September 14, 2007
If the Raiders Ain't Cheatin, They’re Not Trying
All this kafuffle over the Patriot's version of sex, lies, and videotape can only remind us of one thing -- the Greatness of the Raidahs. What other football team is so synonymous with cheating? It's part of their legend, their mystique, their je ne sais quoi. Hell, even Lisa Simpson even knows this. Or, as John Madden put it: "everybody says the Raiders cheat...OK, we cheat. So, what are you going to do about it?"
A lot of it just comes from what kind of team they were; especially back in the Glory Days of the '70's. You have an owner who looks straight out of Goodfellas, a color scheme of Silver & Black, and a logo of a pirate on it. What else are people going to think of the team? Throw in a reputation for cheap shot hard-nose playing and a rowdy crew of players made up of people discarded from other teams refuse, and you got the whole outlaw thing going.
And that’s where the fun begins.
The story most associated with the Raiders is the legend that they bugged the visiting team’s locker room. It was so widespread that the then Head Coach of the San Diego Chargers, Harland Svare, scoured the locker room before a game trying to find the damn thing. When he didn't find one, he looked up at the light fixture and yelled, "Damn you, Al Davis! Damn you! I know you are up there." Al's response? "The thing wasn't in the light fixture. I'll tell you that much.'' Yeah, Al was joking. Or was he?
Another coach, Weeb Ewbanks of the Jets, believed that the Raiders flew a helicopter over the Jets’ practice fields to spy on them. And in a great read on CNNSI, longtime football guru Dr. Z recounts how Ewbanks claimed to receive anonymous harassing phone calls during halftime and discovered an Al crony just randomly making himself at home on the Jets bus. The Raiders were also accused of watering down the field before a game if they played a team known for its speed (a trick that happens in baseball all the time).
Throw in the "Holy Roller" play (ask a Charger fan what they think of that play) andLester Hayes and stickum and you got a team with a rap sheet.
Now, we're not saying any of this is bad and we don’t mean this to attack them of being cheaters. It’s the opposite, actually as its kind of fun, what makes the Raiders what they are, or at least were. Take all of this away and what do you have? The Jaguars?
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It isn't how you play the game. It's whether or not you WIN. Cheating doesn't enter in to it. Just don't get caught (it looks bad). If you do get caught, DENY IT--even if they have pictures, DENY IT. WINNING is ALL OF IT!!!
You do raise a good point. It's hard to hate on Al Davis too much...he's more crazy than evil, and he's certainly done his part to make the NFL entertaining (even if unintentionally).
Let me get this straight: It's not cheating to videotape the game and watch every play 400 times over, but it is cheating to videotape the guy who's standing in plain view on the sideline, on national television, calling in the plays?
And if it is "cheating", then the $500k fine is pretty week compared to the $100 MILLION (!!!!) fine that got slapped on a Formula 1 team on the same day.
The Raiders are a laughing stock these days, but they still have the strongest brand of any team in the NFL. There was a murderer executed in Arizona earlier this year whose last words before the injections were, "GO RAIDERS!"
Yeah, I wonder about that too. I suppose they could watch recordings of the TV broadcast to see if they can find some signs there...
I think it's because on TV, they're not focused entirely on defensive coordinators on TV. The Sports Guy on ESPN reminded everyone that basketball broadcasts would often show coaches drawing up plays during time outs and the opposing team would have somebody in the locker room watching tv, and then relaying to the coach what the other team was planning on doing.
I also think the Patriots got in trouble partly because they've been accused of doing it before and was warned but kept on doing it anyways. Supposedly, it was one of those things everyone in the NFL sort of suspected but nobody caught them until last week.
King Kaufman of Salon pointed out that for the price of ticket, the Pats could have put someone in the stands. Its only illegal if they're on the sideline. That is dumb.