ANYBODY REMEMBER JERRY?

Holla at me Raider Nation!! -

 I would ask how you're doing, but... I know the answer to that question. YOU'RE DISGUSTED!! - It's Tuesday and the loss the Chiefs has about passed through our system and, if you're like me - you're just now able to have a regular bowel moment (which has enabled me to be able to sit and I did say SIT and type this letter to you).

I want to take you back in time. I want you to..... work with me now..... - travel across the bay and remember WR # 80 Jerry Rice; Not the Super Bowl Champion - I mean the rookie from that no where college who came in the league and dropped every pass thrown his way. At the time no one, and I mean NO ONE was looking at this guy as the future best to every play wide receiver.

Which leads me to my (or should I say our) own drop prone wide out. Now make no mistake I'm not saying this kid (DHB) is going to turn into Jerry Rice however, I do see something in the kid. Think about it: he has that long, sleek, style to his body type. He also has a great deal of speed; These are things that you can't coach and Jerry was the same: sleek body, lots of speed. The problem is DHB is a very high draft pick; Many people think he was drafted too high. I have to say that at the time I was one of those people however, that's a letter for another day . I watched the draft and have kept track of this kid - forget about the catches, the yards, (the drops). RAIDER FANS DON'T NEED STATS! we need to know if he's a raider or if he's a RAIDER! I'm talking about his character, his heart, his work ethic. These are the things that can break you in this game, no matter how much talent you have.

As I said I watched the draft and what I saw, in DHB during the interviewer after the Raiders selected him was a young man who was looking for a chance to do something great with the opportunity he'd been given. I've kept track of this kid and I believe all he needs is time. He wants to be successful so badly that it's causing him to make mistakes. We've all seen it (or done it) that moment when the player doesn't allow the game to come to them - they instead.... well you know what happens, they screw up the game! That's what's going on with DHB. I know it's been hard to deal with his growing pains because of all the other issues with the team (again a topic for another letter).

On a lighter note, we should keep in mind that Freddy B is a coach on this team and if he, for some strange reason can't work it out we always have options. We could always call up Tim Brown, ask him for some tape, or worst case scenario: we call up my main man Lester. However, before we get crazy let's try to remember that this kid is young and like most young players the lights are bright and the hits are hard so he just needs time to adjust to the game and to what it means to be a RAIDER.

We should also try to remember that the QB situation is, shall we say less than stable? So it's not like he has a Hall of Fame QB (Brett Farve for example) throwing to him. Moreover, remember that he has what that wide receiver in San Fran. right now DOESN'T HAVE - break away SPEED!!, and we all remember seeing Jerry run away from defenders. How sweeeet it will be if DHB can some how provide some of those type of memories for the RAIDER NATION...

Terrell White

RAIDER from birth.