With training camp signaling the start of the 2010 season, it is time to start making guesses and setting expectations for the upcoming campaign.
Many Oakland Raiders fans are stoked to start the season because they believe that this will be the year the Raiders finally turn the corner and end an era of seven straight losing seasons.
Some Raiders fans fear that this year will be like the last few years of extreme off-season excitement only to be followed by a season of 11 or more losses.
The Oakland fans that are optimistic believe that the Raiders have solved most of their problems ...
A goal of many baseball fanatics is to visit all 30 Major League Baseball ballparks. Some claim this accomplishment separates the genuine baseball enthusiast from the fair-weather fan.
People who have traveled the United States in pursuit of this ambition speak of three types of stadiums.
1. The classic ballparks:
These include Fenway Park, and “The Friendly Confines” of Wrigley Field. Home of the Green Monster, Fenway was built two years earlier that Wrigley, in 1912, and is the oldest venue used by a professional sport steam in America. The locals claim that it is “America’s Favorite Ballpark,” however, that assertion must be ...
There are so many ways to arrange the Oakland Raiders' data. Let's take a look at the teams that the Oakland Raiders have encountered more than the others during the history of the franchise. One objective of this study is to compare the Oakland Raiders with other selected teams. This brief study is just another way of examining the performance of the Oakland Raiders.
Here is a chart:
W L T AVG Team Opponent
Denver Broncos
56
41
2
0.577
2121
1941
>
Oakland
San Diego Chargers
54
44
2
0.551
2186
2138
>
Oakland
Kansas City Chiefs
45
52
2
0.464
1925
2043
<
Opponent
Seattle Seahawks
27
23
0
0.54
1117 ...
Football is a business. How many times have we had those four words beaten into our heads?
A huge part of the business is marketing and merchandising.
Even though some teams do better than others in terms of victories, postseason, and even Super Bowl wins, it doesn't flat-out mean their merchandise sells any better than a team who goes 4-12.
Case in point:
Go to any Wal-Mart outside of Ohio and look for an NFL hat. Good luck finding any Browns or Bengals hats, but I guarantee you picking up a Raiders hat will be an easy task.
That's an example of merchandising ...
It's very interesting reading various media content on the Internet about the Oakland Raiders and how most of the media consistently tab the Oakland Raiders as guaranteed losers simply because Al Davis is the owner/GM.
In most people's eyes, this team is in total disarray and utter chaos with a complete leadership vacuum and a slew of wasted picks. It doesn't matter if most of the Raiders draft picks since 2007 have been starters are solid backups to these media types. Everything the Raiders have done up until the 2010 draft was wrong by the media.
Everyone knows Oakland was expected to take ...
"I could ask the Phillies to keep me on to add to my statistics, but my love for the game won't let me do that." —Mike Schmidt It’s always refreshing for a Hall-of-Famer like Mike Schmidt to know when the time’s right to hang up the spikes. To that point, the majority of Schmidt’s days were spent at baseball’s hot corner, where he established himself as one of the all-time greats, winning three MVPs and 10 Gold Glove awards. However as “Father Time” began to set in, Schmidt realized his best days were behind him and he could ...
For those who haven't read my previous offseason rankings, they can be seen in my archive.
As of right now, I will be doing weekly rankings throughout the season. This is part one of a three-part series ranking the Raiders from 1-80.
1. Nnamdi Asomugha
The league's best corner (yeah, I said it) will not be moving out of this spot this season, as long as he doesn't get injured.
Jerry McDonald, of the Oakland Tribune , has asked whether the Raiders would be more inclined to let Asomugha make more plays.
2. Zach Miller
This guy should be almost a lock for 80 catches ...
Before every NFL season begins, fans like to place forward their predictions for how they feel each and every team will perform over the four month regular season period.
For the most part, predicting the disappointing teams is no hard task. Teams such as St. Louis and Detroit come to mind, and at the end of the day, these are still struggling teams that are on the butt end of a league that continues to move forward.
However, when it comes to predicting the surprisingly disappointing teams, well lets just say it does take a rocket scientist to figure it out.
In ...
A Pep Talk
Why do I cheer for the Oakland Raiders? There are many reasons. One of those reasons is that I have known several of them, and they were hell-raisers on the field and kind off the field.
Well, sometimes they were.
The few senior Oakland Raiders I knew were smart, determined and they were more than survivors. They were high achievers.
The years have mellowed all of them. Having lived the prime of my life during the 60's and 70's in New York City, you can be certain that I have a strong constitution which complemented the strength of those in my ...
Bob Geren's legacy as manager of the Oakland A's will always be his legendary incompetency. No manager in Major League history is as clueless at using their bullpen as Geren has been.
Tonight illustrates a perfect example of how Geren can destroy the confidence of a young pitcher. Henry Rodriguez came into the ballgame to face Paul Konerko in the top half of the eighth inning, and Rodriguez did his job keeping the game close at 3-1.
Rodriguez's biggest problem has been his wildness. So, getting the last out in the eighth inning could have been a huge boost to his confidence, ...