Silver vs. Black: Young Kiffin steps into a Nation divided
Column by Monte Poole
Article Last Updated: 01/28/2007 07:47:40 AM PST
GIVEN THE VOLUME, the content and the heat of the correspondence and back-seat commentary in recent months, ever more divided over the past few days, a civil war rages within the Raider Nation.
There is no timetable for its end, because that's just one more thing the two sides can't seem to agree on.
It's Silver vs. Black, a virtual stalemate, indefinitely.
On the Silver squad are the true believers, merrily chugging Raiderade, swaggering about the land, preaching of their team's impending return to greatness under new head coach Lane Kiffin.
Peace in the Nation is at hand, they insist, because Kiffin is the right man. Give him a year or three and the Raiders will reclaim their rightful place among the NFL elite.
Anyone who dares to disagree is, well, a Raider Hater.
On the Black team are realists, who haven't touched Raiderade in years. Branded by some as infidels, they've examined the team's fall from grace through three coaches and concluded it's practically impossible for a fourth toreverse the momentum of this rolling tide of calamity.
Peace? Not likely in the Raider Nation until high leader Al Davis expresses repentance for past behavior and displays a newfound enlightenment.
Anyone in the Nation who disagrees is still drinking Raiderade and losing sight with each sip.
Thirty years to the month after their first Super Bowl victory, the Raiders find themselves fighting not only to rejoin the league's perennial contenders
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but to regain their exalted status. Formerly the bad boys of the NFL, taking what they wanted, the Raiders now have the cachet of road kill.
It's not just the 15-49 record, the worst in the NFL over the last four years. It's not just the profoundly pathetic offense, allowing 72 sacks in 2006, while scoring only 12 touchdowns. It's not just the trapdoor under the coach's seat, Kiffin following Art Shell, who followed Norv Turner, who followed Bill Callahan.
Oakland's greatest loss of all might be the respect it once had. In the sports world. Around the NFL. Within the team. Among marketing executives. Those of us who frequently interact with the Raiders still find ourselves astounded by their zany ways, their paranoia, their misplacement of time and energy; no one was surprised last week when a national publication, The Sporting News, labeled the Raiders the league's worst-run franchise.
That's franchise, folks, not team. Worse now, in 2007, than even the hapless Detroit Lions.
And the Silver squad imagines Kiffin is the man to turn it around. Never mind that he's 31, new to the NFL and was hired not to fix the organization but to call offensive plays.
The organization, Davis believes, doesn't need much fixing.
Which has the Black team rolling its collective eyes. Maybe they remember that Al, upon introducing Turner, described him as a perfect fit for the Raiders. Maybe they remember Al promising a return to the Raider Way under Art Shell. Might even recall that it was Al, at training camp, selling the brilliance of his new offensive coordinator, Tom Walsh.
Moreover, they noticed how the conflict between Shell and wideout Jerry Porter played out over the season — without anyone stepping in to address it from above. They noticed how Randy Moss, the appointed captain, openly expressed his skepticism of the team's direction, even blaming it for his subpar effort — without apparent resolution. They noticed how Shell in November, in the midst of an awful season, tore into personnel man Mike Lombardi — without anyone interceding.
Davis did acknowledge the Shell-Lombardi mess the other day, after introducing his new coach. He referred to it as a "terrible rift," saying it "has to be straightened out."
Davis isn't the leader he once was, though, and his team suffers for it. As do the fans, some of whom remain fiercely loyal, while others long for a day of sweeping organizational change.
There was a time when the Raider Nation stood united behind Al, worshipping at the altar of Silver-and-Black. The Nation was vocal, indivisible and strong as its favorite team.
Such surely was the case in January 1977, when the Raiders collected their first of three Lombardi Trophies. Some of that sentiment applied in 2003, as the Raiders prepared for Super Bowl 37.
But much has changed with the team and its fans. Objective view finds the Raiders disgracing their tradition, finding new and creative ways to stink.
So even as Kiffin steps into Al's machine, the team is suspicious, and the fans rage in debate, one half holding their noses and the other half smelling nothing at all.
Monte Poole can be reached at (510) 208-6461 or by e-mail at
mpoole@angnewspapers.com
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