Sunday, April 26, 2009
Raiders Suck
Its baseball season and the Sox are beating up the Yankees this weekend. The Celtics are playing tough in the playoffs despite losing KG and the B's look better than they have in years, and everything’s right in the world. It’s too early to be chanting “Yankees Suck” and it’s way too early to be thinking football, but with the NFL Draft going on, I couldn’t help noticing something today.
Remember when the Patriots sucked? The late 60’s were terrible years for the Pats. It seemed like they couldn’t do anything right. I wanted to like football but it was tough. The Red Sox had the Impossible Dream season so everyone rode on that bandwagon for a few years while the Patriots wallowed at the bottom of the football pile. During football season, my focus would turn to the Minnesota Vikings because they were always good and it was too painful to watch the Pats. The Purple People Eaters, Carl Eller, Mike Marshall, Alan Page and Gary Larsen were great. When the Pats got Joe Kapp from the Vikings, I thought, wow, they’re finally turning things around. They had the fourth pick in the NFL Draft and things were looking up. Then they went and drafted…Phil Olsen. Who? Yes, the one and only Phil Olsen. Merlin’s brother. I guess everyone figured he would be as good as his brother but more important was the fact that the Patriots just didn’t look good doing anything.
On the other coast there was the Oakland Raiders. They were like the Vikings in that they were always good. And always mean. They were easy not to like, but it seemed like they couldn’t do anything wrong. When the Patriots did finally start to field a decent team, the Raiders were always there to steal their thunder.
So now we zoom forward to the present day Patriots and Raiders; my how things have changed. The Pats don’t do anything wrong anymore and the Raiders are inept. Al Davis needs to sell or quit or at least move to an elderly care facility. Nobody knows who the coach is. Now, I’m not someone who follows the Draft too closely, but the NFL Draft does shed a little light on what teams “want to win” versus the ones that can’t get out of their own way. On Draft day, the teams that are making moves and trading up and down the rankings are the ones who have done their homework. Everyone by this time knows all the players even the possible surprises. The Oakland Raiders had the 7th pick overall, didn’t make any moves, and chose Darius Heyward-Bey. Who? Yes, nobody knows. He’s already the biggest surprise in the draft and quite possibly he’ll live up to expectations. But even better, the Raiders will keep sucking for at least a couple more years.
POSTED BY STAN at April 26, 2009
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