Holla At Me Raider Nation!
 
I recently received an e-mail from "The Boss," and no I'm not talking about Bruce Springsteen. I'm referring to Elias "Tre" Trejo. The boss, or the God-Father of the Raider Nation Times if you will. Long story short, in my articles, I don't have to play nice; so with this one here, I'm not going to. Let's see how much trouble I can get myself into shall we?

After watching the so-called AFC West Preview Special on ESPN, one name came to mind; that name? Rodney Dangerfield. Why Rodney Dangerfield? Simple. The Raiders got shown no respect; no respect at all. Now before I go any further I should remind you that, I'm not stupid. I didn't expect for ESPN to devote the majority of the hour long special to discussing our beloved Oakland Raiders.

Nor did I expect for ESPN to give me any indication that they believed in what the team is capable of accomplishing. I did however, expect that they would have their so called NFL "experts" discuss the franchise for more than FIVE MINUTES! I also was expecting that they would provide me with some news about the team; I should have know better.

In case you were smarter than I am and didn't waste an hour of your life watching this nonsense, here are the low lights.

First and foremost the show opens up like most sports programs, with high lights from each team. However, there were NO positive plays from our Raiders! I should have known right then and there to change the channel!

Stupid me, giving ESPN a chance to prove me wrong, and show some love to our team.

They started the show, of course, with Peyton Manning in his Denver Broncos Jersey. Next up was Philip Rivers throwing a long touchdown pass. Then they showed the K.C. Chiefs scoring a touchdown. As for our Raiders? Did they show us throwing a touchdown? NO! Did they show Mike Huff intercepting that pass in the end zone to preserve the Raiders win against Houston? NO!

Well, what did they show? I mentioned to you that they showed Philip Rivers throwing a touchdown pass, well guess who the super-chokers were playing? You got! Our Oakland Raiders! Not exactly a HIGH-light for our team.

Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse, guess what...It did! The next Raiders low-light had to do with Carson Palmer throwing an interception; as if Raider Nation didn't see enough of that during the season.

However, it wasn't just the show that I was dis-enchanted with; it was also the cast. It was clear from the start that we weren't dealing with ESPN's "A-Team". Right now you should have the A-Teams theme music playing in your head as I introduce you to the ESPN B-TEAM.

The host of the show was ESPN's new ditsy blonde Sara Walsh.

Note to my Raiderettes: I've got nothing against blondes. Moreover, I've got nothing against ditsy blondes. However, when it comes to discussing my/our Oakland Raiders, I'm not interested in what she/you looks like; I only care about the words that are coming out of her/your mouth (to para-phrase my man Chris Tucker in Rush Hour).

Back to the article.

Nothing really personal against Sara, but my niece could have hosted this show! She's just as cute, (strike that, she's cuter) than Sara; moreover, she knows as much, (if not more) about football than Sara Walsh. Sara was joined by those football experts, (I'm joking of course) Marcellus Wiley, (an ex-super choker himself) and Chris Carter. As I said, not exactly the ESPN A-Team.

The low-lights continue as we hear Carson Palmer, (fyi - the best thing about the Carson Palmer segment was the Raiders hat he was wearing -HOT!) talk about how the team is looking to win. (WOW! this is news?! The Raiders are looking to win! Boy am I glad I didn't miss this show!) They must have started with Carson talking about winning so that they could segway into their next anti-Raider segment.

This one started with the loss the Raiders suffered to end the season, (as if we needed to be reminded of that game). Then, they went on to mention how the team missed the playoff's for the ninth year in a row. They also spoke how Dennis Allen is the 7th new head coach in the past 10 years. I was under the impression that this was a PREVIEW SHOW; you know, where we find out what we might get to see from the team in the upcoming season. Not a "let's look back at the what went wrong in past seasons" show.

The best these fools could come up with was to mention how the Raiders worked out a contact with safety Tyvon Branch.

Now, for an AFC West PRE-VIEW Special, why are we talking about, (negative) things that have already happened?! There is sooo much NEW NEWS surrounding the Raiders, (besides the signing of Tyvon) this season it's not even funny, yet some how, some way, when it comes to Oakland, the pre-view special turned into a review special, (that wasn't all that...special).

The "B-Team" did have an A-List guest, when they had Chris Mortensen on the show. However, they had NO questions for him that had to do with Oakland! How do you have an AFC West Preview show with a guy like Chris Mortensen on the show, and ask the man no questions about one of the teams in the AFC West? There are only four teams in the division; one question about each team would have made sense - which is probably why they didn't do that.

Every segment seemed to be worse than the one that proceeded it! The panel had a topic in which they posed a question about each team. The question they posed for Oakland was: Can The Raiders Stay In The Race? - What kind of question was that?!

Correct me if I'm mistaken, but weren't we "in the race" for the entire 2011 season?! Even after losing our starting quarterback, our starting running back, and the man who made the Raiders, The Raiders - Al Davis!  Oakland really should have won the division, not the donkies! So why shouldn't/wouldn't the Raiders be able to "stay in the race" in 2012-13?!

They did try to throw a water bottle on the bonfire they started by saying, (at the end of the show - and I do mean the end of the show - less then 5 minutes left) that the breakout player of the AFC West would be our own Darrius Heyward-Bey, (mentioned by Marcellus Wiley). However, Raider Nation isn't looking for DHB to be a "break-out" wide receiver or player.

They also half-heartedly suggested that Darren McFadden could be the AFC West MVP, (mentioned by Sara Walsh) I say half-hearted because all she kept saying was "If he can stay healthy," (In her whiney voice, she had to say that line at least three or four times! - As if she was looking to defend her pick - and to not look or sound like the ditzy blonde that she is).

We here in Raider Nation are looking for Heyward-Bey to be a dominate wide receiver, not a "break-out wide receiver, (he "broke out in 2011!). These are two very different things. Moreover, we in Raider Nation don't need Sara Walsh to tell us anything about Darren McFadden staying healthy! I wasn't joking when I said that my niece knows as much about football as Sara does. Moreover, I told you that this preview special became a re-view special when it came to Oakland.

However, before they tried to throw a water bottle on the fire, they had to add fuel to it! When mentioning what they would discuss after a commercial break they had more negative news for Raider Nation. They mentioned concerns about Palmer and McFadden. Now if you're doing a pre-view show why not talk about how Carson has finally had an off-season to work with his wide receivers?

Why should Raider Nation have concerns about Carson Palmer? Is he coming off of an injury that we don't know about? I'm fully expecting Carson to have a much better season in Oakland this time around, and I know I'm not alone. Concerns about Palmer - my ass!

As for McFadden, didn't I already mention that we in Raider Nation know that Darren needs to stay healthy? Does ESPN really think it's providing us with breaking news? If you wanted to talk about McFadden, why not discuss what he was doing to rehab, and return from injury?? Why not PRE-VIEW what to expect from a healthy McFadden? A returning Carson Palmer, and the new offensive system? Just a thought ESPN.

It didn't stop there. The next preview segment had to do with the biggest concerns for the Raiders heading into camp. At least here they were trying to talk about the future. The problem was the people who were doing the talking either have no idea what their talking about, or they're not the right people to be discussing the topic.

They tried to sell me some crap about a culture change in Oakland. Now, let's get one thing clear - there is no "culture change" going on in Oakland. The Raiders have been concerned with the same thing for over 40 years - WINNING! Now have the Raiders made some mistakes on and off the field? Sure they have, name me one team that hasn't! The mistakes made in and by the Raiders have NOTHING to do with the culture in Oakland!

When have the Raiders been concerned about anything other than winning? And I quote "Just WIN baby!"If someone out there knows of a time in Oakland when they weren't looking to "Just Win Baby!" please share that info with me! The culture in Oakland is what it's always been - to have the best franchise in sports! 

Culture change my ass!!

Moreover, what really can Sara Walsh, Marcellus Wiley, and Chris Carter tell us in Raider Nation about the culture in Oakland? In a word - NOTHING. Staying with their so-called culture theme, Sara Walsh asked Chris Cater what a head coach needs to do to get that change to happen. Now, nothing against Chris Carter - he was a very good wide receiver. HOWEVER, the last time i checked Chris Carter had ZERO head coaching experience. Therefore, how does he know what a head coach needs to do?

Now, if Herm Edwards was a member of the panel, and Sara asked former Head Coach Herm Edwards the same question - maybe I'd listen to the answer. However, unless we're talking about route running or catching the football, I'm not interesed in what Chris Carter has to say.

Even the AFC West top 10 Plays were designed to show Oakland no real love. The number 10 play was the finger tip catch made by Denarius Moore against San Diego. However, the number nine play was a Philip Rivers touchdown throw; a throw that he made against the Raiders (ex - super choker Marcellus Wiley was quick to point out that it wasn't just a good throw and catch, but bad defense on the part of the Raiders- while this may be true - it was an unnecessary comment at the time - but what do you expect from an ex super choker?).

The number seven play was the Mike Huff interception. Now for this being the game after the death of Al Davis, the team being one man short of defense and still coming up with this win - it should have been much higher than seven; especially after you see who they gave the number one spot to, (but more on that in a moment). The number six play was the 63 yard kick that put Sebastian Janikowski in the NFL record book. It also prompted another snide remark from ex super choker Marcellus Wiley who said jokingly "Now we know why he was picked number one." Wiley sounded just a bit mad at the fact that our kicker is a better football player then he ever was.

The number one play? The touchdown pass thrown by Tim Tebow, of all people, in the Dever playoff game agasint the Steelers.

Their number one AFC West high-light is of a guy who's not even in the AFC West?! Great job guys! NOT! No Raider highlight in the top five?! To quote legedary Raider-hater "Meshawn" Johnson, C'mon man!

I mentioned that they had Chris Mortensen on the show and didn't ask the man one question that had to do with the Raiders. Well, he wasn't the only guest on the show who had no news that pertained to our Oakland Raiders. The B-Team also spoke with Eric Karabell and asked him who were three players to watch. Now in a division with four teams, why would you ask a man which three players to watch? Why would you not ask him to pick one player from each team to watch? Well his three players to watch two were Broncos and one was a Charger. I guess their tying to tell us here in Raider Nation that we don't have a player to watch, and to that I say no we don't a player to watch; we've got an entire TEAM to watch!

The last straw came when they had the nerve to say the quote-unqoute "fans" in ESPN Sports "Nation," (notice how their stealing from us Raider Nation - but still have to "stones" to talk crap about our team) picked the Raiders to fininsh last in the division! Claiming that only 12.8 percent of the "fans" believed that Oakland would win the divison. They then tried to buttress this assinine survey with their own picks; Marcellus "ex super choker" Wiley of course picked the Chargers to win the division, while also picking our Oakland Raiders to finish last in the divison. Chris Carter went with the team the show was supporting from the beginning, the Denver Broncos to win the division. Now while Carter didn't have the Raiders fininshing last in the division, he did have the team finishing next to last. Thanks for the support Chris. NOT!

What I'm looking forward to now is the ESPN AFC West Season Rewind; when they're forced to acknowledge the Raiders' success in 2012!

Until then, I've got two letters for you ESPN - F.U.!