News You Can't Use

Okay, I’ve recovered from my tantrum about our special little secret (recovered but still not convinced…) and am about to take the yellow brick road up to Oakland, with a pit stop at the home of Cousin of Raider Take for some pub crawling on Saturday night.

But first I must take one of ESPN’s Raider Haters to the woodshed for writing the following: “But the Raiders, over the past few…well, decades...have come to be understood as the size XXL speed bump in the vast parking lot that is the NFL.”

Such outright lying would be merely pathetic if it weren’t so odious.

I have a test for our friend at ESPN: Name the only team in the AFC West that has won its division three times, advanced to the AFC Championships twice and even appeared in the Super Bowl in this yet-unfinished decade.

Now, am I saying that the Raiders have been good for the past four years? Not at all. I am just saying that this individual is lying boldly through his teeth in a major media outlet to support a simple-minded worldview.

Let me put this in perspective. Say the Chargers take a sudden dive, and do poorly for the next four seasons, including this one, after some strong showings in recent years (although not nearly as strong as the Raiders’ showings from 2000-2002, during which time the Chargers won a grand total of 14 games).

Okay, so say that happens (I’m not saying it will, but for the sake of argument…). Would it then be okay for me to sit here and write the following in 2010: “But the Chargers, over the past few…well, decades...have come to be understood as the size XXL speed bump in the vast parking lot that is the NFL.”

Of course it wouldn’t, because it would a cowardly lie that could be revealed as fiction by the nearest three-year-old with a copy of the NFL Record & Fact Book.

And that, Raiders fans, is news you can’t use.