Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Amusing Raider rumors

By Rick Richardson - Self proclaimed Raider expert


Rumor mills are what the off season is all about, but some of the unsubstantiated rumors flying out of Raider land are bordering on hilarious.

Here are just a few cases in point.

- Jamarcus Russell has ballooned to 300 pounds! May or may not be true, and may even be irrelevant. Who doesn’t gain a few pounds here and there? I’m sure as a pro athlete there is a small window of opportunity to kick back and relax after a grueling season. Russell is a very big man by the way. At 6-6 and 265, it wouldn’t be too tough to weigh as much as his offensive lineman with just a little inactivity. I’m sure when mini camps start Russell just might find the motivation to drop a few pounds. Of the off season rumors this one ranks up there with the most absurd. By the way, I wonder how they got his weight? Did they slip a scale under him when he wasn’t looking, or did they just hire a carnival games worker to guess?

- Lane Kiffin is as good as gone! Al sent a letter for his resignation. Kiffin won’t wear the Raider colors. Someone has caught him dancing. Kiffin and Al were caught in a mixed martial arts style duel to the death in the parking lot at Raider headquarters. Okay, maybe the last one was written with just a little sarcasm, but the others have just as much actual evidence as the last. Most of these rumors at least have some bearing on the Raiders, but dancing?

- The Raiders are spending too much on free agents. How dare they compete for the players they want. Shouldn’t Al have already conceded to the big market owners? By now Al was supposed to have adopted the philosophy of the old Bill Bidwell led Cardinals. The Cardinals of old used to stay so far below the cap that the league and players union had to mandate minimum cap expenditure.

This is part of the fun being a Raiders fan. You get to sift through the vitriol spewed by more than a few writers with a downright disgust for the Raiders organization.

4 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Is that all you got? I want the minute back it took to read this! LOL, c-mon man, try something I don't know, interesting or original.

March 12, 2008 at 5:26 AM  
Blogger Steve said...

just keeping making excuses dude.

March 12, 2008 at 6:47 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I am just disgusted that the Kiffin resignation letter has become universally accepted as fact without a shred of evidence. NOBODY knows if the letter existed. But, many writers present it as established fact when discussing the Raiders offseason. None of these writers have offered any proof or even a name as to who verified it nor if the story was ever verified by anyone in the organization. But it is fact.
For years Al Davis has been called "cheap" or a "tightwad". Now he is "overpaying" every free-agent he signs? I don't understand that logic.

March 12, 2008 at 6:57 AM  
Blogger Jerious Norwood said...

The money thing is so stupid. Most teams are 30 million under the cap, and not spending. Its doubly amusing because the rest of the time the media is parroting claims that the Raiders are 'strapped for cash' and would have trouble paying for a high first round draft choice. (See one of Todd McShay's latest mock drafts)

March 12, 2008 at 9:40 AM  

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