David White Interviews the Natives

This is the kind of piece that writes itself apparently.

If nothing else, it shows the that Raider Nation is World Wide like BDP.

So stop the violence, Raiders fans.

ESPN's Hate on Display

Via Williamson. What's interesting here is that Todd McShay seems more embarrassed than anything, even saying, "I don't want to pile on," while Hannah Storm is downright gleeful in her setups.

It's too bad, because in the early-to-mid 90s, when she was NBC's NBA studio host, I had the hugest crush on her.

Contrarian Award: Rich "Big Vinny" Lieberman

We need to come up with a better name for this. "Anti-hater?" Lover? Anyway, I chose "Contrarian" because Big Vinnie Lieberman goes to bat for the Raiders, taking on the conventional wisdom that the Raiders had the worst draft in the history of the draft in two posts at SFGate blog, Bright Lights, Big City. The first one absolutely eviscerates ESPN for their Anti-Raider bias, taking on Mort, Berman, TJ, and everyone else. Money quote from that post:

I'm speaking more about the premise of credibility. Berman's love affair with the SF 49ers and Giants is notorious. He's even mentioned it several times in interviews on the network itself. The "Raiduhs" shtick was cute about ten years ago, but Berman continues to think it's funny, a la, "back-back-back". He's never been a particularly objective guy when it comes to Oakland, and his partner on "Countdown", ex-NFL player, Tom Jackson, was a former Denver Bronco. Jackson didn't work the draft, but his anti-Raiders bias is well-known and documented. In his playing days, he once refered to John Madden as a "fatman".

Mortensen is in a league by himself. His distaste for Al Davis and the Raiders organization has been legendary, but when it gets to the point where it affects his reportings, then there's a credibility issue. After all, "Mort" supposedly is deemed by ESPN as an "NFL reporter/'insider". His "commentary" is, for the most part, first-rate and fairly accurate, but he needs to strengthen up the "objectivity" box in his Raiders file because no one takes him seriously when he opines about the Raiders.

We all know about Mort's well-documented history covering the Raiders.

In the second post, he goes out and runs the opinion of a former scout who makes the case for Darrius Heyward-Bey.

I was in the process, this morning, of collecting post-draft reactions from national figures; I still may do that. But I wanted to acknowledge that not everyone in the Media hates the Raiders; there's at least one guy out there who's not hater.

More First Day Reactions

After letting the Heyward-Bey and Mitchell picks sink in, here's what some people are saying:

Jerry: His gut says Heyward-Bey is a bad pick, but he also thinks the Mitchell pick might be a good one. This cracked me up:

With the Raiders’ luck, Mitchell will unload the full force of his fury upon Heyward-Bey on the first day in Napa and . . . . never mind.

Ouch.

Gutierrez: What, Usain Bolt wasn't available?

Kawakami: Cable's the big loser in Saturday's bizarre Raiders draft crop. Brutal quote:

And Al proved that Cable has no credibility, just like every other of the last many Raiders coaches, who all failed. Because they had no credibility, you see.

But that’s the only way Al likes it.

Lowell Cohn: Advantage 49ers, even though it's not really a competition. Brutality:

You never can underestimate the Raiders because they’ll always perform lower than you’d imagine in your most vivid nightmare.

and:

Al Davis has been in love with speed since he chased someone down Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn decades ago.

Apparently we're still picking. I don't think I can handle any more of this, so I'll be by the pool somewhere with a strong cocktail.

We've Become a Parody of Ourselves

Bill Williamson types out a column-length blog post to let everyone know who bad the Raiders screwed up by taking Heyward-Bey instead of Crabtree.

His conclusion:

Sure, Heyward-Bey's speed and Russell's big arm will be a nice combination a few times a season. Heyward-Bey probably will make a few big plays as a rookie. It would be a shock if he will be a productive player all season. In fact, I would be surprised if Heyward-Bey ever becomes an elite player. There is little chance he will become the best receiver in the Bay Area.

The Raiders' drafts this decade have been highlighted by the wrong call. In 2004, the team took Robert Gallery over Larry Fitzgerald. In 2006, they took Michael Huff over Jay Cutler. And now this.

This could be the worst mistake of all. If it is, the Raiders won't have to look far to be reminded of it.

The only thing I can absolutely quibble with is the suggestion we should have taken Cutler over Huff. Huff might suck, but I'd take JaMarcus over Cutler any day.

Mikey Outlines the Raiders' Plan

Phase 1: Draft Speed

Let's Start Talking Ourselves into Mitchell

Once Mikey lays some Slim Thug lyrics over this one we'll have had a perfect day one.