Finally! Raiders Move On From Coach & GM

Almost a year to the day of my posting a "Fire Da'Bum plea," Raiders owner Mark Davis answers the call. After an abysmal Monday Night Football game loss to the Detroit Lions, Raiders head coach Josh McDaniels and General Manager Dave Ziegler have been relieved of their duties. 

Happy Halloween Treats 

Josh & Dave!

Rangers Eliminate Cheaters in Game 7

No, this post is not about cheating husbands and wives, but good 'ol American Baseball. For those not in the know, on January 13, 2020, a Major League Baseball investigation confirmed the Houston Astros organization did illegally use a video camera to STEAL opposing team pitching signs in 2017 and parts of 2018. 

RaiderLegend: Cheating Astros Should Forfeit A Season And/Or Series (powellsplace.blogspot.com)

This season marked the seventh straight season, beginning 2017, the Astros have been to the American League Championship. Prior to 2017 they had one playoff appearance in eleven years. Since being exposed for CHEATING, the Astros have continued making the playoffs, but with only one World Series championship win. 

Houston Astros Postseason Results

Year	Record	Result
2023	90-72	Lost AL Championship Series (Won 1 Round)
2022	106-56	Won World Series
2021	95-67	Lost World Series (Won 2 Rounds)
2020	29-31	Lost AL Championship Series (Won 2 Rounds)
2019	107-55	Lost World Series (Won 2 Rounds)
2018	103-59	Lost AL Championship Series (Won 1 Round)
2017	101-61	Won World Series

I dislike cheaters, just as much as liars. Thanks to the 2023 Texas Rangers we Will Not see the Houston Astros, verified cheaters in past seasons, play in this year's World Series. 

I congratulate the Rangers for a great season of baseball. In this seven game ALCS they proved their medal by winning all four games on the road in Houston, the last two being must win games. I look forward to seeing if the Rangers can keep it going against the winner of today's NLCS game 7 (Diamondbacks vs Phillies).

As for the CHEATERS, I find it so hard to forgive the Astros their cheating ways. I almost look at them as I do liars, "once a liar always a liar." It took three years for their cheating to be exposed and addressed by the league. Since that exposure in 2020, the Astros are 1-1 in the WS, and 2-2 in the ALCS. 

So, either the Astros have found new ways of hiding their cheating, or perhaps cheating in baseball has little impact on the final outcome of winning or losing baseball games. I leave it up to baseball fans to decide. 

Final Score (ALCS GM 7)

D'Backs 11

Astros 4

Congratulations Manager Bruce Bochy and the 2023 Texas Rangers

Update: Arizona D'Backs 4   Final   Phila. Phillies 2

D-backs top Phillies in Game 7, make 1st World Series since '01 - ESPN

Raiders Embarrassing Themselves

With four minutes left in the 3rd quarter and ahead 21-3, the Bears have the Raiders in chokehold submission. 

Raiders defense, the strength of the team so far this season, looks overmatched and out of synch. against a 1-win/5-loss Bears team fielding a backup rookie quarterback. 

Offensively, the Raiders are yet again, inconsistent, predictable, and non-competitive. Poor execution across the board. I'm putting a fork in this game. 

The Chicago Bears are roasting the Raiders, and I just can't "BEAR" to watch.

Raiders vs. Bears (Oct 22, 2023) Box Score - ESPN

Raiders Hard to Watch MNF Game

The Good: 

Raiders 17 - Packers 14

Raiders DE Max Crosby and crew forced three turnovers which included a spectacular game-saving interception by cornerback Amik Robertson. Just Win Baby never felt so good!

The Bad & Ugly:

So, what made the Raiders Monday Night Football game so ugly and offensive? Offense, of course, or lack thereof. The Raiders have yet to score 20 or more points in five games. Their offensive play-calling looks conservative and predictable, their offensive line looks porous, their quarterback(s) and running game struggle behind a porous O-line, everything offensively looks out-of-synch. Yes, it starts up front.

po·rous

/ˈpôrəs/

adjective

1. (of a rock or other material) having minute spaces or holes through which liquid or air may pass.

Observations:

When it comes to an underachieving or inconsistent team, responsibility falls flatly on the head coach. Many have pointed to Raiders second year coach Josh McDaniels as the problem. He has three Super Bowl victories as offensive coordinator of the Patriots and was considered by some to be "one of the top offensive minds in the NFL." 

Yet, it's the Raiders offense that has weakened their chances of winning four of the five games they've played so far this season. Josh McDaniel must bear the blame for conservative play-calling and a number of questionable calls throughout games, two in last night's win. 

He and/or his handpicked QB Jimmy Garoppolo seem unwilling or unable to utilize their full complement of receivers. One sports radio show host pointed out the slowness with which the Raiders offense operates. From plays getting sent in, to players getting on and off the field, to huddling and calling the play. He stated everything about the team overall just looks slow. And if you look at a winning team, you'll notice they play fast, confident, mistake free football, with an overall identity. The Raiders have shown none of these 'winning team qualities' so far this season.

Questions:

With the Raiders record at 2-3, and twelve games left in the season, do you fire the Head Coach and/or his handpicked Offensive Coordinator Mike Lombardi? In putting together his coaching staff, McDaniels pulled much of it from New England Patriots personnel he had experience with. Same with free agents he brought in. 

Can it be QB Tom Brady was the real stable genius throughout the Patriots dynasty? Ask Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots.

Since Brady left with little resistance in March 2020, Belichick has a 26-29 record, one postseason appearance and zero playoff wins.

With starting quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo looking "lost in translation" in the pocket, do you give rookie Aidan O'connell another start after his turnover-filled debut game while filling in for concussed Jimmy-G in week 4? The kid did bounce back in the second-half of that game, but his third turnover sealed the teams' losing fate. There are rumors out there that teammates might want to see O'connell get another chance this season. Most Raiders fans also wanna see the kid at the helm. Raider Nation has likely seen enough of Jimmy-G to know that, "that dog just won't hunt."

With last night's impressive Defensive showing, do you continue with the same offensive formula of play while leaning on the defense, and hope that in time O-line play improves and things come together overall offensively? After all, a lot can happen in twelve NFL regular season games. Is the O-line issue a coaching/scheming problem or a personnel problem?

And lastly, does majority owner Mark Davis begin looking for a replacement head coach now instead of later? Maybe let McDaniel finish out the string and bring in a new HC for next season? The Raiders haven't had any real consistency at head coach since .   .  .  John 'freakin' Madden. We can blame Big Al for a lot of that. After all, it was he who forced two-time Super Bowl winning head coach Tom Flores into a front office job, and it was he who forced the trade of head coach Jon Gruden to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. 

Well Mark, what's it gonna be? You're in Las Vegas Now. Are you gonna Hold'em or Fold'em?

Win, Lose or Tie!

The Story of the Gypsies

The Story of the Gypsies, by Konrad Bercovici

This book might not be a fully accurate history of the roaming Roma peoples, but it sure paints a tale as fascinating as the myths and legends passed down about them. Author Konrad Bercovici documents the festive joy and celebration of life manifest by Gypsies, even while at times being persecuted. 

Gypsies are a people full of song and dance. A people who'd rather live poor but free from the constraints of traditional employment and settlement.  Fears of indoor living causing Tuberculosis, as well as settling down to become unwelcome neighbors in prejudiced communities, saw Gypsies embrace life on the road. Besides, who else would bring amusement and color to a sad, dull world full of superstitious religious chastity and industrial drabness?

Excerpt:

And as to their non-productiveness. It is an untrue accusation. Only they refuse, because of physical and spiritual inability, to work in factories and shops. Why should we persist? Are there not enough people working in England and elsewhere? Are there not enough things produced in these smoky hells of our industrial towns? And who will do the work of the Gypsies when they are squeezed into our factory doors? And who will do their work as well? as gaily? Whose red laughter will echo in the glen and the valley?

The civilized world recognized the rights of conscientious objectors during the late war (WWI). England was harder pressed for men to man the trenches than she is today, or ever has been, to man the factories and farms. Yet, she respected the scruples of conscientious objectors.

Well, the Gypsies are the conscientious objectors to factory work, to all the soul-killing inventions of a haphazard civilization. They have existed as they have for thousands of years, and are physically not inferior to most peoples. Two thousand years hence only, if the steel and smoke civilization lasts as long, will mankind be prepared to draw conclusions as to whether the Gypsies were right or wrong - unless none survive. pg237.

Traveling and living outdoor among their own kind gave Gypsies a sort of spiritual connection to nature, animals and one another, not unlike the Native Americans. Impervious to extremely hot and cold weather conditions, and common diseases of the day, could be a blessing or a curse for traveling Gypsies depending on superstitious beliefs held by locals. They flourished best when left alone to live, love, celebrate, and fight with one another in their own freestyle way.

There is one story in the book where two groups of Gypsies go at each other with brutal, vitriolic hatred over some issue. One of the men finally steps up and halts the melee with a well-known Gypsy song of brotherhood. Everybody joins in singing, while hugging, crying, and welcoming as brother ones who just minutes earlier were sworn blood enemies.

What I found so amazing, and admired, was how Gypsies lived so fully, putting all their being into the moment at hand. If they were mad, they were stark, raving mad, and would go at whatever the target of their anger without abandon. 

On the other hand, if they were joyous and gay, which was more times than not, they would uplift any and all around them in a shared, celebratory way. And if they were in love, they were madly impassioned beyond words. It took exotic music, some of the greatest violin music ever composed, to express the deep love of a Gypsy.

Among one another, Gypsies could go from one emotion to the next at the drop of a hat. Sad to Happy, Angry to Joyous, Hateful to Loving, all within the time it takes to sing a song or dance a dance. They lived in the moment and the moment seemed never too big or small for them. Gypsies loved life to the fullest, and as for death, it was just another road one must travel down.

Excerpt:

That evening, by the camp-fire, after the dinner of broiled meat, I asked Chief Marco the question that had been on my lips the whole day: "Why did you come to America? What made you come here?"

Marco looked at me. The question had never been put to him before. He had never put the question to himself. And then suddenly he answered with a hundred answers.

"And why shouldn't I have come? Because there was a strip of water between this country and the one I was last in? Why did you come here? Why does anybody come here? The only difference is that everybody else will stay here, while we will go on further; and tomorrow somebody will ask me in another country: 'Why have you come here?' " Marco called out to the other Gypsies: "See what he asks me - why have we come here?"

So they all laughed aloud and made fun of me because I had asked such a foolish question. "Ha-ha-he asks why we have come here! He-he - he asks why we have come here! Did you hear what he asks? He asks why we have come here! And he says he is almost a brother!" pg242.

In reading this book published in 1928, I could feel the rush of excitement and jubilation of Gypsy brotherhood and sisterhood. For a book to incite in a non-Gypsy a feeling of freedom and belonging, some 100 years after being written, is almost miraculous. I applaud its author, Konrad Bercovici for delivering to readers all the pain, beauty, and brotherhood of Gypsy life. 

As for the history of how Gypsies were received and treated in various countries, the author lays bare a story of lies told, laws enacted, genocides and purges carried out, all against migrating Gypsies and their traveling communities. 

Persecution of Roma (Gypsies) in Prewar Germany, 1933–1939 | Holocaust Encyclopedia (ushmm.org)

Like the Jews of history, Gypsies were ostracized and banned from many countries. And it seems, like the Jews, they got a bad rap because they lived a unique lifestyle. And like many persecuted ethnic groups throughout world history, they survived the hatred.

I didn't know the term Gypsy related to Egypt. (see below)

An Amazon Review:

J. Cox

5.0 out of 5 stars A celebration of life, and a prelude to a tragedy.

Reviewed in the United States on February 27, 2016

This is a strange and beautiful book. More of a mix of journalism, folklore, and the oral tradition than straight history, Mr. Bercovici was obviously in love with the people whose lives he described.

Though Gypsy lore claimed an origin in Ancient Egypt, Bercovici notes the abundance of Hindi words hiding in the Roma tongue, and suggests that they were among the earliest inhabitants of the Indian sub-continent. Given that Macedonia at the time of his writing boasted the largest per capita population of Gypsies and offered them the greatest tolerance, he reasons that they arrived in Europe as soldiers in the armies of Alexander the Great. He veers, I would say, into the realm of speculation and romanticism when he posits a Gypsy origin for the poet Homer, and imagines that Shakespeare based his characterization of Cleopatra on an encounter with a Gypsy woman.

A Romanian Jew, forced to flee the land of his birth due to racial hatred, Bercovici is acutely sensitive to Gypsy persecution and suffering. Not coincidentally, I think, he claims the most most brutal treatment occurred in Romania. In places where the were treated with greater kindness - in Hungary, for example, Gypsy and Maygar mixed and co-existed easily - they made enormous contributions to the culture, Gypsy music had a strong subterranean influence on the classical and symphonic music of south-eastern Europe.

In this volume, mythology and history intermingle as I have said. Our author cites an old Gypsy legend that the race was cursed to roam because a Palestinian Gypsy blacksmith was the only man in Jerusalem willing to forge the nails to crucify the Christ. His own identification with the Gypsies is based on a longing for freedom that the modern world had stifled. In one contradictory passage he first claims that they have protected the purity of their bloodline, while later writing that they have always opened the door of their language culture and ways to those who shared their values and embraced their lifestyle, which would suggest a theory of social selection to explain the maintenance of the folk. Thy Gypsy, though often poor and uprooted, is ultimately happier and healthier than the settled populations among whom he moves, writes Bercovici.

This book was written and in 1928. The author, a colorful character who was ultimately involved in a plagiarism lawsuit with Charlie Chaplain, is fearful for the future of the people who's lives he describes. Though Germany was solidly democratic at the time, Bercovici particularly cites the German addiction to strict law and order and the demand for cultural and ethnic homogeneity as the great threat to Gypsy survival and the Bolshevik ambition to transform society as a threat to Gypsy freedom. Given what what was coming in ten years time, the Porraimos, the Devouring, the systematic extermination of the European Gypsy communities by Nazi Germany, and its sad coda, the forcible assimilation of the remaining Gypsy communities in the post-war Communist regimes, this book ultimately strikes a note both heartbreaking and prophetic.

 

Young Talent Added to Golden State Arsenal

I don't know how much play these young'uns will see this NBA season for the Golden State Warriors. But Brandin Podziemski and Kendric Davis have both shown star potential in their summer league premieres.

Look out league, here come some startup "Gold Blooded" basketball talent who fit right in with that Warriors Championship style of play.

Strength in Numbers - Can't Wait!  !  !

Update: NBA preseason: Warriors beat Lakers in Chris Paul’s debut - Golden State Of Mind