Friday, September 19, 2008

Al Davis Forever – with Kiffin I hope!

I have hesitated to address this issue, but I just want to summarize my conversations with fellow fans over the last couple of weeks…

The media won't let this “Davis Fires Kiffin” thing go- no way, no how... the media is pissed that they have been wrong about this since January and that Kiffin is still here... they are embarrassed that he was not fired this week, because they all said that even if we won in KC (which they didn't think we would), Kiffin would be gone - and he is still here...

Now reporters are stationed at Raiders HQ, hiding in the f@cking bushes, basically ambushing and trapping Kiff coming back from his morning jog, trying to trick him in saying something else… where else have you seen such media fervour?

Now Kiff brought allot of this on himself, he has to learn to take it on the chin, to man-up and use “coach-speak”…. but don't you think the media is behaving very very weirdly? This goes beyond trying to take advantage of Kiff’s well documented honesty to break a story...that video of Kiff returning from his jog, isn't that, well kinda creepy? what the f@ck is the media doing?

I couldn't sleep a couple of nights ago so I was listening to BSPN Late Night... ahole BSPN guy has Jason Jones from BallSacramento Bee and I was shocked that these two idiots couldn't even string proper thoughts or complete sentences together... Jones said he "heard one report, then there is another source, not sure if the sources are real, inside Raiders HQ, some people talk to Al, some don't, not sure what Al is thinking, some say he wanted to fire Kiff but when it got leaked he didn't - just to spite the media, yeah its strange, he was supposed to fire him and he didn't, maybe tomorrow, you never know cuz Al Davis is liable to do anything, what a soap opera blah,blah, blah"... they were just throwing out sh!t and admitting as much as not knowing if any of this is true but covering by saying "well its Raiderland, its Al Davis, its bizarre...what do you expect?" The BSPN scroll the other day said that “Kiffin to be fired Monday or by the end of season" ----WTF!?!!!?!

So, we see this reporter jump out of the bushes and ambush Kiff after his morning jog...and Al is acting strange? its this f@cking media frenzy that is strange... they are obsessed because time and again since January they have not gotten the story straight, they have these "scoops", manufactured or twisted, and they were sure they had it and they didn't... they look more and more foolish so they keep up the shark attack behaviour...

Look obviously something is up... how could there not be after 4-12 and getting spanked on opening night and Kiffin not keeping his issues in-house? something very likely may happen, and this media frenzy is not going away…

They want Kiff to be fired and it is backed by the on-going hatred towards the Raiders and specifically Al Davis... we ruled for a long time, and the NFL feared us... Al kicked sand in everyone faces for years… and Al, for good reason, cuts off the media like no other professional sports team does - and that infuriates them... they did not like it when Al hired Kiff... they wanted us to hire some no balls yes man because as they portray it no one else will work for Al... when Al found the next Shanahan/Gruden, they mocked him for it... and now that there is some smoke, they are doing everything they can to break it up....

Winning in the Buff won't change a thing... beating SD the week after won't change a thing... the media frenzy won't stop... and if we lose, all the better for them, because it might hasten Kiff getting fired... look they will not let it die... for all of you who say well winning will change it - no it won't... success will also intensify it, just like when we won backtobacktoback AFC Championships, when Gru was here the media wanted him gone, they would not let it go....

Kiff will stay as long as we win... which is really no different than any coach… but I hope he grows up abit…he’s not at USC anymore where he and Pete Carrol could do what they wanted, how they wanted, when they wanted... and besides, what exactly has he done to deserve to be GM?...

I ask that question because I was listening to Buff radio - when the Bills IRed their best LB Antonio Crowell a couple of weeks ago, Bills Head Coach Jauron didn't know about it till after, he admitted he heard about it when it was reported on the WGR... I was listening to the interview with the local radio guys when they asked him to explain why Crowell was IRed when it looked like he would only miss 4 weeks... Jauron said, "I can't answer that other than we needed the roster spot"... imagine if that story was in Oakland?

How bout them Cowboys? Head Coach Wade Phillips was brought in after Offensive Coordinator Jason Garrett right? Wade was essentially told who his staff will be...Imagine what Kiffin would say to that? BTW, did I see Dave Campo on the sidelines on Monday Night?!?!!?! WTF?, he was fired as Head Coach but still is on the Cowboys sideline in caoching gear today, why? because Jerry Jones loves him… even Al didn’t do that with Art Shell… Does Dick Jauron run the Bills draft? are the free agents his doing? Jauron easily admits and accepts that he does not- its not his job… Does Wade call the shots during the draft? No way, sure he has some input but Jerry makes all the picks, and brings in all the free agents like PacMan and TO... how is that different than Al ---- other than Jerry welcomes the press with open arms while Al closes his door to the media and doesn’t tell them sh!t and that pisses them off… You might blame Al for that, but he has more than enough reasons, legal and otherwise to do as much...

In my opinion players play and coaches coach... Kiff just needs to shut up and coach, then like Gruden he will get more and more - when he earns it… Kiff has three rules for the team and I have them pinned to the top of the blog... one is "Always protect the team", another is "Don't Complain"... I wanna see Kiff live by his own rules, just coach dude - your an incredible coach, just coach - and we will be great...

Another important point… See, we Raider fans are far more active and passionate than any other team's fans... so when they write something "Kiffin Fired On Monday" they are guaranteed how many hits on their web-sites? - many THOUSANDS more than any other story.... its great for them... they are pissed with Al because he won't tell them sh!t, he is an easy target from the perspective that he does not respond to their lunacy (so they can say anything), and the more outrageous the stories are, the more clicks they get from Raider Nation... its a no-lose situation for them... they can and will continue this game regardless of whether there is success or futility on the field....

In the end, if some of you reading this blog can't see that these attacks are very personal on Al Davis, largely because he shuts out the media, well you are blind...

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you! Great blog! Great examples!
Al Davis is the Raiders and I fail to understand why people root for the Raiders if they hate Al. Do they just like the logo? Do they think they're tough if they root for the Raiders? If you don't like Al find another team!
I am also sick of Al getting blamed for everything that goes wrong but receives no credit for all the good things. Raiders lose... blame Al .... Raiders win and we have great coaches who win despite Al..... Give me a break. Hmmm, who hired the coaches? Who is the GM when we win?? Al. But no credit when we win or bring in players like Rod Woodson or Rice or break the bank to keep Brown from going to Denver. Gannon comes in, thats all Gruden... was Gruden suddenly GM? Did Gruden influence Al? Sure, but who was the GM? Why did Gruden leave? No power? No control? Sure! Let's be consistant. And lest we forget we didn't reach the SB with Gruden!

Being a Raider fan since the late 60's I could go on forever with examples of why we should support and love Al. But it has become useless. It is like politics with the extreme Left and the extreme Right. There is little chance to change opinions.

I could and would like to also write on how I feel the system we are using now is wrong for the players we have...J. Russell and MacFadden come to mind.... but I can't type forever...

But hey, I feel better now!

"The Tooz" said...

Awesome reply... thanks !

Anonymous said...

Great article, you hit it right on the head. To bad their were not more like you. There are many sheep that will read something on the Raiders or Al and take it as gospel.

As for Al Davis there has been (14) appearances in AFC Conference Championship games by the Raiders under Al Davis leadership. Two of these games came 5 years ago.

That is more then Denver, San Diego and Kansas City combined. Every time that Davis has signed a Bo Jackson, a Jerry Rice a Randy Moss a D Hall other fans, owners and media cannot stand it.

Add in all the past years of domination and (14) AFCCC, 5 Super Bowls that should have been 10. And one can see where all the hate comes from.

That is just the way life is. Rise above the crowd and be very successful while you are at it doing it in a different way and they will come for you. The nobodies of the World love to hate on the great.

Anonymous said...

anon - you are BLIND. wake up and put the al kool aid down!

Anonymous said...

frkyraider <-----standing and applauding at this read!!!!! very well said tooz. spot on.

frkyraider

Anonymous said...

You said it very well. The "Hatesheep" are very annoying. I try to look at things for what they really are, and that is difficult with the Raiders since there is no sports team on Earth that gets worse, more biased reviews. Suddenly every sportswriter gets carte blanche to create false innuendo and speculate with our stories. It really is a hate fest that spirals on and on with the sheep mentality of the front-running sports fan.

Imagine if Vince Young were a Raider and having these issues.

Anonymous said...

NEED MORE FANS LIKE YOU TOOZ

Anonymous said...

Tooz, don't get carried away! It's only a football owner and his team...You take these trivial things too seriously...bad for your mental and physical well-being!! After all, with Owner Al, all recent Raiders head coaches [maybe with exception of Flores] leave under unfavorable conditions [fired] and sooner, rather than later. The annual fun speculation is not who will be anointed the next coach, but how long will/can he last working under the great Al, and the circumstances leading to his departure...But you can be sure Al will remain until the a supreme power [Allah or equivalent] removes him...sic transit gloria mundi!! RIP

Anonymous said...

Wow, Tooz, great blog.where have you been hiding? I love AD because he treats the media like the idiots they are and then the little pin heads try to destroy him for it.The raiders do need some stability at head coach, but time will tell if Kif is the man. Raider fans need to relax and not buy into all the media crap.I wish that all true raider fans would respond to the media/haters with a steady email of "you suck"...go raiders