For those of you who don’t know, Al Davis is the owner of the Oakland Raiders. They are an NFL franchise who play in some “Bay Area” where allegedly, another NFL franchise called the San Francisco 49ers plays. Today, Al Davis has composed a letter of resignation for his 30-something Head Coach (who he just hired last offseason) to sign. The coach is Lane Kiffin, former USC Offensive Coordinator. Kiffin and the Raiders doubled their win total this season as compared to the prior one. The problem with that is that the Raiders won 2 games that year. Message to Al Davis: Do the Oakland Raiders and their incredibly loyal fan base a huge favor and get dead. It will be a great day for the NFL.
Ben Roethlisberger is really grinding my gears. He’d be wise to just shut up until about August. Roethlisberger said in some interview somewhere that he wants a tall receiver. I have mentioned in this spot that Hines Ward is my favorite professional football player. He catches everything his wildly inaccurate quarterback throws at him. He blocks like an offensive lineman. He does everything that is asked of him and is a sure fire first ballot hall of famer five years after he retires. “Medium Ben” is not a hall of famer, unless the Miami University of Ohio opens up a hall of fame for he and Travis Prentice.
I hate the people of the Washington D.C. metropolitan area. This was qualified last night when I attended the Capitals/Maple Leafs game and had to endure 10,000 of these people cheering on a terrible hockey team (Sidebar: The Capitals have one superstar, a capable rookie, and a bunch of morons who can barely skate, never mind play professional hockey). I got into a fight with some kids who go to Towson University (a shit school somewhere near Baltimore). I watched students from THE Catholic University of America chant “asshole” at a female Georgetown student in a 2nd intermission college hot dog eating contest. And then this: San Francisco’s AT&T Park (and other sporting venues) has a policy that fans are not allowed to go to their seat until there is a break in action. In baseball, that’s between pitches. In basketball that’s during one of the 3,046 whistles per quarter. In football, that’s after ever play. IN HOCKEY, that’s 6 MINUTES into the second period. 6 MINUTES!!! I stood for six minutes in the tunnel (of the cheapest of cheap seats) waiting to get to my seat. I did tell the usher, “This is probably a good reason why you guys have the second lowest attendance ranking in the NHL.
As far as a game o’ the day, the game was okay and the Caps won 2-1.
Game o’ the Day: Minnesota @ Boston. (NBA). You’re probably slightly confused about this. However, the lowly T-wolves are going to beat the Celtics tonight. Al Jefferson is going to outplay Kevin Garnett. Bassy Telfair will go for 13 pts. and 7 assists off the bench. Ryan Gomes will score at least 15. Look, picking up Garnett is great for the Celtics in the short-term. I don’t think they’re going to win a title. I would love for them to do so. Garnett is one of the best players of this generation. However, six years from now, when the Celtics are wallowing in obscurity again, and Big Al is averaging 25 and 13 a game for the playoff level T-Wolves, just remember you read this. Look at what the Blazers did. They built up. The reason why the Celtics “build up” mode never succeeded is because Danny Ainge is inept. Pierce should have been traded years ago, for more value than they’ll get when they lose him in a few years. Picking guys like Gerald Green set the Celtics back light years. Here’s a list of the guys drafted after Gerald Green: Nate Robinson, David Lee, Francisco Garcia, Luther Head, Jarrett Jack, Jason Maxiell, C.J. Miles, Ronny Turiaf, MONTA ELLIS, Louis Williams, and oh, Ryan Gomes. All of these players are making a significant impact on their current rosters. So, if the Celtics don’t win a title with this current roster, all of this will be for loss and the Celtics will be in worse shape when they were on Lottery Selection night in May of 07. Timberwolves win 108-103 in Boston.
Mid-Atlantic Bias 
I’m very happy you mentioned Travis Prentice. I was more crushed when the Patriots didn’t take him than when they didn’t take David Terrell. Hines Ward is a good, overrated wide receiver. He’s not in the class of Tory Holt, Randy Moss, Reggie Wayne and Terrell Owens, in my opinion.I hate Towson University. Right there with it. The Timberwolves are not the Blazers, and neither WERE the Celtics. They did not have the quality of top draft picks (Aldridge, Oden, Roy, Webster, Outlaw…etc) or the free cap space. The Blazers are not a championship contender unless Oden is David Robinson. What they did do is use trades to acquire solid, complementary players, but there is no way they can afford to keep all these players.I long for the Joel Freeland era to begin.