The Oakland Raiders; Will The Ruthless Pirates Return?

The Oakland Raiders.  It still feels good to say, but after our pitiful loss on Sunday to the San Francisco 49ers, I’m once again asking myself, “What is their problem?”  Really, what is their problem? 

The results over the past seven years of Raiders football have been heart-crushingly similar, we’ve suffered through loss after loss, coach after coach, QB after QB, and let down after unyielding let down.

After seven long years, I fear the Ego has broken the Raiders only purpose; that of perpetual football domination.  That is after all what the Raider name stands for, isn’t it? 

So now there are questions, but these questions didn’t just arrive.  No, these questions have been rotting at the bottom of the NFL’s cellar for seven exhaustive years, decaying in the jokes of the ESPN talking heads, and decomposing in the rancid pile of Raider hating articles that have been spewing out of newspapers and the Internet since 2003. 

We can reference a few of those questions for posterity’s sake… “They fired Jon Gruden?”, “They drafted WHO in the first round?”, “They traded Randy Moss for a FOURTH round draft pick?”, “Guaranteed Jamarcus how much money?”   

Those questions are worth a few good laughs, but what remains are my questions, questions that seem so obvious to a fan but are never addressed, or even uttered for that matter. 

My questions are; where are the professionals?  Where are the leaders of the administration who are supposed to recognize failure and make the appropriate changes?  Who's in charge of fixing this?  Most importantly, when will the Raiders decide they’ve had enough of all the failure and embarrassment? 

I think Raider Nation would like the following question answered before all; what happened to that Autumn Wind?   

We want the real Raiders back.  The ones who pillage and plunder, who ruthlessly crush their opposition, the ones who destroy the other team and guiltlessly ruin the hopes of the opposing team’s fans, robbing and stealing victories as they swagger boisterously.  Where the hell are those guys?  

Well, Al?  It’s your ego and stubbornness that put us in this situation.  What are you going to do to fix it, huh?  What are you going to do to end the embarrassment?  What are you going to do to make the pride we all have in the Oakland Raiders real again?

You can start with firing Mario Henderson and Tom Cable at the same time.  Make sure Samson Satele gets the memo as well.  Don’t stop there though; there are many that need to go, so don’t forget to dump Stanford Routt, Chris Johnson, Michael “missed the tackle again” Huff, and Cooper Carlisle (I wish he were better, but he’s not).  Also, do the nation a favor and stop drafting people who shine in athleticism, but fail at football.            

Patience is a virtue, but eventually even the strongest virtues will dissolve when faced with an oppressive and relentless downpour of unnecessary failure.  The typhoon of losses, the torrential rains precipitated by storm clouds of pure embarrassment; Raider nation is but an Alka-Seltzer in a cup of water.  How long can we fizzle before there’s nothing left? 

This was the year that it was supposed to change.  This was the year where the Raiders would break the chains of failure.  This was the year that the Raiders would win more than 5 games; the year that our receivers started catching passes, the year our defense started crushing offenses, the year the offensive line stopped embarrassing us.  This was the year…but once again it wasn’t…unless it is. 

You can start by beating the Denver Donkeys this week, and continue by smashing the rest of the land lovers in the NFL by pillaging, plundering, and laughing as you punish the analysts for ever doubting you.  Go Raiders!