Welcome to my weekly NFL column, known as 4th and Long.
Item 1: Brett Favre Photo Wins Contest
The photo shown above of Brett Favre is called 'First Down'. It was taken by Steve Apps of the Wisconsin State Journal. Apps' work won him the Dave Boss Award of Excellence in the 40th Annual NFL Pro Football Hall of Fame Photo Contest.
Nice work and congratulations, Steve.
Item 2: ESPN Finally Gets It
The NFL Draft has traditionally started at noon, EDT. This has always been a bad time - for everyone, including ESPN. Guys with families have kids things or shopping to do; single guys are still hungover from Friday's festivities. It was even worse for our west coast friends, who had to get up at 9am to tune in.
ESPN finally got smart and moved the draft to 3pm. This helps all of us, but it benefits them the most. By moving the draft to later in the day, they will not only compete directly with the sports coverage by CBS, NBC, ABC and FOX, they will spill over into prime time and grab a chunk of that audience.
Rounds 1 and 2 will transpire from 3pm to 11pm on Saturday. Rounds 3-7 will begin at 10am on Sunday and conclude around 7pm.
Item 3: Udeze Gets Some Good News
Minnesota Vikings DE Kenechi Udeze, who was diagnosed with leukemia on February, got some good news from doctors this week. The disease is in remission and a bone-marrow donor (his brother) has been located. Udeze is not out of the woods, yet but this news is very encouraging for the 4th year pro out of USC.
We wish him well.
Item 4: Raider Fans on Bleacher Report
People I refer to bleacherreport.com have asked me why there is so much Raider noise on this website. You would think given the team's recent performance that Raider fans would be in hiding. I tell them, you don't know this group, they are fanatical about this team. It's a good thing.
But there is one thing that Raider fans are wrong about.
They are not hated. People I have talked to - from all cities and teams - bear no ill will towards Raider Nation. We are not sure where this false notion has come from.
Do they really think that fans of other teams hate them or are jealous of them?
Why would fans of the Patriots, Giants, Steelers, Eagles, Redskins, Jets, Buccaneers, Seahawks, Cardinals, Cowboys and Colts hate the Raiders?
All of those teams either have won or lost the Super Bowl in the new millennium, gotten new stadiums - or both. Football is thriving in those -and other - cities.
The Raiders are the last thing on their minds.
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3 months ago
That's a pretty stunning photo.
And as a 'Skins fan I got nothing against the Raiders and their fans.
3 months ago
4th and Long ... is this a new thing for you? I don't know if I remember seeing it before. If so... good luck with it! I hope you can keep it up every week.
I assumed, from the title, that this would be about Jake and Chris Long. Good name for a weekly column though.
2 months ago
Great photo. Good stuff John. The Raiders still have a team?
from 2 months ago
hahaha....let's not stoke the fires again!!
from 2 months ago
okay - if i must refrain - in all seriousness though, i enjoyed the read and look forward to it in the future
2 months ago
That photo is beautiful.
I actually hate the new draft time because the draft takes so damn long to finish. The first round is going to be finished at like 7:30 this year.
from 2 months ago
The draft rules changed this year, so that each team in the first round has only 10 minutes. I think the second round is 10 minutes as well, but I could be wrong on that one. The rest have 5 minutes each. So it will go much quicker. So the later start time is all good with me.
2 months ago
I really do wish that the Raider's were the last thing on other fans' mind but unfortunately its not. Just today I got into an argument at work over this very same subject with a 49er fan and I asked him, "why are you so concerned with my team when your team has plenty of issues to worry about?", his response "because i hate them!" Sad, sad, sad...
2 months ago
as 49er fan and experienced in dealing with raiders fans, raider fans have the need to constantly bicker or prove to everyone with their internet words that the raiders are still a legitimate football team, regardless how well they play, since this can't be proven on their performance on the field. I admire their devotion, and needful justification of the Raider falws, but it'd be nice to speak with a raider fan that concedes a bit and more importantly admits that their team will go no where so long as Al Davis is the owner.
Hey I believe the 49ers will go no where so long as John York is the owner.
2 months ago
as a 49er fanatic, I must say I do have distaste for the "other Bay Team" but our rivalry has lessened since we both began to suck. No more do I care if we beat them senseless I simply am happy if we win regardless. However, I will say that my dislike for the Cowboys will never go away even if the rivalry dies mainly because my best friend is a die hard Cowboy fan. But until both the 49ers and Raiders get good again, the rivalry is pretty much dead which is why the Raiders V 49ers games were put into a pre-season game and this year we do not even play the Raiders, but we do get to DESTROY the Cowboys in their new stadium..... hopefully
2 months ago
I have no problem with the Raiders as a Buccaneer's fan. If it weren't for them, we wouldn't have had such an easy time winning the Super Bowl in 2002. ;)
2 months ago
Ok time for Devil's Ad on this thread.
For one, being a Raiders fan, growing up in broncoland, you get a lot of flak. Not only from the lack of media, where everyone would sing the praises of Elway, to the most recent debacle, with us trading off Gruden to the Bucs(any other team, the Raiders would have won. Seriously, we played our own coach.).
For sheer irony, while the Raiders are hated by the local media, and some fanatics, so are the Chiefs, and out 3 major teams, we're supposed to believe, are Denver, Green Bay, and the Vikings.
Ok, Vikings might be regional, but how do you root for a team that is 0-4 in the super bowl?
For the fact that the Raiders suck right now, check out my article on 19 wins, 5 seasons. Lots of teams, from time to time suck. Some, it takes a decade to finally realize, you need the ball in the end zone to win. Others, are simply cursed, like the Saints.
I think the reason why most fans of the Raiders feel bitter, is we know we've had great years. And in this day and age, most people can't even remember 5 years ago, let alone 20.
I got into an argument with a donkey fan, who couldn't remember the Broncos losing 4 super bowls. Or that elway bungled 3 of them, before Terrell Davis won it all for them.
Last item, for the history bugs...who has more total wins, regular season and post season, combined, between the Pats and Raiders?
The Raiders.
from 2 months ago
Raider Card should be applauded for his level-headed honesty. The the anti-sentiment for the Raiders comes from the other 3 cities in the AFC West as well as some of the other cities that had traditionally lost to them in the playoffs.
For the record...
My favorite Raider of all time is Dave Casper..I thought he was underrated while he was playing and I was glad to see him get elected to Canton..
2 months ago
The Raiders carefully cultivated their renegade image over the years, taking pride in leading the league in penalties year after year. Such an approach invites haters and the Raiders, as apparently has been their goal, have more than their share of them.
I've never rooted for the Raiders (either before or after Super Bowl XVII), but I like a lot of their individual players. I was thrilled by the aging George Blanda's heroics in the mid-70's. Stabler was one of my favorites grown up as were Jim Otto and Ted Hendricks. It was hard not to root for Jim Plunkett and I liked Marcus Allen (even though that long run in SB XVII gets replayed over and over even though it had absolutely no bearing on the outcome of the game). And it always was fun to watch Madden on the sideline.
There are some exceptions. Lyle Alzado was a jerk with both the Broncos and the Raiders. And I will always hate Jack Squirek.
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