WHEN I FIRST DECIDED I LIKED THE OAKLAND Raiders as my favorite football team in 1996, they were a relevant member of the National Football League. But that wasn̢۪t why I liked them. They were actually coming off of decades of winning and moving toward the sad state they are in right now.
I didn̢۪t like the Raiders because they were good. They were rarely good. Right now, they are certainly not good. But what I liked about the Raiders was they had the NFL̢۪s second-best receiver, Tim Brown.
Tim Brown was a Heisman Trophy winner at Notre Dame. He was a wide receiver and a kick return specialist. He certainly was overshadowed by Jerry Rice, but was a member of the NFL̢۪s 1990s All-Decade Team.
The Raiders also had Napoleon Kaufman, a speedy running back who made his impression with the NFL by running for long touchdowns.
Back in the 1990s, everyone liked the 49ers or the Dallas Cowboys, who were busy winning Super Bowls. But when it came to a game of John Madden Football on Sega Genesis, the Raiders could hang with anyone.
Despite consistently turning in disappointing seasons, the Raiders had some of the fastest players in the sport. Tim Brown, James Jett and Kaufman were so fast, they could score from anywhere. Their speed attributes on the Madden football game made them unstoppable. Even if my real-life Raiders never could come close to the 1990s 49ers and Cowboys, John Madden let me pretend they could.
But watching the real-life Raiders in action during the football season was never as fun as it was playing with them in video games. The Raiders have been finding a way to lose for the last six years.
With all the losing, it’s hard to tell where “rock bottomâ€Â is.
This season the Raiders have blown two games in which they held a fourth-quarter lead. The Raiders gave up 17 points in the fourth quarter against Buffalo to lose by one point, and then gave up 25 points in the fourth quarter the following week in a loss to San Diego.
But this is nothing new.
The Raiders do this year after year. Kansas City, Denver and even the Cleveland Browns have stunned the Raiders in recent years with comeback wins.
In case that isn̢۪t enough, the Raiders aren̢۪t even fun to use in Madden football anymore. Go ahead, check out this year̢۪s edition of Madden and attribute ratings for the Raiders show that they are the worst team in football.
Things have gotten so bad lately, that during a television broadcast of a recent game, CBS told viewers it was going to cut to a more competitive contest. The Raiders lost to the New Orleans Saints that day, 34-3.
The Raiders don̢۪t always get blown out. Most games include some spectacular plays that give false hope to Raider fans like myself. But once the fourth quarter begins, the team just falls apart.
The team actually was something good for a few years. After a 4-12 season in 1997, the Raiders started winning. The Raiders collected more great players, like Heisman Trophy winner Charles Woodson and Rice. In the Madden football world, the Raiders were one of the best. The Raiders̢۪ string of winning seasons culminated in a Super Bowl loss to the Buccaneers in 2003 that the Raiders never could recover from.
The Raiders only win four games a year anymore. I still like them when they go 4-12, as they did in 1997, 2003, 2005 and 2007. But, four-win seasons make the football fans sick.
Bulldog football fans probably remember how fun it was to win only four games in 2006, a season with the Bulldogs̢۪ most embarrassing loss at Utah State. Tuning in week after week and watching the same pattern unfold might make someone hate the Raiders.
For the Raiders, going 4-12 is like turning in another lousy year of work at a job you hate.
I knew when I signed myself up to be a Raiders fan, that inevitable disappointment was part of the deal, but I never thought it could be this bad for this long.