Friday, July 25, 2008

Camp Reports – Opiate of the Football loving masses

The reports are starting to filter out of Raiders camp; the NFL’s slow season (the NFL is too big to truly have an Off or dead season) is truly over. As fans we have been salivating for Football since February, and Raider football since, well 2003. So every little drop of information is scrutinized and picked over in a desperate attempt to gain some insight on the status of our team. We are truly addicts looking for a fix.

Day 1 of camp gave us a laundry list of tasty nuggets. Tommy Kelly and Derrick Burgess were unblockable, at LT Harris was a turnstile, and when someone was foolish enough to throw at Nnamdi, he picked the ball for 6.

This is all well and good (except of course for Harris) but we need to remember, this is practice. Often the offense and defense knows what the other guy is going to try on them. A D-lineman often knows that the play the offense is going to run is a pass, and abandons any semblance of run responsibility. D backs look like heroes as they go against WR’s they see every day, and know inside and out. Running backs look like future hall of famers, as the D is instructed not to take them to the ground, so they can dance like Jason Taylor.

One need only think back to last year, when Warren Sapp was revitalized due to his weight loss, Donovan Darius was going to bring back the fear factor, and the offense, well we knew the offense would suck.

Every season there is some incredible hype that comes out of training camp. Randy Moss is ready for his best season ever, and Kerry Collins is the best QB he has ever played with. This is Jerry Porter’s breakout year. Kenny Shed is ready to give the Raiders a legit #2 across from Tim Brown.

So enjoy the Hype and Hyperbole, we need it, otherwise what would we read about, Baseball? Fuck that shit. But take it all in with a grain of salt. Every year there will be another great training camp story, the coaches will lavish praise on a player, and the media will eat it up and regurgitate it to the masses. And the fans will get wet with anticipation of their new star. I won’t claim to be above it all, I’m sure I’ll go overboard reading into some report or another, but hey I need my fix too.

But if you find yourself getting hyped up over a player who has reportedly put it all together this season, or some undrafted rookie who is hauling in rainbow after rainbow for huge gains, just remember 1 name:

Quentin Moses

The unblockable, unquestioned steal of the draft from last years training camp. In the end these reports mean next to nothing when the players take the field in September. Now where the hell is Jerry Mac’s next Raider blog entry, I need my fix.

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