CLOAK OF IMMORTALITY Gets Some Press

Check out David White's blog post speculating that there may be a chance that Justin Fargas returns for the 2010 season:

When the Raiders released veteran running back Justin Fargas on Saturday, they put out a "cloak of immortality"-type statement out as they do for longtime players at times. (He's the first to get one since Adam Treu in 2006, if I remember right, though Zack Crockett may have got one in 2007).

Nice.

Regarding the actual news, it sure is a good thing the Raiders are dropping Fargas, because he makes all the slackers on the team really look bad.

This is a Game worth Throwing Tortillas Over

Last year we made a series of mistakes in choosing to attend the Raider-Bronco MNF opener. A complete blowout after a full day of drinking by home fans who tend not to be encumbered by jobs or families makes for a bad scene. Making matters worse, we subjected Kristy’s brother and his girlfriend – both wearing orange – to a dangerous walk around the parking lot prior to kickoff. Of the objects and curses thrown at them, however, we all found the fresh tortillas that Frisbeed in from one tailgate to be the funniest, not to mention tastiest.

This week the Broncos return to the Coliseum, and I am ready to declare this a pivotal game. The Raiders of recent years have known only two kinds of inflection points – the ones that temporarily slow the descent into chaos and the ones that renew their acceleration towards the pit of laughingstock-ness. This week’s game vs. Denver has the potential to begin moving the Raiders in the positive direction.

Perhaps that’s stating the obvious: a win and the Raiders are 2-1 in the division, tied for first, with a legitimate gripe over not being 3-0. A loss and the Raiders stole one against the hapless Chefs for their only win of the season. Obvious or not, a win will bring a level of optimism to Oakland not seen for a long time.

I suspect that the major determining factor will be the Raiders’ ability to run the ball, which oddly vanished at about halftime of the San Diego game. Justin Fargas is going to play an important role here. He’s finally active, and he has a way of wearing down defenses with his violent running in the early going that softens things up for McFadden and Bush.

Raider Season

The Raider offseason rolls on, and despite the lack of free agent signings it remains generally more interesting and positive than recent regular seasons. The loss of Marquis Cooper is clearly worse than anything that goes on during the regular season (even that Atlanta game last year), but it has given us more of a glimpse into the type of leader Tom Cable will be. Coupled with the strategy to hold onto our own proven free agents, I really like what I'm seeing from this latest Raider push to remake the locker room. It looks genuine.

It is sometimes difficult to understand why the Raiders of recent years have been so bad year after year, no matter the coaches, no matter the personnel. What is it about Al Davis that translates so directly into performance on the field. Poor talent acquisition? Yes, but there is quite a bit of talent on the team, and it wasn't long ago that Kerry Collins was throwing to Randy Moss and losing 11+ games per year. Defensive scheme limitations? Probably, but few would single out the defense as the bigger problem in recent years. An insistence on the vertical game? Maybe, but for two consecutive 11+ loss years the Raiders have been a zone-blocking, run-first team.

The answer is the same as the answer to the mystery of why the Raiders lead the league in penalties every year despite fielding completely different personnel led by completely different coaches. There is neither discipline nor accountability that translates through the organization to the players. Lane Kiffin calls it "dysfunction."

I like to think that the Raiders are being punished for signing the players I hate the most. In 2008 the trend continued with Javon Walker, a man who gained my dislike by participating in Drew Rosenhaus' great holdout scam of a few years ago, publicly feuded with my man Brett Favre, and then signed with the hated Broncos. This year we have dodged two bullets: Jerramy Stevens, alleged rapist, re-signed with the Bucs, and of course T.O. took his act to Siberia.

Hey Johnny, we need a safety and guess who's available?

Whether to avoid curse or dysfunction, repealing the "talent at all costs" approach of the past will help this team. Both Tim Kawakami and Bill Williamson make logical arguments centered on Al resisting the allure of T.O. A backhanded compliment from Kawakami is about the best Al can expect.

This year's Commitment to Excellence award went to Nnamdi and Justin Fargas. While they run in different social circles - Nnamdi hobnobs with Bill Clinton and Fargas with a guy who does inhale - these are the guys who will anchor the 2009 Raider locker room. It is interesting to see what Fargas had to say to Jason Jones about the upcoming year: "Probably the most exciting thing I can say going into this season is we have the same coach. We have direction as a team and we know where Coach (Tom) Cable is coming from, what he's trying to do with us and where we're trying to go."

Simple, but arguably missing since Gruden left.

It is likely that I am becoming too optimistic during the offseason, as usual. But you have to admit that when the 49ers are the other local team, Raider offseasons always look pretty good.

Justin Fargas Hearts Weed

I was going to post a round up of reactions to yesterday's Al-fest, but instead, via David White, is a video of some guy named Yukmouth smoking a fat-ass blunt at Justin Fargas' house.

Dennis O'Donnell Is an Idiot

Yes, he's the voice of 49ers preseason football, and we all know how terrific preseason broadcasters are. But today's Fifth Quarter on CBS 5 was as moronic as it was annoying. And by the way, it spoiled a pretty nice piece of work by a slender Chester McGlockton.

At some point during the Raiders game, Tony Stewart made a smart move trying to pick up and advance a punt that had already been touched by a Chiefs player. On those sorts of plays, there is no downside - if he fumbles, the Raiders get to take the ball where it was first touched by the Chiefs anyway. Apparently Dennis O'Donnell doesn't know this, as he referred to that moment and the ensuing no-brainer referee overturn as the "turning point of the game." He went on to talk about "another lucky break" that the Raiders got when a Chiefs player punched the ball out of bounds at the end of a huge McFadden run.

He said a few more stupid things and plugged in all the requisite SF broadcaster Raider mocks, but mainly I'm annoyed that people don't know that rule and would suggest that the Raiders got a gift call from the refs. The Raiders don't get gift calls. The Broncos get gift calls.

Ah - I forgot in my original post to mention that O'Donnell also implied the Raiders were idiots for ever considering Fargas the starter ahead of McFadden. If he had watched the game, he would know Fargas looked a lot better than McFadden in the early going. McFadden started breaking off big runs once the defense wore down, and that was exactly the plan for McFadden as the #2 who gets as many carries as the #1. Probably a moot point now with Fargas injured, but give Crash Test some credit - he looked awesome until he got hurt.

Happy Valentine's Day

The Raiders seem to have quieted down on the drama front, hiring James Lofton to coach up the receivers and getting a new strength and conditioning coach, supposedly both interviewed and hired by Lane Kiffin, which I'm choosing to take as good news. And they re-signed Fargas, which is great news.

I was thinking about writing about the NBA, which I may yet. When the Raiders moved to Los Angeles in 1982, I kind of stopped caring about football. I still watched it, but I didn't have a favorite team. Basketball became my first love. The Los Angeles Lakers and Magic Johnson in particular (yes, you can point out the hypocrisy of being mad at the Raiders for moving to Los Angeles but then loving a basketball team from Los Angeles, if it will make you feel better).

So the Pau Gasol trade is good, good news. I've been talking to some of my friends (mainly Sllaacs and Ken and my lawyer Nappy McBigtoe) about rediscovering basketball.

Which brings me to Valentine's Day. I always liked it as a kid, because it was fun giving and getting the little Peanuts and Ziggy and Spider-Man Valentine's Day cards in elementary school. And I liked the candy. One time, I even got Michael Jordan Valentines. I still might have a couple of those, actually.

Anyway, once I got old enough to have an actual girlfriend on Valentine's Day, it went all bad, and I longed for the nostalgic days when everyone got cards, even the ugly people with snot on their shirts.

Junior year, the first time I had a real girlfriend, she came over to my house for dinner. My parents got into a fight that eventually involved my mother throwing some small appliances (clock radios, a small black and white TV) at the wall behind my Dad's head. My parents didn't fight like this very often, but when they did they always made sure they had an audience. It inflated the apparent level of domestic strife in the Sousa house, but at least they had some style about it. That kind of behavior in the privacy of your own home without anyone to witness it is a cliche.

Senior year the shittiness of Valentine's Day had nothing to do with the girl I was dating. That part actually went okay. I think I got her a Prince tape (Diamonds and Pearls). But I had a game that night at Pittsburg (I was an Antioch Panther) and I forgot my goddamn uniform at home. That was fucking embarrassing waiting for my mom to drive home and get it while I explained to the coaches why I wasn't getting dressed. Thank god it was a Pitt, and not at say, Berkeley or El Cerrito.

Freshman year of College, I had a girlfriend who was one of those "I don't want to be known as John's Girfriend, I'm my own person" types. Anyway, so she said "I don't want to celebrate Valentine's Day." Since I was a fucking idiot, I believed her and didn't get her anything. So she was pissed at me.

I managed to avoid the next 6 or 7 Valentine's Days because I was single. When I finally got another real girlfriend, I think I was 25, she broke up with me on Valentine's Day. Actually put the breakup letter in a Valentine's Day card. That was cold blooded.

But again, I was a fucking idiot, because I'd seen that one coming, and I should have stayed home to watch the Lakers game on TV instead of going over to her house to get that stupid letter. I should have made her use a stamp.

Okay, you're asking as you're reading this, where does the Professor fit into all of this? I bet she just loves reading about all of your ex-girlfriends. Well, when we were first courting, I got a CD from her for Valentine's Day. And it almost made cry. And we've since had 6 great Valentine's Days. And now that we have Baby Lily, I get to vicariously re-live the glory days when everybody gets a Valentine in their cubby hole.