Why I can't quit the Raiders

[haji81872]

This is the end of a great article written during the Covid era while a man was trying to replace sports with e-sports. I think his explanation of watching sport is on point and explains a lot. The collective memories through my life and experiences shared with all of you make it impossible to stop watching.

That, I think, is what sport is all about. If you follow a sport it becomes a thread which runs through your life and provides memories and narrative and meaning and context. Sport becomes a kind of companion, part of the richness and texture of lived experience. At the same time, you could argue that sport is the only thing on television that is real. The things you are watching happen are actually happening right now, as you watch. So much modern reality is mediated, packaged, predigested. This is obviously true for all forms of drama, but it is more subtly true of news and current affairs, where the effects can be more pernicious, because we’re seeing an image of the world which makes claim to be the real world. Sport isn’t like that. It is clearly artificial: it happens within a determined frame and a clear set of rules and in that sense is as mediated as human experience can be. But within that frame, when you’re watching live sport, you are watching reality as it really happens. It is perhaps the only completely, inarguably true thing you can see on TV. These events, which define the lives of the athletes taking part, are taking place while you watch.

You can have intense moments of feeling watching sport, just as you can have through reading or through drama or through art. The meanings it gives are both individual, because nobody else has seen exactly the things you’ve seen, and collective, because anyone with an interest in the sport has similar experiences, similar memories, and is connected to them, and to you, as a result. Esports give me none of that, which is the reason they can mean so much to people who play them, but nothing at all to me. And so although thinking about esports hasn’t made me get into esports – to be honest, if anything it has put me off – at least it’s made me realise where those thousands of hours have gone, and why. So thank you, esports. But also, respectfully, no thanks. I’m dancing with the one what brung me.

[Willmark]

Raiders fans have literally been born and reached legal drinking age while this dogshit franchise is still trying to get their shit straight.

That's beyond pathetic

We've been bad since November 30th 1986. At this point the next metric like that isn't drinking age, it is being able to collect Social Security.

[Tatum]

We've been bad since November 30th 1986.

so you're saying that we've sucked since before the Salary Cap started?

[Reno Hightower]

so you're saying that we've sucked since before the Salary Cap started?

Let's just say that MCMLXXXVI marked the end of Pax Raider Romana.

[SuperRaider]

We've been bad since November 30th 1986. At this point the next metric like that isn't drinking age, it is being able to collect Social Security.

Have to remember Gruden/ Gannon years…we were one of the best teams during that time;

[Willmark]

so you're saying that we've sucked since before the Salary Cap started?

Correct.

[Sold My Soul]

Pretty sure Davis and Gray are butt bangers....

https://justblogbaby.com/amy-trask-name ... -tom-brady

[Reno Hightower]

Have to remember Gruden/ Gannon years…we were one of the best teams during that time;

IMHO these are the Raider teams since 1985 that were legit contenders.

1990
1993
2000
2001
2002

Five seasons out of forty...

I never believed in that 2016 team for some reason even before Derek went down.

[GoodTimeCharlie]

Pretty sure Davis and Gray are butt bangers....

https://justblogbaby.com/amy-trask-name ... -tom-brady

Oh for f[raiders_icon]ck sake, Jim f[raiders_icon]cking Gray?!? Biggest pencil-necked shit-weasel to ever be connected to sports. He’s the real life version of this f[raiders_icon]cking guy…

The one on the left.

Alright man, yeah, we are f[raiders_icon]cking cursed.

[ELCAraiderfan]

Oh for fck sake, Jim fcking Gray?!? Biggest pencil-necked shit-weasel to ever be connected to sports. He’s the real life version of this fcking guy…

The one on the left.

Alright man, yeah, we are fcking cursed.

The Raiders (I was going to say 'we' are cursed but I will not give this pos owner/org any of myself anymore)
The Raiders are cursed because Al Davis left his son or whatever that thing is as owner of this team. Until that thing dies or is forced out this abomination of this once great franchise is not going to change.

Plus if one really thinks about it the Raiders except for 4 short Gruden years around 2000 the Raiders have been lousy since the late 80's....or as I've said for years since Ron Wolf left. After that the Raiders fell to less than the great team they were in the 60's, 70's & 80's. The evidence is right in front of everyone if all would just look. After Wolf left the org has been mediocre to the worst org in football except for 4 very short years a quarter century ago.

I give them no more of my time, energy or support. I've given too much since 1967, they owe me and all of us now to get rid of that pos owner and what I've been reading brady and that pos influencer jim gray who is a complete asshole and is exactly as represented in the photo above, just evil pos.

[SuperRaider]

The Raiders (I was going to say 'we' are cursed but I will not give this pos owner/org any of myself anymore)
The Raiders are cursed because Al Davis left his son or whatever that thing is as owner of this team. Until that thing dies or is forced out this abomination of this once great franchise is not going to change.

Plus if one really thinks about it the Raiders except for 4 short Gruden years around 2000 the Raiders have been lousy since the late 80's....or as I've said for years since Ron Wolf left. After that the Raiders fell to less than the great team they were in the 60's, 70's & 80's. The evidence is right in front of everyone if all would just look. After Wolf left the org has been mediocre to the worst org in football except for 4 very short years a quarter century ago.

I give them no more of my time, energy or support. I've given too much since 1967, they owe me and all of us now to get rid of that pos owner and what I've been reading brady and that pos influencer jim gray who is a complete asshole and is exactly as represented in the photo above, just evil pos.

Don’t know; actually thought Tom Cable did decent job when he was HC of the raiders; Mean Al fired him when he got the team to 8-8 record and he kinda brag about it….and yet that year we beat the Chiefs, Chargers and Broncos in both game that were played against them.

Would have been nice to see what could have done in third season with the Raiders

[Reno Hightower]

Oh for fck sake, Jim fcking Gray?!? Biggest pencil-necked shit-weasel to ever be connected to sports. He’s the real life version of this fcking guy…

The one on the left.

Alright man, yeah, we are fcking cursed.

I can't help but think that Mark had some daddy issues regarding Amy Trask's role with the Raiders. He did not waste any time pushing her out of the organization once Al had passed.

[Reno Hightower]

The Raiders (I was going to say 'we' are cursed but I will not give this pos owner/org any of myself anymore)
The Raiders are cursed because Al Davis left his son or whatever that thing is as owner of this team. Until that thing dies or is forced out this abomination of this once great franchise is not going to change.

Plus if one really thinks about it the Raiders except for 4 short Gruden years around 2000 the Raiders have been lousy since the late 80's....or as I've said for years since Ron Wolf left. After that the Raiders fell to less than the great team they were in the 60's, 70's & 80's. The evidence is right in front of everyone if all would just look. After Wolf left the org has been mediocre to the worst org in football except for 4 very short years a quarter century ago.

I give them no more of my time, energy or support. I've given too much since 1967, they owe me and all of us now to get rid of that pos owner and what I've been reading brady and that pos influencer jim gray who is a complete asshole and is exactly as represented in the photo above, just evil pos.

Ron Wolf was very adamant against drafting Anthony Smith. When Wolf was laid up in the hospital after suffering a heart attack Bob Urbanik lobbied hard for Al to draft Smith in the first round, which he did.

The LA Times ran an article highlighting Smith's legal issues following the draft. Al was pissed and went off on Ron who wanted no part of Anthony Smith to begin with. Urabanik was able to skate on the issue for some reason.

I think that was pretty much the last straw as so far as Ron Wolf was concerned. I agree, his departure had a lot to do with the Raiders decline.

Fun fact...The Patriots and the Raiders both have had serial killers on their rosters. It adds another dimension to the organizations storied history as rivals.

A little dark humor.

[Attyla]

We have tried all but one thing since we transitioned ownership, and I am talking once Davis established himself as Head Dufus. Not the first years when he inherited this shit show.

It does not always work but we need to hire a young offensive minded coach, and draft HIS QB and then sit back and stay the f[raiders_icon]ck out of the way. Not some retread coordinator, not someone else's toss away, not some old f[raiders_icon]ck, not some old f[raiders_icon]ck who we bring back who has been out of the game for over a decade. Just say no. Give us a young guy and let him pick his QB. A Joe Brady type of guy. Me personally, I would look at Jim Bob Cooter because you can never have enough Cooter's around and Jim Bob just sounds like a name of a guy who would not let the Vegas strip distract him from the job. He would just be making his moon shine down by the crick and coaching the team.

[Reno Hightower]

How about Sark? Not very young but also not wearing a tan wind breaker and walking laps at the mall yet either.

[Raidernation1979]

IMHO these are the Raider teams since 1985 that were legit contenders.

1990
1993
2000
2001
2002

Five seasons out of forty...

I never believed in that 2016 team for some reason even before Derek went down.

The 2016 team wasn’t a contender. 1-3 against teams who made the playoffs. We beat the Texans in Mexico. The Brock osweiler Texans who we lost to in divisional round and were then blown out by the pats the following week.

We had 4 wins against teams that finished the year over .500. The best record we beat in season was 9-7.