Raider Nation Feeling Numbness From Disastrous Performances

What does it mean when a Raider fan of over 25 years doesn’t feel anger or helplessness as he witnesses his team getting pummeled by a well-coached, prideful football team? To some it means the fan has stopped being a fan. To others, it probably means reality has set in, and the fan has come to grips that this is another season lost.

Make that seven in the last seven years.

What the Raiders offered up on the field last Sunday was further evidence that this team has no direction, no heart, no passion, and worst of all, no love for the game that pays them so well. Our coaching staff is a mess. The players don’t care, and worst of all, according to one fan, we have an owner who “would rather lose his way than win someone else’s way.”

It’s gotten to the point where anger is no longer a direct result of watching Raider football. It’s now at the point where watching Raider football has become as comedic as watching George Lopez on Nick at Night or Gabriel Iglesias on Netflix (both reruns).

Week in and week out, Raider fans wake up early to watch their beloved and maligned franchise, hoping that this will be the week when they turn it all around. Week in and week out, Raider fans are disappointed because the only emotion this team shows is during the player introductions.

What can Raider fans do? Nothing. They must sit and wait until by some miracle, Al Davis relinquishes some of the power he has over the organization, or the other 31 organizations fire all their GM’s and let the owners start running things.

Why nothing? Well, one must remember that Al Davis is a man who is big, wait, HUGE, when it comes to loyalty. If a player is loyal to Al Davis, Al Davis is loyal to the player. Same goes with the fans. If you’re a loyal fan of Al Davis, then you’re safe. If you get any ideas of boycotting the team or saying an unkind word about Davis’ beloved Raiders, you’re in trouble.

 Imagine if Raider fans stop showing up to the Coliseum on Sundays. That is certainly the excuse that Davis needs to move the team to L.A. or Reno or Albuquerque, New Mexico. No loyalty to Davis means no loyalty to the Raiders. No loyalty to the Raiders means the old crypt keeper takes his team and steals money from fans in another city. Question is, which city is willing to take on such a dysfunctional franchise?

Though the two words begin sounding the same, it’s a far fall from “dynasty” to “dysfunctional”. And though the Raiders never had a true dynasty, it can be argued that over the years, their won-loss record made the Raiders the biggest dynasty overall. That is no more. It’s been seven long, hard years. Eight if you pinpoint the exact moment this franchise began to crumble.

The “tuck-rule” game was Jon Gruden’s last game at the helm. That was the day when this franchise began it’s descent into the bottomless pit. When Gruden left and Davis was back in total control, 25-76 was on the horizon. Yes, the Raiders played in a Super Bowl, but those were remnants of the Chucky years. It was only fitting that he came back and laid the wood to a team he built with a team he perfected. Though this writer’s loyalties lie with the Oakland Raiders, he cannot say in good faith that he agrees with everything that is happening there.

There is no pain. There is no anger. There is no sadness. There is only disgust for the sad state of what was once the greatest team in all of professional sports. They have a mad man running things in the front office, they have a jaw-breaking puppet for head coach, and they have a fat, lazy quarterback stealing from the team. What does the future hold?