Raiders of The Lost Art

It finally happened; for the first time since 1966 I don't care if the Oakland Raiders win their football game this week. I hope they win but I have grown so used to them not winning that what they do on Sunday really won't disappoint me as it has for nearly all of this young 21st Century. They were a much better football team in the 1900s and in fact were often called "The Team of the 1970s" back when fans like me could expect to see them in the playoffs and even cart home a few Super Bowl trophies. They actually played in the second Super Bowl in 1967 and even though they lost that one to the Green Bay Packers they went on to win six divisional championships in the 70s and in 1976 they won the first of three NFL championship titles they would eventually lay claim to by defeating the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl IX. The second would come in 1980 when they beat the Philadelphia Eagles and in 1983 they pulled off a stunning upset by defeating the heavily favored Washington Redskins. Impressive credentials  for a football franchise and when you factor in the sum of 25 playoff victories in total that came from winning 15 divisional titles all told, including a fifth appearance in a Super Bowl in 2002 no one can argue that the Raiders were a team worthy of loyalty to someone like me who became a fan when I was just 14 years old.

Over the years I have owned a number of black and silver football jerseys, hats, t-shirts, coffee mugs, beer steins, a lamp, printed footballs, replica trophies of their championships and even a finely carved wooden football that is engraved with all of the years they were either division, conference and league champs. I know the history of the team's greatest players and coaches from quarterbacks Daryle Lamonica, Ken Stabler, Jim Plunkett and Rich Gannon to its storied coaches, Al Davis, John Rausch, John Madden, Tom Flores and John Gruden and all of those hall of famer's that caught passes while flying through the air and runners that went through and over defensive lines, more like machines than men. And on both sides of the ball played some of the greatest linemen who ever knelt on a scrimmage line. Ray Guy was probably the best punter I ever saw and George Blanda who was a quarterback by trade was as good a field goal and extra point kicker as any in the league. George was a history all his own; known as "The Grand Old Man"  he still holds the record for having kicked the most extra points in NFL history and he did that during four different decades before retiring at the age of 48!  I believe I would be able to go through Raider rosters over the years and pick a fantasy team that would utterly destroy any all-star team picked from the 32 teams now playing in the NFL; that is why I have been a fan for as long as I have and why when I look at the fresh crop of Raiders every year since they last appeared in a Super Bowl and lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers I grind my teeth and shake my head.

If anyone were to ask what I think happened to this storied franchise to reduce it to a punching bag or a bunch of practice skids for other teams I would be lost to explain it. In recent years I have finally known the pain of long suffering Cleveland Browns fans, another team that I have hoped year after year could get better than they have been for decades. I was never a Browns fan but being the team in my mother's hometown I always rooted for them too, only not as vocally or with the passion I have felt and shown for my Raiders. In this young 2014 season they are 0-2 and like in years previously they haven't shown much remorse for letting their fans down, nor have they offered any suggestions or even a hint that they may find their bearings and turn things around.

The attitude is gone, there is no swagger and no resemblance to the franchise that over the years was called "The Magnificent Eleven" or "The World's Team" or "America's Most Wanted"  (that last one for their reputation as the roughest, most penalized team in the league for their aggressive play). I have to believe that a good segment of the so-called "Raider Nation"  feels exactly as I do. We are tired of hearing the excuses that we are rebuilding and that we will be better next year. I mean why lie to the people who love you most? Die-hard sports fans may criticize me for not sticking with my guys but a moniker they can not hang on me is fair weather fan and there is not an iota of validity in saying that real fans stick with their teams regardless of how they perform, at least not any longer for me. I mean just because they have given up and have become losers why should we the fans go down with the ship? Why should I mingle with other football fans who can't stop smiling and bragging about their teams while they insult mine and constantly call me a fool for endorsing one that leaves me disappointed year after year?

I am sick of being asked..what happened to your Raiders?  I am tired of being taunted with...go ahead, admit it, your team stinks. 

Of course they do, but why should I be placed in the position of being the spokesman or go-to guy for that sad fact after every game, year after year. So this is the year it all stops for me; I mean I think it is the year. Who knows, they could turn it around and find the means to one day reclaim the glory that made me a fan 48 years ago but at my age I fear it might not happen in my lifetime. I am tired of not caring what happens in the NFL by the 4th or 5th week of each season. I miss looking forward to Sundays and if the Raider organization isn't willing to reward me for all of my loyalty through the years then what is the point of defending them whenever someone laughs in my face over their ineptness any longer? 

I watched the Cleveland Browns defeat the New Orleans Saints last Sunday and I saw my immediate future; like an epiphany! It was layered in brown and orange with just a hint of black. You guessed it. However, I am too old to dress in logo splattered clothing or to paint my face in team colors and no one has to worry about enduring the annoying sound of hearing me bark like a dog during games, but the time has come for me to let go; excuminate myself from the church of the silver and black and renounce my citizenship from Raider Nation and relent to the dog pound.

Go Browns!