RIZE RAIDER NATION! RIZE!

If you like checking out video streams on the internet then you must visit the site "YouTube.com. Any and everything imaginable can be found in picture and video form. After finding this site I did what any silverblooded Raiders fan would do, I searched on "Raiders" to see what video clips and pics they had to offer a fan of the Silver and Black. Wow, did I hit the jackpot. There were video clips from Coliseum Tailgates as well as inside the Coliseum during the game. I'm sure I'll probably come across myself in someone's video clip at some point. It's a must for any Raiders fan to check out some of these homemade videos. I must say that the makers of some of these clips show some professionalism in their editing. I once did the parking lot video camera thing and found that it's not as easy as it seems, filming when you've had a few drinks, a few puffs and overdosing on Raider Nation adrenaline.

Oh, about the jackpot video I came across on YouTube.com. We all remember this clip from our Sunday Night ESPN rematch with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2003. I remember being in New York and wearing my Raiders gear while watching the game at my family's house. I'd already been pumped from all the big plays the Raiders had executed in dominating the Buccaneers in the first half. So it was a truly unexpected treat when at half-time this video clip appeared on the television and got me up and out of my seat yelling Raiders!Raiders!Raiders! I tell you that video had me ready to go to war. I was never prouder of the networks and NFL for not censoring the Raider Nation from primetime and finally airing a commercial that represents our passion and commitment to our team. So Rize!Rize!Rize and be counted as a soldier of our Nation. The Raider Nation. SEE VIDEO

Welcome to the Raider Nation Aaron Brooks

Myself, I've always thought Aaron Brooks was a scrappy quarterback. Even if he does resemble the comedian Martin. He's mobile and can throw a nice long ball. But unless we tighten up our offensive line, no Raiders quarterback will be safe from opposing defensive pressure.

I hope to see Andrew Walter get a shot this year. Here's another But, if the Raiders have a shot at getting Vince Young do that take him?

Who and what position should we pick up in the 1st round of the draft is the question?

Man's Toddler Son Wanders Into Strip Club

As Dorothy said to toto: We Ain't In Kansas Anymore.

Instead of seeing a twisting cyclone approaching, this little lad saw Gyrating Silicone Implants. His father had told him if he didn't stay in the car "Monsters Would Eat Him."

I tell you I just can't make up stuff as good as this.

Here's the story:

The Associated Press
Tuesday, March 21, 2006; 10:01 PM

TULSA, Okla. -- A Kansas man was arrested at a Tulsa strip club after police say his toddler son wandered from an unlocked car into the club over the weekend.

Christopher Greg Killion, 31, was arrested Saturday on a complaint of "encouraging a minor child to be in need of supervision." He posted $500 bond and was released from the Tulsa Jail.

The toddler told police that his father told him to stay in the car, and that if he left it, "monsters would eat him," reports indicate.

A manager at the club had called police to report that about 30 minutes after Killion entered the club, a 3- to 4-year-old boy came inside looking for his father.

Officers determined that the boy had been left alone in a car in the strip club's parking lot. The car was unlocked and parked about 20 feet from a four-lane street. It was raining and 45 degrees outside at the time, an officer noted in the police report.

The Madness of March

College Basketball Time. Possibly my most watched television time of the year. I try listening to sports talk radio while watching the basketball games on tv but usually wind up raising the tv volume to outblast the radio. Yeah, the life of a year around sports fan is tough, but somebody's gotta do it. So here I am watching UCLA blowout Belmont in the first round while listening to KNBR sportstalk discuss NFL free agent signings. The sports section of this mornings newspaper is still open to the SF Giants and Barry's two homer spring training game yesterday in Scottsdale. Even a second book on steroids won't stop Bonds this season. Meanwhile, the USA Classic Baseball team lives to play another day thanks to Korea beating Japan yesterday. I wonder how Japan feels being that a bad call in their 4-3 loss against USA may have cost them that game?

Cal Bears play NC State tomorrow. UOP Tigers lost today. Stanford lost in their first round NIT game yesterday. I refuse to back any southern cal. team just because they're SoCal. Let Jim Rome root for them.

Well, back to basketball. I've chosen Villanova to win it all but I'm keeping an eye on the Iowa team. Duke and Connecticut are a bit overrated in my book.

GrandMa Robs Bank wearing Pittsburgh Steelers Ski Mask

Again, you just can't make up stuff like this. Maybe the SuperBowl Champion Steelers will come to her rescue. I think she deserves to have her picture on a wheaties box just for the effort. Way to go GrandMa, if only her getaway jolopy could top 45 miles per hour. Better yet, maybe she should have takin "Da Bus" #36.

Here's her story:

POLICE: ARMED WOMAN, 75, DONS STEELERS SKI MASK, HOLDS UP BANKK

WEST MIFFLIN, Pa. -- Police have captured an elderly woman who they say tried to rob a bank with a gun in West Mifflin on Monday morning.

Officers said the attempted holdup happened at a National City Bank inside a Shop 'n Save grocery store in the Century Square shopping plaza at about 10:30 a.m.

Police said that Marilyn Devine, 75, from Baldwin, wore a Steelers ski mask during the holdup and escaped in a tan Ford Escort with less than $5,000.

After a five-mile pursuit at speeds of 40 to 45 mph, police pulled Devine over.

"I'm shocked. It's unreal. You seen the lady here -- she's probably anybody's grandmother. It's unreal," said West Mifflin Police Chief Joe Popovich.

Devine confessed to stealing her husband's handgun, donning the Steelers mask and pointing the gun at tellers, police said.

"She went to the first teller -- male teller -- and demanded all the money he had. He gave her the money. She brandished a black handgun," Popovich said.

The gun was not loaded, police said.

Police said Devine then went to the next teller, demanding more money. Police said she told the woman not to throw any tracking dye onto any of the dollar bills.

Married for 32 years, Devine's husband told Channel 4 Action News reporter Janelle Hall that he is devastated and that his wife does not have any kind of criminal background.

"I'm going to try to do whatever I have to do to get her back," Ray Devine said.

Devine -- who will undergo a psychological evaluation -- is in jail after no one could post the $100,000 bail. Besides robbery and gun charges, she is charged with fleeing and eluding police.
Copyright 2006 by ThePittsburghChannel. www.thepittsburghchannel.com. Click for Video Clip

Doctors Gone Wild!

I swear, fiction is nothing compared to the dramas of every day occurrences. Case and point, yesterday while sitting in an overcrowded waiting room at the hospital I saw the scariest thing. It wasn't the usual scary occurrence that seems to happen whenever I'm visiting General Hospital. Like the time I was waiting in optometry and a guy sitting next to me begins telling me about how he lost his eye in a car accident. He wasn't wearing a patch or anything over the hollow gouged out socket. He'd told me that after the accident he found the eye on the car floor, picked a few pieces of shattered glass off of it and put it in his pocket hoping doctors could reattach it......Anyways, no, I didn't experience anything like that yesterday. What I experienced wasn't seated next to me or on a gurney, but up on the waiting room television monitor. Local News.

After seeing the News about a major fire in the embarcadero Bart station the next story caught everybody's attention. Local Oakland police and Sheriff's deputies were at Highland Hospital in Oakland where a Top NeuroSurgeon had become aggressive and abusive when told he'd have to wait 2hrs to perform spinal surgery on a patient. A nurse called police and when they arrived the surgeon became even more aggessive, using foul language and raising his fists toward police in an aggressive manner. I picture a Robert De Niro looking surgeon staring down police while asking "You Want A Piece of Me?" Finally, after a scuffle, the police wrestled the surgeon down and arrested him for obstruction of justice or something like that. During the altercation police recognized alcohol on the breath of the surgeon but did not press charges of public intoxication.

Actually, there is no law against surgeons drinking alcohol before surgery, however, hospital policy prohibits employees working while impaired in any way by drugs or alcohol. Yeah, it does sound weird. My question was, where is the patient during all of this? Well the patient was still in the emergency room and thank God had no idea of the altercation. The patient's surgery was performed the next day by an unimpaired surgeon and was successful.

So the next time you go in for surgery you might want to have your surgeon take a breathlizer test as part of the pre-operative checkoffs. Because you never know when Doctor Feelgood has consulted with his colleagues Dr. Johnnie Walker or Dr. Jack Daniels before entering the operating room.

I just had to enter "Drunken Surgeon" into my web browser for kicks.

Oprah Book of the Month Club

Expect the book written by the Barry Bashers to be a hit when it comes out the end of this month. The current Bonds fiasco has triggered all sorts of feelings. I've heard Bonds compared to Richard Nixon today. Bonds is not the one that's bad for baseball, Reporters who write accusational books to make money, win awards and slander baseball players are bad. I've read some of the excerpts from their book, I've listened to media reports as well as an interview with one of the reporter/writers and there is no new evidence that points to Barry Bonds taking steroids.

What I believe this whole affair is about is selling a book and bringing down Barry Bonds in the process. Whatever the writers motivation for writing this book, be it fame, fortune or revenge, I hope they understand that they are not part of the solution to ridding sports of illegal enhancement drugs but that they are part of the problem. Go out and write about a steroid drug bust or something. Or tell us who's doing steroids today if you must, but to write a book with nothing new to report makes me suspect of their motivations. If they were out to report the truth I don't think, based on the excerpts, the book will hit the mark. But it may make a reader specualate more. Beware believing all that we read is the message I get.

For those Barry Haters looking for something to fire up their hatred for Barry, buy the book and read til your hearts content. For us baseball fans who want to enjoy the 2006 season of Major League Baseball without old controversies rearing their head, try focusing on the things that have made and continue to make baseball a great game. Remember, we lost a great player this past week in Kirby Puckett. I hope someone out their has started a book about "Puck."

HALL OF FAMER KIRBY PUCKETT GONE AT 45

A PROVEN TEAM LEADER WITH AN EVER-PRESENT SMILE AND
INFECTIOUS EXUBERANCE WHO LED THE TWINS TO WORLD SERIES
TITLES IN 1987 AND 1991. OVER 12 SEASONS HIT FOR POWER AND
AVERAGE, BATTING .318 WITH 414 DOUBLES AND 207 HOME RUNS. ALSO
A PROLIFIC RUN PRODUCER, SCORED 1,071 RUNS AND DROVE IN 1,085 IN
1,783 GAMES. A SIX-TIME GOLD GLOVE WINNER WHO PATROLLED
CENTER FIELD WITH ELEGANCE AND STYLE, ROUTINELY SCALING
OUTFIELD WALLS TO TAKE AWAY HOME RUNS. THE 10-TIME
ALL-STAR'S CAREER ENDED ABRUPTLY DUE TO IRREVERSIBLE RETINAL DAMAGE IN HIS RIGHT EYE.


ON MARCH 6, 2006, KIRBY PUCKETT DIED AFTER SUFFERING A MASSIVE STROKE, HE WAS 45 YEARS OLD.

1960-2006

Stop Hate'in on Barry Please

I understand the media jumping on this new book about Barry Bond's alleged steroid use, but the media is paid to report on whatever topics they deem hot. Don't let the media ruin or deter you from enjoying the upcoming baseball season.

My take on this book, which supposedly has 200 individual claims from persons saying they know Barry Bonds used steroids, is so what? I'd be more interested in something that shows Barry or any star player using steroids today. I'm not interested in beating a dead horse.

It's more than obvious there are persons out there who just haven't accepted the fact that Barry Bonds is on the verge of breaking the MLB Career Home Run record. I wonder what reasons they'd find if steroids wasn't the issue? Remember, Hank Aaron received many death threats and all sorts of abusive message when he was on the verge of breaking Babe Ruth's record. Back then they claimed the hate was racially motivated. When Roger Maris broke the Babe's single season home run record it just about ruined his career. Maris was threatened with bodily harm as well and the celebration was more like a loss of something special instead of gaining a new record holder. Maris was White.

The only reason I see for two former reporters from the San Francisco chronicle to conspire together in writing such a book and time the release of it with the start of this baseball season is to intimidate Barry enough so that he'll step away from baseball without attaining his goal of Most MLB Career Home Runs. With Barry's statements from last season about how much the media had hurt him, we thought then that it was a possibility Barry would walk away from the game. Believe it or not, many people, like those supporting this book, would have been happy had Barry packed it in then. So it stands to reason that these former reporters follow up on last year's Barry Bashing by antagonizing the All-Star and trying yet again to frustrate him into walking away from the game without the coveted Career Home Run record.

Barry, if you're reading this, Don't fall for it. Break the damn record for yourself and us fans who've cheered you on and know how hard you've worked to get there. Let these former reporters make a few dollars off the media hype and fools who waste time on past issues. Win it and retire, then if they want to put an asterik or any other comment next to your name on a list, who cares, your name will be at the top of that list and deservingly so. Be smarter than them Barry, don't let them dictate your fate.

Just Do It Barry.

It Wasn't Official: Kerry Collins Stays

My Apologies, wishful thinking and unsubstantiated reports led me to the conclusion that QB Kerry Collins had been released by the Raiders. Here's the official report from the Raiders today denying Collins release:

"Contrary to published reports, the team did not waive quarterback Kerry Collins, or any other players, on Sunday, senior assistant Michael Lombardi confirmed."

So again we Raiders fans are in a waiting mode as the extended negotiating deadline toward a new collective bargaining agreement is now set for late Wednesday, putting off free agency, salary- cap compliance and waiver decisions for three days.

Scary to think that our quarterback fate may balance on NFL labor negotiations. How many incompetent co-workers are you stuck with day in and day out just because the grandfather clause or some other stipulation that the union negotiated during labor discussions? Just ask any postal worker. Better yet, don't ask a postal worker, it may result in receiving bodily harm.

Stay Tuned for the Kerry Collins Update.

It's Official: Kerry Collins Cut

Okay Raiders! At least something good has come out of the NFL contract negotiations. The Raiders will save $9.2 million against the salary cap by cutting QB Kerry Collins.

Whatever the reason, Collins was cut today and my Oakland Raiders will begin searching for a new leader at Quarterback. I saw an article that suggested Dante Culpepper as a possible replacement, sounds good to me. I'm so estatic from the news that collins is gone that I'd welcome back 55 year old Vince Evans, wherever he is now, much less a Vince Young draft pick. Ding Dong the glitch is gone.

I, like most Raiders fans, have suffered so much from watching Kerry Collins quarterback us to a 7-21 record over the past two seasons that I really can't find any positive parting words to send him off with. Maybe I'll leave that up to a site I found while searching for the "wonderful" news. Who would've thought that some poor fan, probably some high school buddy of Kerry's, has set up a Kerry Collins Un-official fansite on the internet. See: members.tripod.com/~kerrycfan/collins.html

For what it's worth Kerry, it wasn't all your fault. Norv Turner shares the blame.

Now we sit back and watch with fingers crossed as the Raiders organization begins putting together the parts for a winning football team come next season.