Oakland Raiders Dream Team to Become a Winning Machine: The Vision For 2010

A Winning Concept Revisited

It's a countdown. The drums are sounding.

The "Dream Team" is about to become a "Winning Machine."

The roster includes outstanding players such as Rolando McClain, Lamarr Houston, Jared Veldheer, Bruce Campbell, Jacoby Ford, Walter McFadden, Travis Goethel and Jeremy Ware. Steve Brown is on the practice squad.

Other key arrivals include Jason Campbell, Quentin Groves, and Rock Cartwright.

We need these guys to form a threefold cord which is not quickly broken or overcome. They must be of one mind, focused on winning the games.

The Vision, The Dream

The team is about to make their grand entrance. The rumble of the bumble bee, the sound of thunder is the sound of the Oakland Raider fans, cheering their team to victory.

The coach may shout, for example:

"We are in this together! Our victory is a victory for the fans, the Raider Nation. It is a victory for the franchise. Get in there, men, and play football, together! Functioning together, we can withstand our opponents."

The Sound of a Victorious Spirit

Don't you hear the roar, the claps, the horns, sounding out, loudly, to signal victory over our opponents?

('Cause you are excited in your car, on the plane, train or motorbike, you turn the volume up on your radio.)

Yes, any two, working together, according to The Good Book and other wise writings, can assure victory, in many forms.

We are cheering for the Oakland Raiders.

Also, this semester, my students and I are cheering for, let's call him, LaTroienne, a pen name for a man with a powerful personality and spirit of a fighter, who is determined to reach his goal. 

LaTroienne is blind, just as his namesake (the great stallion) was partially blind. He is a part of a great pedigree of stallions (strong men), metaphorically.

He is determined to run this race for victory in his life and for a team he watched years ago, when his cousin was a gifted, graceful, and unusually fast wide receiver.

La Troienne (remember this is his pen name for Bleacher) said, "My cousin has survived a lot of challenges. He has a great testimony to share, someday, at the right time."

A survivor, a warrior, a man determined to clasp victory, even without his sight. He tells me, "I am alright. I have my friend (his beautiful dog) who helps me see."

So, LaTroienne has his companion who helps him see. In a parallel, the Oakland Raiders have the Raider Nation, and we help them "see" victory.

The two, the Raider Nation and the Oakland Raiders, will travel the road to victory together. We will struggle and press forward toward the mark, the victory.

We will chime, "Two are better than one. We, the Raider Nation stand, solidly, with the Oakland Raiders!"

Then, someone will hear the powerful words of an older woman, the Raider Lady, who recalls words of wisdom.

Another says, "Can she vocalize those words?"

Then another says, "Yes, for we are a Raider Nation, very diverse and from various faiths, races, and ethnic backgrounds, but unified in our desire for victory for the Oakland Raiders!"

The story ends with the 65-year-old woman reading:

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 

          9   Two are better than one;

                because they have a good reward for their labour.

          10  For if they fall, the one will lift up his companion:

                but woe to him who is alone when he falls;

                for he has no one to help him up.

          11  Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm:

                but how can one be warm alone?

          12  Though one may be overpowered by another,

                two can withstand him;

                and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

Conclusion:

Our friend, LaTroienne, will rise up and attain his goals in life, in spite of his challenged vision.

Our team, the Oakland Raiders, will rise up in franchise value, in performance, and in the number of wins, in spite of a few twists and turns of the past.

And, as the Oakland Raiders rise up, we, too, the Raider Nation, will rise up in a time of economic troubles in the United States.

OK. Let's march to the beat. Let's march, together, like in the military.

Where are we going?

We are headed toward Victory!