Lester for the Hall of Fame

It is a cause in which I believe no matter how many 11+ loss seasons the Raiders manage to string together: Lester Hayes deserves to be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Last week, Lester was - once again - selected as one of the 25 semifinalists for the class of 2010.

This year, the marketing organizations for Van Heusen and JC Penney give us a way to express our frustration with Lester's snubbings over the years, allowing fans to vote through the fanschoice.com website. At this moment an impressive roster of Raiders - not all of whom are actually semifinalists (the voting started before the semifinalists were named) are all over the top of the rankings. Lester ranks #8, inexplicably behind Cris Crybaby Carter and mushmouth Shannon Sharpe, while Ray Guy sits third behind only Jerry Rice and Emmitt Smith. Tim Brown ranks fourth, Jim Plunkett fifth, Cliff Branch ninth, Tom Flores tenth, and Todd Christensen eleventh.

Fittingly, today's Oakland at Pittsburgh game is the "Throwback Game of the Week." Perhaps that refers to Frenchy Fuqua illegally throwing the ball back to Franco Harris in the Immaculate Reception game?

If we don't have our bitterness, we don't have anything. Vote for Lester! Remember to opt out of receiving spam from them, though.

All Time Raiders

Raider fans love history, and we love looking back at the great players who have worn the Silver & Black through the years. It's become an even more popular pastime as we've suffered through record-breaking futility in recent years, and history always provides a handy comeback for Charger fans who troll the Raider blogs.

Side note: I've still never met a Charger fan face-to-face, the closest being our own Dobolina, who sort of had a curiosity about them growing up, and Unk, who never could muster enough emotion about them to hate them like he hated the Steelers, Chiefs, Broncos, and even the Seahawks.

Today Monte Poole weighs in with his list of the 50 greatest Raiders players of all time. Our four loyal readers will know exactly where my eyes first went on that list. And I'm pleased to agree with Monte, who puts Lester Hayes at #8. That ranks him ahead of Hall of Fame hopefuls Stabler, Branch, and Guy, and ahead of Hall of Famers Blanda, Casper, Howie Long, Marcus Allen, and Mike Haynes.

Why isn't Lester in the Hall of Fame? I've registered my guess here in the past. But I would love to hear it straight from the committee's often breathed-through mouth at some stage.

Speaking of the Hall of Fame, there's a "real" NFL game on tonight, and it's pretty cool to see the Titans in the old Houston Oilers gear. Maybe not so much for Houstonians, who still hate Bud Adams like we hate Mike Shanahan, but I always liked that Oilers franchise, particularly when I lived next door to Gary Brown during his 1000-yard season. The Oilers actually delivered his checks to our apartment, but my roommates and I faithfully delivered them to him each week. Too bad he didn't remember us when he cashed in with a big contract. In fact, in response to a question from the press regarding what he planned to do with his million dollar signing bonus, he replied, "Move." A note on tonight's game: reminding us all that Punters are football players, and therefore Ray Guy belongs in the Hall of Fame, the Oilers just pulled a pretty sweet fake punt that the punter ran 40 yards for a touchdown.

Anyway, back to Monte's list. Who is missing? The Tooz is a glaring omission. Alzado? I would put Eddie Anderson on my personal list.

The Greatest of All Time

Congratulations to Rickey Henderson, who, if Al gives out Cloaks of Immortality to baseball players, would surely get one.

I've been trying to find an embed-able video link, but you can watch his induction speech here.

Money quote:

"My dream was to play football for the Oakland Raiders," Henderson said. "But my mother thought I would get hurt playing football, so she chose baseball for me. I guess moms do know best."

I bet if Rickey had played football, he'd have been one of the greatest return men of all time. And probably a shut-down corner, known for his speed and trash-talk skills.

Anyway, congratulations, Rickey. I'll never forget watching you play.

P.S. The Raiders better have a Rickey Henderson day at the coliseum this season.

More Dan Bait: Jerry Mac on Hall of Fame

While we wait for Training Camp to start, I was checking out Jerry McDonald's Sunday Notes blog item. He was asked by MediaNews to answer a Page2 "Ask the Experts" question. The question is, of the three, Ray Guy, Kenny Stabler, and Cliff Branch, which one is most likely to make the HOF? Jerry says Ray Guy and makes a compelling case, i.e. he's the Greatest Punter of All Time.

But why is Lester Hayes left out of this discussion? (Jerry also points out, in his further discussion of Stabler on the blog, that Al is pushing for Jim Plunkett, hard, and I can't say I blame him.) But Dan has made the case for Lester Hayes, and I think it's a good one.

Dan Bait, Part 2

Paul Gutierrez, who has taken over pretty spectacularly for Jason Jones covering the Raiders for the Bee (see this column on the passing of JaMarcus' Uncle Ray), has a week-old blog post up talking about the Raiders who are, in his estimation, have been snubbed by the Hall of Fame. His top five list:

1) Tom Flores
2) Jim Plunkett
3) Ray Guy
4) Cliff Branch
5) Ken Stabler

Of course, there are arguments to be made for all five of those guys. But there's a name missing. Who could it be?

Good Result for Hall of Fame

Congratulations to another great Raider who has made the Hall of Fame: Rod Woodson. Sure, he's no career Raider, but he made a tremendous impact during his brief time in Oakland. He's also a resident of Pleasanton these days.

Glad to see Derrick Thomas make it, despite the torment he caused the Raiders during his career.

Also satisfied that Cris Crybaby Carter, Shannon Sharpe, and Paul Tagliabue did not make the cut.

But of course I can't watch any Hall of Fame induction without wondering how in the world Lester Hayes hasn't yet been elected...

Please do Not Stand Too Close to Dan

As he may decide to suicide bomb the Hall of Fame after Lester Hayes (and Kenny Stabler and Ray Guy, but it's Lester that has pushed Dan over the edge) did not make the cut in the voting. Again.

But Shannon Sharpe?

I just threw up in my mouth