Oakland Raiders: The Sky Is Falling!!!

Watching the game Monday Night, I saw the above happy face at the game.

By the end of the evening....it was never the same.

Ah. 2008's NFL season is here. And by the haters....we're already going to go 0-16. Such a positive spin, these clubs like to put on our seasons.

Of course, a number of them like to look at our last 5 years, and they crow, it's just like before! They suck! and other happy marks, glad to point out that the Raiders got beat by Cutler and Co, in Oakland.

Folks.....one game.

There's another 15 in the year.

How about Oakland only scoring 14 points?

Well, considering that Oakland scored more points than 9 teams, and tied Miami with 14 points too....they're not dead last. Are the haters booing these clubs?

Of course not.....they just like to hate.

How about losing the first game of the year?

Well, let's look at the Raiders, past this last 6 seasons.

In 1999, Oakland dropped their first game to the Packers, and still finished 8-8.

In 1998, they lost by 20 to Kansas City, rebounded to go 8-8.

In 1996, lost the first one, 7-9 for the year.

Heck, if the boo birds really wanted a season to complain about, go look up the 1994 year. They started out 0-2 and 1-3, but finished at 9-7, making the playoffs.

Another thing people with selective, short term memory problems, also like to condemn Hall for his horrible first game.

A number of years back, we had a QB crisis, due to an injury at the QB slot. We had our starter go down. We had an older replacement come in, and a raw rookie on the bench.

The QB inserted into the game didn't have a particularly good day, and in the end, Oakland turned the ball over 8 times in all, dropping their year to 2-3. Not exactly an inspiring start.

But in Oakland's case, then as in now, there isn't a lot of choices.

So, the old QB started the next week, against a high powered offense, San Diego.

Oakland proceeded to unite, fight back.

And they won, 38-24.

The QB went on to go 9-2 in the season. Jim Plunkett.

While Hall is green, and still smarting from his lesson....I don't think it's fair to call him washed up after one game. Everyone has a bad game. Heck, Moss had a bad year.

The Raiders are still my team.

And they still outscored almost a 3rd of the league.

Go Raiders.