McFadden Signs!

About six weeks ago I called out King Kaufman from salon.com for implying that JaMarcus Russell is going to be a bust because he missed all of training camp last year. Kaufman, clearly slumming, posted a comment on that post defending himself against the charges that he's from the Nancy Gay school of "The Raiders are Assholes" sports journalism.

And to be fair, he made a good point, because nobody was more irritated than I was when JaMarcus didn't sign until the 2nd week of the season.

The Raiders seem to have figured this stuff out, though. McFadden signed late last night for $26 Million guaranteed.

I have the same conversation with Dan every summer. It goes something like:

"Dude, I'm trying not to get too excited, but looking at the roster I feel like
some good things are going to happen this year. We got Warren Sapp!"

"I mean, I hate Randy Moss, but when I close my eyes, all I see is Touchdowns. You telling me Norv can't draw up some routes? Kerry Collins does have that gun."

"I'm talking myself into Art Shell. You know, he got a raw deal, and Al always said the only mistake he ever made was firing Art."

"Yeah, and Aaron Brooks is athletic. He got a bad rap in New Orleans, plus with the hurricane.."

But maybe, just maybe, this year is different.

Back-to-Back SEC Offensive Players of the Year in back-to-back drafts. A good, young coach. There are so many reasons to be excited.

We'll just have to wait for Nancy to tell us why we shouldn't be.