Mykle VanHausen Mykle VanHausen is offline

posted 07-14-2008 at 9:29 pm by Mykle Van Hausen RNS

[url]http://www.ibabuzz.com/raidersblog/[/url]

News that All Pro caliber cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha probably won't reach a long term agreement this year shouldn’t have Raider fans too worried, nor the news of a possible "camp hold out" when the Raiders begin to convene July 24th.
No biggie.
All part of a larger plan.
Fans lamented the large contracts doled out seemingly willie nillie to unproven or injured players this off season to the apparent detriment of Asomugha and the Raiders.
While understandable, that may not be entirely accurate.
The simple fact is, the money to pay Aso and reload the team simply wasn't going to be there.
Al faced the specter of not only to keep players already here, but to sign TWO top 5 draft picks in consecutive years.
My guess is Aso's in the loop and is playing ball not only on the field, but in the office as well.
Why?
Could it be that in the media hyped era of loathsome selfishness a player actually takes one for the team?
Who knows?
Of course their have been bumps in the road, (Charles Woodsen and Marcus Allen come to mind...) But for the most part, Al Davis can lean upon a reputation for treating AND paying his players well.
On the other hand, Al's not stupid and could be hedging his bets. Aso's only had the one good year, 2006.
A chronically bad run D and no one to play opposite meant Nnamdi went unchallenged through out most of 07'.
If Aso proves he is an elite corner this year when teams in all likely hood WILL challenge him, he can write his own number, with the Raiders...or whomever he likes.
Its a calculated gamble on both parties side, but one that will likely pay big dividends.
Its just another example of how Big Al does business unlike everyone else in the new "corporatized" NFL.
And one of the reasons we hope he succeeds.

2007 NFL regular season

Week One

With no time outs QB Jay Cutler moves the Broncos into position to try a field goal.

With 8 seconds on the clock Jason Elam hurries the Bronco special teams unit onto the field and boots a game winning field goal, propelling Denver to a 15-14 victory over the Buffalo Bills as time runs out.

Week Two

After tying the game in regulation, Elam seizes the victory, kicking a 23 yarder in overtime, cementing the win over Oakland, 23-20.

Week Six

Elam sinks the Steelers with a game winning field goal from 49 yds out as time expires.

Broncos 31-28.

Week Sixteen

Elam’s 30 yarder in overtime this time steals a "W" from Minnesota, 22-19.

Last year, four games chalked in the Denver Broncos win column thanks to Jason Elam.

Elam was the difference between 7-9 and 3-13, quite literally.

He finished the year 27 of 31for an 87.1% average including a 50 yarder.

Thats nothing compared to the record tying 63 yarder earlier in his career, adding to over 20, 000 points he put up for the Broncos during his time there. He also set the record, scoring more points for a single team than any other man in NFL history.

At least 215 of them against Oakland.

The 3 time Pro Bowler was originally drafted by the Broncos with the 70th selection overall in the 3rd round of the 1993 NFL Draft. Though taken in the 3rd round, he currently has his cleats on display in the NFL Hall of Fame, but starting in 2008, the record setting clutch kicker will be doing his scoring for the Atlanta Falcons.

Some will remember in March, the troubled Falcons signed him away with a 4 year, $9 million dollar contract with a reported $3.3 million guaranteed.

It didn't make much of a wave at the time, so how bad is the news for Denver?

It could be catastrophic. Elam literally held the Broncos from the edge of oblivion last year.

They may have improved their team enough to be more competitive than last year, but judging by their off season moves, it would be a surprise.

Elam is gone and odds are he will be missed.

Taking his place?

That will remain and unknown for now, but currently on the roster...

2nd year kicker out of Central Florida Matt Prater who has been dumped by Detroit, Miami, Atlanta(!) And Miami again before being “snagged” by the Broncs. His NFL experience consists of being 1 for 4 in 2 years with Atlanta.

Challenging him for the starting spot is rookie kicker Garrett Hartley from Oklahoma. Hartley, a free agent, has never kicked in an NFL game.

Last word had it the Broncos were drying out, I mean, "trying out" former Colt K Mike Vanderjagt, but were not impressed enough to sign.


Still early and anything can happen, but at this stage I’d say Elam’s departure bodes very well for the Silver and Black and could be an ominous portent of the decline to come in Denver.

One thing players and its union have in common with owners is the desire for money.

Who gets it and who should has been a bone of contention especially in recent years with billions in revenue being generated.

Since the Paul Tagliabue sell off and even before, the tone and consistency of the game has changed from one of pride and honor to one of greed and selfishness.

Not exactly great news for a so called “team” sport.

Whether the retirement this year of Brett Favre is the complete end of such seemingly antiquated notions like playing for the love of the game is debatable, but more than ever, the NFL, like most monolithic business ventures in Dick Cheney’s America, is focused now on explosive, unsustainable growth and the almighty dollar.

Thats not necessarily a bad thing for players, but it has brought about the issue of guaranteed money in the $10s of millions of dollars to guys who’ve never played a down of professional football.

Simply “paying the guys who’ve earned it” sounds like a feasible and logical plan, after all, paying veterans who produce over long periods of time makes more sense, but this too could have unforseen affects not only rookies wallets, but on veterans careers too.

Some veterans play seasons into the double digits not only because they love the game and can, but because the kid waltzing into camp in pre season signed for more guaranteed money than they may make in their entire careers.

Some veterans stay and play to get the pay.

With distribution of big money to high caliber veterans instead of rookies, one wonders if careers might get shortened by vets who could still have tread on the tire, but are suddenly set for life. Several, lives actually...

It would likely have the affect of inspiring greater play and dedication from new comers looking to one day earn their place in the sun, but as it stands now, some young players day one in the League realize they and their family / entourage might not have to worry a whole lot about money ever again.

Its not too far of a leap to think this might be counter inspirational, especially for todays 20 somethings brought up on a steady diet of consumerism through corporate hypnosis and an artificial “Thug life” the less informed tend to gravitate toward. Some of them have yet to learn materialism means very little in the end and sadly, some of them never will.

Most of them find out how fleeting the success they strived for all of their adult lives is, unless they’re the rare exceptional athlete, really lucky and or have a solid, honest foundation supporting them. In fact, the most successful usually have all three.

The less succesful ones end up working regular jobs after their brief taste of the NFL.

Whether some of todays players will suffer in later years from might have beens, regretting opportunity for glory and immortality lost is anyones guess, but if the system were reversed and veterans got the pay, problems would likely still persist.

With the current system, it seems some players are content to take the money and coast or are foolish and arrogant enough to jeopardize potential future earnings with questionable and often illegal behavior.

Even with morality and performance clauses, players often come away far richer than they had been.

For that matter, some veteran players may coast after hitting it big and or retire earlier.

Yet, its harder to believe vets who worked themselves into a position to theoretically earn those back half big bucks would simply bail out with tread on the tire, but with the risk of injury always a "Spectre", long suffering families and potential for broadcast and advertising dollars, an early retirement is not beyond the realm of possibility.

Whether current commissioner Roger Goodell’s apparent lambasting of todays system means anything or is simply an opinion, will be born out over the next 3 years (Gene Upshaw, former Raider great and current Executive Director of the NFL players association, fired a shot back across the commissioners bow, stating “Mr. Goodell represent the owners. Not the players.”) but its still not clear if the “businness men” in charge of the NFL know how to do anything other than rape and pillage, let alone nuture and expand what for all intents and purposes is a proverbial golden goose.

If they run the NFL like they have the country...

The point is, changes to the current NFL pay system seems long over due, but will likely have short and long term ramifications both seen and unseen for years, even decades to come, not only for exiting veterans and rookies alike, but most importantly for the fans.

Lost in all of this by both sides is the simple fact players and owners seem to forget with out us, the fans, there will be fewer billions to squabble over.

Some of the hostility immediately following the unfortunate incident involving Raider wide out Javon Walker may have been exacerbated by the fact Oakland, just like Walker, has struggled in recent years.

Fans watched a once proud Silver and Black standard plummet from the lofty heights of the new Millenium to a 5 year skid of embarrassment and frustration.

Wary of and unsure if Al Davis is a genius or mad man, Raider fans were left dizzy from an off season spending spree featuring enormous contracts for injured and in some cases untested players.

The Raider Nation waits for 08' to see if Davis' gambit has boldly lead his team back to glory and solidified his legend as one of the greatest sports pioneers of all time, or whether his moves this year will tarnish his legacy, painting him a desperate gambler who mortgaged his teams future in a failed effort to chase glory and instead, sinking them deeper into the abyss.

Theres a lot riding on 2008 for Oakland and ancy Raider fans know it. Most swimming with a heady mix of excitement and tempered apprehension, anxious to see if their new acquisitions will pan out, or become the next in a growing list of recent failures.

Aside from Oaklands slide, the knee jerk reaction some Raider fans had to Walker’s breaking news may have inadvertently been affected by the seemingly constant flow of negative stories recently surrounding the NFL, its teams and its players.

[url]http://www.raiderfans.net/forum/blogs/mykle-vanhausen/152-getting-little-perspective-javon-walker-incident.html[/url]

Perhaps, just seeing Javon’s name in the news had fans assuming the worst, that Walker was yet another athlete who was selfish, entitled and engaged in criminal or unprofessional activity.

Other than enjoying an ill advised night out, as of this moment, criminal or unsavory behavior on his part hardly seems to be the case.

The back lash from some fans and sectors of the media reporting rumor and blatant speculation ranging from career ending injuries to kidnaping and set up, have run rampant since the story was first released.

Derogatory and negative comments about Walker's unfortunate episode surfaced just as fast, but as more facts came to light, the majority of Raider fans seem to have shown genuine concern and compassion toward Walker's plight. All this despite the fact he’d been with Oakland only a short while.

Walker joined the Raiders after a public falling out with the team that originally drafted him, Green Bay. The Packers sent him to Raider division rival Denver.

After the murder of team mate Darrent Williams and injuries, Walker fell out and eventually left on bad terms and under a dark cloud.

Those who've followed Walker's career know his departure from Denver was yet more of the roller coaster highs and lows he's endured since joining the NFL.

From a 1st round draft pick, to the Pro Bowl, to injury and surgeries, from unemployment, to a large multi year contract, to murder, to release, unemployment and back to being a multi millionaire again.

Looking at the totality of it, can one really blame him for being slightly overwhelmed on occasion?

Raider fans hope Javon finds a home to settle into in Oakland and turns his career around, because in many ways, whether its understood or not, Javon’s fate and the Raiders could very well be one and the same.

In the days proceeding the incident, Raider fans seem to be taking Walker under their wing posting notes of encouragement and well wishes, despite the fact Walker is so new to the team “Because,” explained on Raider fan, “Once your an Oakland Raider, your a Raider for life.”

It may sound trite or corny to some, but clearly, the saying has meaning and is a demonstrable fact. Raider fans are unusually loyal and very often that spreads from one generation to the next.

Fathers teach sons, names like "Matuszak" "Allen", “Biletnikoff" and Bo. Darryl Lamonica “the Mad Bomber", Jim Otto and George Blanda. Together, they watch games, lament indignities and regale in victories hard fought and won.

Truth be told, those vitories have been few and far between in recent campaigns.

Raider fans hope Javon helps Oakland write the next great chapter in Raider lore, so that their sons can regale theirs about how the Raiders turned their fortune around with the help of a young man who like Oakland, suffered years of trials and tribulations, but together, triumphed and found success and glory again.

At this moment in time, in many ways, the fans, the team and Walker himself are reliant on each other for sucess because in a very real way, Javon’s story is Oaklands and Oaklands is his.

They’ve both known highs and lows in recent years and fate has not been kind.

Yet, in Oakland of all places, Walker may have something he feels has been missing in other cities with other teams.

A kindred spirit and acceptance.

Acceptance by a team and fans who want nothing more than to see him and their beloved franchise click together and begin to compete.

Though Walker is relatively new to the team and raised eye brows with his sizable off season contract, the general consensus among the Silver and Black in response to his plight seems to be positive. Some even see a closing of the ranks around a fallen comrade and a genuine concern for his well being.

Walker’s mis adventure and injury may be folly, but in some strange way, it may also be the impetus and lightning rod that ignites and unites Oakland together as they rally around, no matter how new, one of their own.

For those of you ready to show Javon the door, a little perspective...

Javon being victimized and robbed is much different from the bar related activities and felonius behavior his fellow NFL players have been involved in recently and in years past...


[url]http://www.usatoday.com/sports/football/nfl/seahawks/2005-10-17-hamlin-hospital_x.htm[/url]

[I]Seattle Seahawks safety Ken Hamlin was in serious but stable condition Monday with a fractured skull and other head injuries following a fight outside a downtown Seattle nightclub. [/I]

[url]http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=1620959[/url]


[I]Janikowski was arrested on suspicion of misdemeanor assault, misdemeanor vandalism and being drunk in public after a fight broke out at Slates Supper Club.[/I]


[url]http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2789077&campaign=rss&source=NFLHeadlines[/url]


[I]police say Burgess and Townsend both hit the man, leaving him with a cut over his eye and a bloody lip.[/I]

[url]http://www.espn.go.com/classic/biography/s/Lewis_Ray.html[/url]


[I]Lewis was charged with murder, along with two friends in his limousine, when a street brawl left two young men dead outside a nightclub. For that -- even after a plea bargain produced a [/I]

[I] ...I'm guilty of is being in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong people," he said. "But I feel like what I'm most guilty of is being successful."[/I]

[url]http://www.cbc.ca/sports/football/story/2008/02/04/saints-stabbing.html[/url]

[I]New Orleans defensive end Charles Grant was stabbed in the neck, and a pregnant woman was shot and killed early Sunday in an altercation at a nightclub in the southwest Georgia town of Blakely.[/I]

*Grant was indicted for the woman and babies death earlier this month.

[url]http://espn.go.com/nfl/s/2000/0201/329054.html[/url]

[I]This season's off-field transgressions started in July, when New York Jets linemen Jumbo Elliott and Jason Fabini were arrested with a former Jet for their part in a bar-room brawl. During the season, Indianapolis Colts defensive back Steve Muhammad was charged with beating his wife just days before she died from labor complications later attributed to a car accident. He was cleared of any wrongdoing in her death but still faces domestic battery charges, according to authorities. Troubled running back Cecil Collins was released by the Miami Dolphins after being picked up for burglary.

Even the Super Bowl playing field wasn't immune. Rams linebacker Leonard Little played despite being only a little more than a year removed from killing a woman during a drunk-driving incident.[/I]

[url]http://www.sportsline.com/nfl/story/7396968[/url]

[I]Officers said they saw the men who were arrested assaulting the victim, Reier said. [B]After the man was knocked unconscious, he continued to be kicked, punched and stomped on his body and head[/B], police spokesman Ron Reier said. [/I]

[url]http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/04/AR2006120400786.html?referrer=reddit[/url]

[I]St. Louis Rams rookie tight end Dominique Byrd was charged Monday with allegedly hitting a bar patron in the face with a drinking glass.[/I]

[url]http://www.titansradio.com/cgi-bin/blurb_view.cgi?blurb=news619050[/url]

[I]Keglar was officially charged with battery, false informing and disorderly conduct. Three other Purdue players were charged. One of Keglar’s teammates, Selwyn Lymon, was stabbed in the upper chest during the altercation. [/I]

[url]http://m.si.com/news/wr/wr/detail/975234[/url]

[I]Minnesota offensive tackle Bryant McKinnie was charged with felony aggravated battery in a Miami-area bar fight.

• And [B]Seattle All-Pro middle linebacker Lofa Tatupu, fresh off signing a new, $42 million contract, hung up a very big number on a breathalyzer test that preceded his being charged with driving under the influence.[/B]

And there's more, of course. Always so much more. Pittsburgh receiver Cedrick Wilson and Steelers linebacker James Harrison were charged with hitting women, the same offense Cincinnati linebacker Ahmad Brooks and then-Oakland cornerback Fabian Washington incurred. Bengals receiver Chris Henry -- who probably owns his own monogrammed orange jumpsuit by now -- was cut by the team after his fifth arrest since 2005, this one for allegedly punching an 18-year-old man in the face and breaking his car window with a beer bottle. At Henry's hearing, the judge described Henry as a "one-man crime wave," which probably isn't a label he'll rush out and try to trademark.

Bills receiver/return man Roscoe Parris picked up a DUI charge in February. Colts running back Kenton Keith was arrested for refusing to leave a nightclub parking lot and public intoxication. Browns cornerback Kenny Wright was charged with unlawful restraint, evading arrest and marijuana possession. Meanwhile back in [I]Buffalo, police are said to be growing impatient with Bills running back Marshawn Lynch, who had yet to meet with them three days after his vehicle was involved in an early morning hit-and-run accident.[/I]
And you know things are tough on the personal conduct front in the NFL when even the guy who suited up as [B]the Steelers' "Steely McBeam" mascot at Heinz Field gets arrested -- and hastily fired by the team -- for driving drunk[/B][/I]

Murder, felonious assault, bar fights and a number of unsavory acts by and against NFL players.

Even Kenny Hamlin had a part in instigating the fight that left him in serious condition.

Not saying Javon didn't, we just don't know, but at this point to lament him and calling for his suspension or job seems, premature at best.

Given the scant facts we have at this moment and compared to the activities of some of his fellow "professionals", his purchase of expensive champaign and subsequent beating and robbery seems tame and more of a victims mistake and bad judgement, but not a reason to threaten his lively hood.

I'm willing to give Javon the benefit of the doubt.

I wish him the best of luck, a speedy recovery and an apology for some who maybe need just a little more perspective.

Outstanding Cornerback for the Raiders , Stanford Routt had this to say on Yardbarker last night regarding the incident...

[I]This is life. We all like to have a good time and clear our heads from work (regardless of what some believe, this still is a job and not a hobby). A man can express himself whatever way he wants to. Maybe we all get caught in the wrong spot sometimes, cause I have myself. But one thing is for sure......he sure didn't inflict harm on himself!! As long as that's the case he still is not the TRUE one to blame!!! [/I]

Thank you Stan and wish him well for us please!