can be “automatic quarterback” like he is in prison-yard games.

San Franciscoakland Stadium. OK, so the 49ers and Raiders have quite possibly the two worst stadium locations in the world. Additionally, as many (including this Web site) have stated, moving in together a la the Jets and Giants makes good economic sense while allowing some pooling of economic resources. And one supposes it beats moving to Santa Clara alone.

On the other hand, any notion of a new stadium should be met with the skepticism due another scam which hangs the price tag for a billionaire’s plaything on the taxpayers. Certainly someone has undertaken studies on renovating McAfee; does anyone know where to find the results of such a study? Please inform.

And just one further question about the whole shared-venue concept: Doesn’t it rankle hardcore fans on either side slightly? Aside from the Denver Broncos, what team do you hate more, Raider fans? Would you cohabitate with the 49er fan and have all their red and gold everywhere? Ha!

Perhaps we can chalk this up to the NFL’s version of that whole “civil service and sacrifice” thing President Barack Obama was speechifying about during the NBA All-Star Game, but once San Franciscoakland Stadium opens, a certain squeamishness may linger for years.

Al Davis’ wallet. Davis remains unique in status as the sole majority owner of an NFL club whose main business enterprise is the team; his pockets have proven deep over the years, if somewhat ill-managed. Talk of recession and small markets aside, the truth is that Oakland Raiders Football Inc., like all NFL franchises, is still a highly profitable organization. Based on operating costs of $27 million, the Raider franchise bagged $205 million in revenue for 2007 and entered the 2008 season valued at $861 million. *And that’s the second-smallest franchise in the league.*

Nevertheless, Davis is willing to spend on personnel of all sorts. The Forbes statistics referenced above show that only 11 teams spend more on operating costs – and this, remember, in a small dilapidated stadium. Among similarly revenued teams, only the Jacksonville Jaguars had a bigger operating budget: The Jags drew $204 million while allocating $27.6 million.

So everyone reckons Uncle Al can spend, poor economy be damned, but will he? Only the man himself knows for sure and he ain’t telling. Who else can’t wait for free-agency announcements?
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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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