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2014 NFL Thread...

paul carruthers

By paul carruthers
in Ramble On

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Walter

Walter

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Posted

jabe, it's simple. I had one sibling, a sister, whom I was different than in every possible aspect - still am. Going up in the mid/late 70's she was a Pittsburgh Steelers fan, so I had to go with the team who was the complete opposite of them - the Dallas Cowboys. Plus my grandfather, whom I adored and named my son after, also was a Cowboys fan. So I've stuck with them through thick and thin for close to 40 years now.

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ebk

ebk

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Thanks for asking jabe. I grew up a BALTIMORE Colts fan. Then they left. In the middle of the night. In the snow.

I rooted for the Taters, mostly because everyone around here is in a better mood when they win. Then they were acquired by Little Napoleon. I don't root for them anymore.

Didn't root for the Ravens when they hit town either because they came here the same way we lost our team such a long time ago. So I was a woman without a football team.

After 3 whole long years (yes, that's sarcasm), Cleveland got a team! And yet, they still whine. And so, I became a Ravens fan. I don't own any apparel though. And there you go. :)

I do root for the Nats, but my great love is the O's. Always!!

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LedZeppfan77

LedZeppfan77

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Thanks for asking jabe. I grew up a BALTIMORE Colts fan. Then they left. In the middle of the night. In the snow.

I rooted for the Taters, mostly because everyone around here is in a better mood when they win. Then they were acquired by Little Napoleon. I don't root for them anymore.

Didn't root for the Ravens when they hit town either because they came here the same way we lost our team such a long time ago. So I was a woman without a football team.

After 3 whole long years (yes, that's sarcasm), Cleveland got a team! And yet, they still whine. And so, I became a Ravens fan. I don't own any apparel though. And there you go. :)

I do root for the Nats, but my great love is the O's. Always!!

I had a Colts helmet when I was a kid. I always liked the old Baltimore Colts. When Buffalo joined the NFL that was all it took. Bills fan for life, even though before they were in the NFL I liked the old Packers. But I am a Bills fan for life. Who ever thought LA would go this long without a team. And the Rams were my second favorite team last 25 years or so. When they were in LA more but i was still delighted they won in 99. I guess the Rams are still my second fav not that it means much. I am hoping that Manuel does not blow what they have done. They have built a pretty good taem around him.

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Walter

Walter

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Not that it means anything, but I was just checking the preseason schedule and saw that one of the Saturday Night tilts is Dallas at Miami. Interesting.... smiley-confused002.gif

We shall see, Paul. It'll be the closest to a regular season preseason game. Starters usually play most of the first half. The 4th game fills out the roster and practice squad.

Dallas is starting to get some of the defensive starters back onto the field. The 1st string offense looked good last week, minus the fumbled handoff. See if the Dolphins have anyone that can cover Dez.... I'll have to watch it on tape though - this Saturday night is the "Bristol Night Race". Can't miss that one! ;)

Go Cowboys!

:cheer:

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LedZeppfan77

LedZeppfan77

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Great news. Jim Kelly at his checkup today was found to be free of Cancer. That is great. Now to get this fucking Manuel on track. He has an entire franchise and all of upstate NY depending on him. If he is a bust, he will be tossed and they will have to trade for some unhappy bunch warmer QB. Minnesota has an extra guy. But we are a long way from this now. I hope he comes through.

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paul carruthers

paul carruthers

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You know, I personally have nothing against the weed--but... if the NFL says it's illegal, then you have to stay off the joints. At least until the offseason...

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/11385221/legarrette-blount-leveon-bell-pittsburgh-steelers-set-face-misdemeanor-marijuana-possession-charges

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Walter

Walter

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You know, I personally have nothing against the weed--but... if the NFL says it's illegal, then you have to stay off the joints. At least until the offseason...

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/11385221/legarrette-blount-leveon-bell-pittsburgh-steelers-set-face-misdemeanor-marijuana-possession-charges

It's one thing to lose A running back for something as stupid as possession....but to lose your top two running backs is insane! Mix in a DD and don't carry it on you - IDIOT! Mike Tomlin has to be beside himself over this.

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Strider

Strider

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Looking like there may be some new additions to the already present talent in NFL pickin' this season.

But I have some questions regarding team loyalty.

Strider, I believe from Texas(?), lives in LA, pulls for the Raiders. Curious as to why Oakland. Because they did a stint in LA?

Egads jabe...I AM NOT FROM TEXAS! Hahaha. :P

Walter asked me this same question a few years back, so I'll reprint my answer to him...

On second thought - DON'T! That guy's fuckin' crazy! :ohmy:

Strider, how can you be a Raider fan? I know they were in LA for a little while, but the Rams have a much deeper history. Lots of playoff appearences in the 70's and 80's.

Most people have an interesting story as to whom their favorite team is and why. I'm sure you do too.

Well, I do have a story, Walter...although I don't know how interesting you'll find it. Probably as interesting as any story from the 1,127th most interesting man in the world can be.

First I'll start with the basics...as a kid, although I was born in LA, we moved when I was 2 or 3 to Huntington Beach, smack dab in Surf City, USA...Orange County, CA. So being in Orange County, we were a little sensitive about the big bad city to our north.

I saw a California Angel game before I ever saw a Dodger game. Nolan Ryan was pitching. The Angels also seemed more colourful, wild and wooly(this was the 70s...the greatest decade ever for hairy sports heroes: crazy mustaches and afros and long hair sticking out from under helmets and caps) than the staid, clean-cut Dodgers, led by Mr. All-American Steve Garvey.

Basketball-wise, I could be a Laker fan because Orange County had no basketball team, so it was Lakers or nothing. But after watching the heartbreak of the Lakers loss to Boston in the 1969 Finals, and the class and dignity of Jerry West, and the enthusiasm that the late, great announcer Chick Hearn brought to the game, it was pretty easy to be a Laker fan and not feel like you were just jumping on the bandwagon.

Plus, in those days, the NBA might as well have been tiddly-winks, for all the majority of the country was concerned. Kids today have NO IDEA how different things are regarding the popularity of basketball and the NBA in particular. Being an NBA fan in those days of the 60s and 70s felt like being part of an underground cult.

Which was another key to how I became a Raider fan. As I grew up in the 60s and became a rock and roller, and ingrained and interested in all things counterculture, if you were a hippie-rocker who was anti-establishment, the NFL was the evil empire and the AFL were the Jedi knights.

The NFL Los Angeles Rams were this boring CORPORATE team who had George Allen as a coach...this was the guy who took play tips from Tricky-Dick Nixon, ferchrissakes! Yeah, the Fearsome Foursome was great, but for the most part, I hated the brand of football they played...run, run, run, 3 yards and a cloud of dust(just like the Big 10 college teams who always came to the Rose Bowl and get their hearts broken by USC and other Pac-8 teams who didn't treat the forward pass like a disease). They were safe, boring, predictable...and I even hated their uniforms.

Also, because they played in the huge LA Coliseum, and because of the NFL's insane rules, their games were frequently blacked out...only when they were on the road would you have a chance to see them on TV.

On the other side of the ledger, you had the Oakland Raiders of the AFL...and you couldn't pick a more contrasting-style team to the Rams if you tried. They were wild and crazy, aggressive in tactics and demeanor, they had hair and mustaches everywhere, they had awesome uniforms and logos...and they had the coolest sports theme song ever:

If the AFL was the jedi revolt to the NFL's evil empire, then the Raiders were Luke Skywalker...or on second-thought, maybe they were more like Han Solo.

For you soccer fans, imagine the Raiders being like the Brazilian or German World Cup teams: always attacking and free-wheeling, while the Rams were like the cowardly Italians, who just pack it in on defense and play for a tie.

Hell, the Raiders even had a quarterback they called the "Mad Bomber": Darryl Lamonica! They had the ancient yet ageless George Blanda, whose accomplishments are too numerous to mention. They had a player, Jim Otto, with the uniform number "00"! How cool is that?!? They threw the ball all over the field from any field position and they played defense the same way, man-to-man, attacking and coming from all angles. Unlike the Rams, who pussied out and played mostly zone defense.

John Madden, Fred Biletnikoff, "Old Man" Willie Brown, Big Ben Davidson, Gene Upshaw, Art Shell, Kenny "The Snake" Stabler, Mark van Eeghen, Clarence Davis, John Matuszak, Dave Casper, Cliff Branch, Jim Plunkett, Ted "The Mad Stork" Hendricks, Lester "The Molester" Hayes, Mike Haynes, Howie Long, Matt Millen...and last but not least, the coolest and greatest punter ever, Ray Guy...the only punter to hit the jumbotron in the New Orleans Superdome with one of his punts.

Plus, it sometimes seemed like they were on tv more than the Rams were. I still can tell you the exact day I became a Raider fan...Sunday, November 17, 1968. NY Jets at Oakland Raiders on NBC. Yes, the famous "Heidi" game. It was the wildest craziest game I'd ever seen, and in fact, still is to this day. Unlike the poor folks in the midwest and east, we on the West Coast got to see the entire game; it had started 1:00pm PST, which was 4pm EST, so there was no danger of NBC cutting to "Heidi" for those of us in California.

I fell in love with the team on the spot...I became a member of Raider Nation, the Silver & Black. Of course, just like with the Angles and Lakers, I had to pay my dues and see my team falter time and time again in the playoffs. But that just made the victories sweeter when they did come.

Super Bowl wins in the 1976 and 1980 seasons rank among my most treasured memories...especially the Super Bowl in 1977 at the Rose Bowl, where the Raiders demolished the Minnesota Vikings, which remains the lone Super Bowl game I attended in person.

When the Raiders announced they were moving to Los Angeles, I was both excited and concerned. Excited because my favourite team was moving closer to home. Concerned because I knew with the gi-normous Coliseum and the NFL blackout rules, there was a possibility that with the Raiders in LA, I would actually see LESS Raider games on TV than when they were in Oakland. Plus, everyone who knew anything about local politics of the time knew that the LA Coliseum Commission were a bunch of idiots. It was their bungling that led the Lakers to flee the Sports Arena and build the Fabulous Forum, for which Led Zeppelin is thankful. It was their bullshit that made UCLA seek a place to play elsewhere. Then their incompetence cost the Coliseum the Rams, who moved to Anaheim to escape the stench flowing from the LA Coliseum Commission.

So I knew the combination of Al Davis and the Coliseum Commission would be a volatile one; sure enough, it was...almost right from the start.

Of course, at that very moment I was entering the Army, so it didn't really matter...I was in Missouri, then Texas, then Germany, so the blackouts didn't affect me.

I had a year of gloating during the 1983-84 season, when I could lord it over the Ram fans, whose team never won a Super Bowl during their entire stay in LA and Anaheim, while the Raiders in just their second year in LA won the Super Bowl over the defending champs, the Washington Redskins.

I was in Germany at this time, and I had to get up at around 3 or 4am to watch the game...but it was worth it! Not just for the Raiders victory and watching hometown USC hero Marcus Allen(my favourite Raider) run circles around the Redskins; but also for the huge amounts of money I won in bets with all the Washington fans on base, hahaha!

Yes, it has been a long dry spell since then, save a brief period in the early 2000s when it looked like we might return to glory with Jon Gruden. But save for the Super Bowl appearance in 2002(whereupon that strange bi-polar incident happened with our starting center and the Raiders didn't look like themselves in that game), it didn't last. At least the team moved back to Oakland, which is where they rightly and spiritually belong...not that it wasn't fun to have them here for a while; and to be able to wear LOS ANGELES RAIDERS gear!

But, although it gets harder with each passing season, I still have hope that one day the team will rise from the ashes of the past decade and return to its rightful spot as scourge of the league.

So there you have it, Walter. That is how a Southern California boy like me became, and remains, an Oakland Raider fan.

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Walter

Walter

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I never said I thought you were from Texas, I just wondered about the Raiders thing. I remember you posting your sports history back then - makes sense, obviously. I remember you saying you were stationed in Texas and saw some great concerts while there and Germany as well. Anyway....

How are your Raiders gonna do this season? QB position looks shaky, at best - IMO.

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Strider

Strider

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I never said I thought you were from Texas, I just wondered about the Raiders thing. I remember you posting your sports history back then - makes sense, obviously. I remember you saying you were stationed in Texas and saw some great concerts while there and Germany as well. Anyway....

How are your Raiders gonna do this season? QB position looks shaky, at best - IMO.

I know you didn't Walter...I was referring to jabe's remark about me being from Texas above.

As for Oakland, 4 wins seems iffy at the moment. This is the week that means the most in the preseason, so I'll have a better handle on my expectations by next week.

The first two preseason games, teams are settling in and getting in game shape. The fourth week, teams rest their starters. So the third preseason game is the true measure of where your team stands. Winning the game isn't important, but you do want to see some systematic cohesion, some offensive consistency by this point. If your team is still going 3-and-out, it could be along season for you.

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Walter

Walter

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Mis-read on my part brotha, my apologies. I'm a little testy sitting in over 110 degree Florida heat index, waiting for my son's practice to end! It's now past 6:00 and still blazing hot here! F'in ridiculous!

My only hope for the season is how good the Cowboys' offensive line has looked and how dominate Dez has been. If we can hold the ball longer and out score 'em, Dallas might be able to do something come December. There I go, getting my hopes up - again! :rolleyes:

Your Raiders are in the hardest division in the AFC and you guys have to play the NFC West, the best division in football. Dallas also has to play the NFC West also. At least we get the AFC South as well....

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Strider

Strider

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Your Raiders are in the hardest division in the AFC and you guys have to play the NFC West, the best division in football. Dallas also has to play the NFC West also. At least we get the AFC South as well....

You really think so? I don't know if I consider the AFC West any more tougher than the East or North. Denver's a beast, sure...but KC, SD and Oakland? Kind of mediocre don't you think?

NE, NY, Miami, and Buffalo are probably tougher as a group...and three of those teams play in frigid winter weather. Nobody wants to go to Ralph Wilson Stadium or Foxboro in December.

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Bong-Man

Bong-Man

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I'm still upset about last year. I bought into the Lions for the first time in 15 years. Can you blame me ? We beat Washington on the road for the first time ever.....we handed Green Bay their ass....there was the jump over the goal line by Stafford.....and then the wheels fell off....again.

If you ever wonder how the Lions always suck, look no further than their recent 2nd round picks....Titus Young, who lost his mind....Mike Leshoure who will probably be cut....Jahvid Best Mr. concussion....Ryan Broyles, a good player who has blown out his knee and his achilles.....and the moves we had to make to cover for those bad picks.....signing Reggie Bush to replace Best....signing Golden Tate for Titus Young.....constantly blowing their salary cap to cover for drafting mistakes. That's a recipe for failure in the NFL.

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Walter

Walter

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You really think so? I don't know if I consider the AFC West any more tougher than the East or North. Denver's a beast, sure...but KC, SD and Oakland? Kind of mediocre don't you think?

NE, NY, Miami, and Buffalo are probably tougher as a group...and three of those teams play in frigid winter weather. Nobody wants to go to Ralph Wilson Stadium or Foxboro in December.

Well, three out of the four made the playoffs last year and Denver is easily the best team in the AFC and the only team with a chance to bring home the Lombardi Trophy, IMO.
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