Oakland Raiders: Is There a Message In The Bi-Modal Mess?

Review for Retention and Revitalization of the Oakland Raiders

Al Davis made a presentation at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio in 2006. The win-loss record for the Oakland Raiders in that same year was four wins and 12 losses.

How do you think Davis feels now, having been given one of the highest honors in professional football (he was enshrined in 1992), yet his team had the worst win-loss record in a seven-year period? We look back, using hindsight.

Here is the data to remind you "how stuck on low achievement" this may have seemed to a lot of people:

Year     Wins     Losses

I know of a professional educator who received all types of accolades in 1984. He was placed in a high school where the students did not seem to care much about pursuing excellence. He told the students, "A teacher is only as great as his students. If you are failing, then I am failing."

The need to improve

This example points out the need for the Oakland Raiders to improve. They have got to do better in order to re-gain the integrity of the franchise. As there should be a correlation between an outstanding educator and outstanding students, so there also ought to be a strong connection between good coaching and good performance on the playing field.

There should be a very strong correlation between a good coach and a good team. If the Oakland Raiders are stuck on a win-loss record that cannot rise above five wins per season, then, as a joke, we could say, "It seems the team is stuck on low achievement."

That is not acceptable. Here are the facts.

From 2003 to present, the Oakland Raiders have a bi-modal distribution in the win-loss category. There were three seasons with 5-11 in the win-loss category. There were three seasons with 4-12 in that same category.

Well, in a few more days, some choices will be made. If nothing more, we anticipate more than five wins per season. The pattern that keeps the Oakland Raiders stuck between only four or five wins per season has to stop in 2010.

We want to win in 2010! The Oakland Raiders must make a re-commitment to excellence.

What is the message in this bi-modal mess the Raiders have been wallowing in for seven years?

It is the message folks learn from the story about the donkey who fell in a well. The donkey was so deep down in the well, that the owner decided to bury him down there.

The owner kept dumping dirt or dung on the donkey. The donkey would shake it off and stand on the dung. Finally, so much dung was beneath the donkey that he stood tall enough to get out of the well.

Well, let's get out of this well 'cause a whole lot of dung is being dumped on the Oakland Raiders and the Raider Nation.

And, we are ready to get out of this dung. A winning percentage ranging from 12.5 percent to at most 31.25 percent is not acceptable. The efficiency level (or winning percentage) should shift up to near 70 percent or 11 wins in 2010.

What is the message in the bi-modal mess? Get fired up and prepare to pass the test. Get more victories!

Go Raiders!