What is Wrong With Cheering for the Raiders?

I watched the Raiders vs. Texans (they are my second favorite team after the Redskins because they aren't the cowboys) and gloated as they pounded them into the dirt and opened up can after can of ass whuppin'. Then, as the game came to a close, I felt a twinge of guilt. You see I used to be a Raiders fan, wear silver and black, follow the players and cheer for them. How could I sit and revel in their misery?

I had them picked based on talent to win the division and watching the game, they were talented, but it all looked wrong on the field. It wasn't just one player, so many guys were dropping balls, missing blocks and Heyward-Bey was on the field running track instead of playing football. 

There was obviously something wrong, but what? Players used to want to be Raiders, but fans wished their team was as cool as the Raider Gangstas wore their hats, nothing was cooler than silver and black.

Now players don't want to come and are happy to leave as their coaches beat each other up and the team is a symbol of what not to do. They aren't a team anymore, just good football players on the field at the same time. 

It goes back to the top, to the owner Al Davis. I think Davis is old and is running things in a way that worked 20 years ago but just don't work now. The funny thing is that he lost it a while back. He did weird stuff back in the day, like trying to ruin Marcus Allen and trying to bench Tim Brown. Maybe it just all caught up with him now.

It might partly be because talent is spread thin and competition is fierce in the NFL these days. When the owner tries to meddle in football affairs it all hits the fan fast. You mess up and your team goes 4-14.  

Going back in my head, I realize I had tried to root for the team, but after a while I couldn't do it any more. I just wasn't able to watch and cheer for a team I knew was going nowhere. So I guess I started rooting against them. It wasn't really that I was rooting against them, I was against the policies that have ruined the team. 

Anyway I found myself in a similar dilemma this week with my Redskins I want them to win but every win means the nefarious Al-davisesque management style will continue over there too. 

Washington beat Tampa and that owner takes it to the opposite extreme and is an absentee owner. The Raiders whipped their rear-ends last time they met too. So I guess that is the good news.