In Silver And Black... [Archive]

Angry Pope

05-25-2006, 02:27 PM

Art Shell...

"I want us to go out, punch a guy in the mouth, go back to the huddle, come back to the line of scrimmage, smile at the guy and then punch him in the mouth again."

“When you walk out there, when you into that stadium, you walk out there with a presence. Mr. Davis called it a swagger. I just want to get back to the point where when we walk into a stadium, they know the Raiders are in town. And when we walk into the Coliseum, the Raiders are here. ... We've got to create that attitude, and that's what I expect to do.”

Angry Pope

05-26-2006, 10:48 AM

Michael Huff...

“I think it's kind of a new breed of safety. Safeties have to do more than just stay in the middle of the field and hit. Now, they have to cover and blitz and do it all, and that's what I like to do.”

Angry Pope

05-26-2006, 10:52 AM

Rich Gannon....

“I never took one day in my NFL career for granted. I realized how fortunate I was to be playing a game I loved.”

Angry Pope

05-26-2006, 02:24 PM

Randy Moss....

“[SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA -- Randy Moss looked around the crowded locker room inside San Francisco's Monster Park. Many of the faces he saw belonged to Raiders teammates who are still somewhat strangers to him. Some, he guessed, had only heard the tales of Randy Moss during his seven-year stay in Minnesota.] They really don't know me, and I really don't know them, ... But one thing for sure that I try to leave them with is I am serious about my J-O-B. Once I retire and leave this game, that's what I want everybody to understand.”

Angry Pope

05-26-2006, 02:32 PM

Randy.....

That's great, Randy. But tell me, what's under the do-rag?

"I'll tell you what's under it, playa," says Moss. "The best receiver in the game."

After the first week of the season...

"Put me in purple and gold," says Moss, "or silver and black. Shoot, put me in pink tutu and a top hat. Madd Skillz always gets the job done. And what kind of fool thinks the Vikings' offense is better off without me. I outscored them all by myself. Seven points to six. Their defense scored their only touchdown."

Angry Pope

05-27-2006, 05:39 PM

Al Davis....

“It may take a short while, but we'll get that nastiness of the Raiders back. And that's one of the reasons we're going to depend on the great Art Shell to help us get that done.”

On John Madden...

“I saw greatness in John and he lived up to it. I also saw a tremendous competitor who loved to win. John is a standard bearer, someone that players, coaches, fans and the Raider Nation can all look up to. One of his great virtues, the fire that burned brightest in him, was his love and passion for football, which was seldom ever equaled.”

“It's time John took his rightful place in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He certainly brings an excellence to it that no one can deny. I saw greatness in him and he lived up to it.”

On Bill King...

“Bill was a great friend, a brilliant performer and an exceptional man. I say this with great admiration and love that Bill becomes one of the people that I give the cloak of immortality. Time never stops for the great ones.”

Angry Pope

05-27-2006, 05:41 PM

Tom Flores....

“A total commitment is paramount to reaching the ultimate in performance.”

Angry Pope

05-27-2006, 05:42 PM

Lincoln Kennedy...

"I was going to write myself in, but I was afraid I'd get shot. "(on his decision not to vote)

Angry Pope

05-27-2006, 06:01 PM

Bob Brown describing how Skip Thomas looked...

"...death warmed over, swallowed down, and spit back up."

Angry Pope

05-29-2006, 11:59 AM

Bill Romanowski....

"On one play, I remember hitting him out of bounds, grabbing his throat and squeezing it like it was Silly Putty," Romanowski, said, referring to Brunell, whose Jaguars team had upset the Broncos the previous season. " 'You cheap shot artist!' Brunell screamed at me. 'You're going down, Brunell! I looked at your friggin' face every day for a friggin' year! I've waited all year for this!' "

Romanowski had put a picture of Brunell on the front door of his own gym before the '97 season as motivation since Jacksonville had upset the Broncos in the playoffs in the '96 season.

“You're the biggest idiot that ever came out of Boston College. I'm insulted that we could have gone to the same school.”

What Romanowski yelled to Mark Chumura when they lined up across from him.

“I'd run through a brick wall for this guy, simple as that,”

His admiration for Al

Angry Pope

05-29-2006, 12:02 PM

Blanda.....

“In twenty-six years in the pros, I haven't noticed many changes. The players are faster, bigger, smarter, and more disloyal to their owners, but that's about it.”

Angry Pope

05-29-2006, 02:24 PM

Madden....

“ Al knows football, the rules, the ticket situation, the radio contracts, the advertising. He'd have a mood for each one -- he would create his own moods. A mood for drafting, a mood for trading, a mood for negotiating. One mood just kicks right into another. You can simplify a simple person. You can't simplify Al Davis. ”
— John Madden

Angry Pope

05-29-2006, 05:35 PM

Hendricks....

``Because of us there's the no-clothesline rule, the no-spearing rule, the no-hitting-out-of-bounds rule, the no-fumbling-forward-in-the-last-

two-minutes-of-the-game rule, the no-throwing-helmets rule and the no-Stickum rule. So you see, we're not all bad.''

Hendricks take on his team's bad rap...

Angry Pope

05-30-2006, 09:51 AM

Madden and Al the night before the Super Bowl....

"We're going to kill 'em," I told Al Davis the night before the game. "I just know we're going to kill 'em tomorrow."

"No, no John, don't talk like that," Al said. "Don't ever talk like that before a game. You know better than that."

Angry Pope

05-30-2006, 09:59 AM

“The high of a win is never as high as the low of a loss, and the longer you are in the business, the wider that gap becomes.”

- John Madden on coaching

Angry Pope

05-30-2006, 10:03 AM

Villapiano on where he got his nickname, Foo...

A teammate named Duane Benson. We were out drinking some beers one night and our eyes were getting pretty watery. After a while he couldn't say Phil, so he was calling me Foo. It was a great night.

On when he started playing football...

I must have been about four, playing in the neighborhood with the older kids. They use to beat the hell out of me. It was great. It definitely had a long-term effect on me and my playing.

"When you play for the Raiders you play to win and you play tough. It's not something the coaches teach or talk about. It's just there, like in the air. It's an attitude--you are going to hit people and smash them if you are a Raider."

Angry Pope

05-31-2006, 11:41 AM

Bob Brown....

His own salaries

"It's a number that's embarrassing. The money they throw around now, they've got guys sitting on the end of the bench who pay more in taxes than I made."

His own ability

"I can block anything that was born from a woman. I just never had a problem with that, whether it weighs 350 or 260, it didn't matter to me."

Angry Pope

05-31-2006, 11:43 AM

Al on Biletnikoff at the HOF ceremonies...I believe...

"A man will walk softly into the valley of giants and he will make you wonder: Where is the body? Where is the strength? Where is the speed? How is he going to play a giant’s game? How is he going to compensate?

"And then you hope and you watch and you wait for a miracle to happen and you discover that this man can play the game. He can beat you - not with great physical skills, not with great athletic skills, but with artifice, timing, and execution. Fred Biletnikoff was an artist and the Hall of Fame is his Louvre."

Angry Pope

05-31-2006, 11:45 AM

More Al about Fred...

"I see his long sleeves flying," Davis says. "I see his socks hanging down below his bony knees... always hanging down - I love it!"

Davis smiles his half-warm, half-sinister smile. "And that long, blond hair flowing out of the back of his helmet. And lots of eye black below the eyes. And Stick'Em everywhere - on his uniform, on his body, and especially on those hands... those magnificent hands... those hands that he’d always seem to be able to extend at the last second to pluck the football out of the sky from Kenny Stabler or Daryle Lamonica or Tom Flores."

CrossBones

05-31-2006, 12:14 PM

Al Davis was eloquent there. Bravo!!

Rupert

05-31-2006, 01:57 PM

We'll have to wait to see what he says about Madden. Hopefully, he'll be as eloquent.

Angry Pope

05-31-2006, 03:01 PM

Pete Banaszak....

Back in those days every team hated us. Madden would even get a group of guys to go to church on Sunday morning and even the priest would make a derogatory comment about us when he saw us sitting in the back that the enemy is in town.

Angry Pope

06-01-2006, 09:53 AM

Bob Brown...

Asked to describe his playing style, Brown said....

"I was very attack oriented. I didn't want to be a shock absorber. I wanted to be the guy who was delivering the shock. I was extremely aggressive for an offensive player. I used to liken it to being a 16-pound sledgehammer."

Angry Pope

06-01-2006, 09:56 AM

Dave Casper on being chosen to be in the HOF...

"I feel very fortunate [to be in the Hall of Fame]," Casper said. "There are some people who think I'm very, very good. There are some who think I didn't play long enough. They're both correct. I'm here and I'm happy."

Angry Pope

06-01-2006, 10:01 AM

During the week before the Oakland Raiders beat the Philadelphia Eagles 27-10 Sunday to win Super Bowl XV, their coach collected $15,000 in fines.....

"Actually, that's a conservative figure," said their captain, Gene Upshaw, the left guard. "We're not a bunch of choirboys and Boy Scouts. They say we're the Halfway House of the NFL. Well, we live up to that image."....

Here Upshaw paused in his postgame oration for dramatic emphasis, and a smile split his face.

"Every chance we get."

Angry Pope

06-01-2006, 11:41 AM

Midway through his second season with the Raiders, defensive lineman Chester McGlockton stopped by Shell, his coach, as McGlockton trotted off the field after practice.

"Hey," he said to Shell, "someone told me you used to play."

Angry Pope

06-02-2006, 10:22 AM

Madden......

"Bob Brown used to always say that if he could get the right hit on a defensive end -- hit him in the right place, like the solar plexus or something -- that he could take a quarter out of him. And he used to do it. He'd hit a guy in the first quarter and say, 'I won't see him again until the third quarter.' "

Angry Pope

06-06-2006, 10:27 AM

From Foo (Villapiano)...

"You've got to give something back. I'm a national vice president for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. In 10 years, we've raised a couple million for research. I've been working with them since 1971. I also help with the Special Olympics' Tournament of Champions."

Angry Pope

06-06-2006, 10:30 AM

Davis, who was supposed to be the villain of the event, kept a low profile all week. You would have thought that with the Raiders finally in the big game again after a nine-year wait, Al would have hung around and enjoyed the limelight. But he was practically invisible. On game day, as he loitered on the field after the Oakland team buses arrived, he was asked where he had been.

"Aw, you know me," he said. "If I come around, I say something controversial, and the commissioner doesn't get the headlines."

Angry Pope

06-07-2006, 09:57 AM

Frank Middleton...(more known quote but I will get it out of the way)...

Oakland Raiders; prior to Super Bowl XXXVII he was asked what was the best thing his ex-head coach Jon Gruden (now the Tampa Bay head coach and his opponent in the Super Bowl) did for the Oakland Raiders. Frank said: "Leave."

Angry Pope

06-07-2006, 09:59 AM

John Madden

The road to Easy Street goes through the sewer.

Angry Pope

06-07-2006, 09:59 AM

Bo Jackson...

If my mother put on a helmet and shoulder pads and a uniform that wasn't the same as the one I was wearing, I'd run over her if she was in my way. And I love my mother.

CrossBones

06-07-2006, 10:05 AM

Oakland Raiders; prior to Super Bowl XXXVII he was asked what was the best thing his ex-head coach Jon Gruden (now the Tampa Bay head coach and his opponent in the Super Bowl) did for the Oakland Raiders. Frank said: "Leave."What's that tell you? Players tire quickly of Gruden's act. Gruden is all about Gruden IMO.

Angry Pope

06-08-2006, 10:12 AM

Howie Long...

"In Montana, they renamed a town after an all-time great, Joe Montana. Well, a town in Massachusetts changed their name to honor my guy Terry Bradshaw--Marblehead."

Angry Pope

06-08-2006, 10:16 AM

Atkinson....

Naturally, Oakland's George Atkinson drew considerable pregame attention. Over and over, he was grilled on his past atrocities in secondary. For him, there was nothing unusual about his exploits, "I treat pass receivers the way you would treat a burglar in your home," he said. "What would you do?" he added, asking the question of his listeners.

"Call you," said a media wit.

Angry Pope

06-08-2006, 02:54 PM

Stabler.....

"I bet there are 25 quarterbacks who can throw better than I can. But I can make guys win. I can motivate players and they'll tell you that. It's part of my job. Winning is what we're all here for. It cures colds, heals fever blisters, whatever's wrong with you. "

Angry Pope

06-08-2006, 02:56 PM

Stabler....

"The worst thing I could do would be to let my guys see me with a worried look. I'm not a worrier anyway. I'm really relaxed and loose on the field, no matter how tense things are.

"Sometimes I think of all the things that could go wrong if I screw up. But then I know that I'm not going to, so it ain't no big deal."

Angry Pope

06-08-2006, 03:03 PM

Stabler.....

"I try to give the defensive back the impression that I'm on a deep pattern," he explained. "As soon as he turns his back and starts running, I plant my foot and go either back toward the line of scrimmage, or toward the middle or out toward the sideline. That gives me two chances to beat him, either by forcing him to turn and start running before I plant my foot or by coming back toward scrimmage.

"Success often depends on knowing what your own backs are doing on a certain pattern. If I'm running a hook, for instance, I know that the outside linebacker will follow our backs coming out of the backfield. So I'll slide over a few yards toward the vacated spot."

Angry Pope

06-09-2006, 01:33 PM

"Jack Tatum could hit a man so hard it would lift both his feet off the ground. I remember one game, when the opposing QB tried to scramble for a first down; and Jack knocked him out cold. So they put their back-up in and Jack knocked him out too. Then the punter came in; same thing happened. They ended with their tight-end under center."

- Woody Hayes, Tatum's coach at Ohio State

Angry Pope

06-09-2006, 01:36 PM

“It’s interesting because people will bring me a Raiders jersey to sign and say, ‘I know you won’t sign this’ as if the jersey has something to do with it. I have nothing against the Raiders. I had a difference of opinion with one guy. That should not define my relationship with the people who worked up there that I liked and all the players.”

Marcus Allen on the perception that people get about his feelings for our team....

Angry Pope

06-10-2006, 03:18 PM

"I guarantee you one thing, Jack Tatum never hit anybody from behind."

- John Madden

Angry Pope

06-10-2006, 03:19 PM

"I run my head into people. That's basically my job description."

Jon Ritchie

Angry Pope

06-10-2006, 03:20 PM

"I still don't know how that referee changed that call. He was right there - the referee has one responsibility and that's the quarterback - he's the guy standing right behind the quarterback. He sees that play and called it a fumble - that was his call on the field. His call - not a back judge, a side judge or an umpire - the referee made the call. Now he's the same guy that goes and looks at it during a challenge. On the field he made the call a fumble and I didn't see enough evidence with the pictures to change that from a fumble to an incomplete pass. I know the "tuck rule" and the arm going forward - all that stuff - but I still didn't think there was enough visual evidence for him to change that."

John Madden

Rupert

06-10-2006, 07:13 PM

I think anyone with any sense knows that. Anyone who brings up the tuck rule is full of it, or an apologist. When Brady's second hand touched the ball, it, by definition, was tucked.

Let's go with the incomplete pass thought. If he'd have released that ball on purpose, right before he was hit, in the position his hand was at the time, he would have thrown the ball at his feet. Since he was in the pocket, that would have been intentional grounding.

But hell, it's all moot. They did what they did, and everything wound up they way it did. Close the books and turn the page.

Angry Pope

06-12-2006, 03:33 PM

Porter.....

Raiders WR Jerry Porter on Gruden, whom Porter didn’t see eye-to-eye with — and thus rarely played in his first two seasons: “When Gruden left, I breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't help me at all. He only hurt my career. He created an uptight atmosphere, but when he left, everything got back to football.”

Angry Pope

06-12-2006, 03:34 PM

Bill Callahan....

Raiders head coach Bill Callahan on Rich Gannon’s role in the Oakland offense, which has grown considerably since Jon Gruden left to take the head coaching job in Tampa Bay, so much so that the quarterback is reportedly authorized to change the play about any time he sees fit: "He does an incredible amount for this offense. The volume that he handles, the information that he is required to learn in a short period of time. … The preparation and the work is astronomical, and he continues to take on more responsibility. He has stretched himself considerably in terms of trying to get better and trying to improve this offense. His ability to change plays and diagnose defenses and get you into the right play, it's key for us. For our style of play, he's the guy that does the best job. We wouldn't want anybody else."

Angry Pope

06-13-2006, 09:39 AM

Bugel, who joined the Raiders as an assistant in 1995, became the team's third head coach in four years. He got off on the right foot with the boss....

"I don't mean to embarrass him, but I love Al Davis," Bugel said at his introductory press conference. "This love affair has been going on for 22 years."

Angry Pope

06-13-2006, 09:42 AM

Al............

The Raiders, George's third team in eight years, say they did plenty of homework on the temperamental QB before offering him the deal....

"We checked as much as we can check, short of bringing in listening devices," Davis says. "We might have done that, but we can't admit it."

Angry Pope

06-13-2006, 09:44 AM

Jeff George...

"I'll be embarrassed if at the end of the year we're not playing for the AFC championship, because we have the talent. We're going to win."

Angry Pope

06-13-2006, 09:46 AM

The No. 2 overall pick was spent on USC defensive tackle Darrell Russell. That raised the eyebrows of ESPN analyst Mike Gottfried, who drew the Raiders' ire when he said North Carolina tackle Rick Terry was a better player than Russell.....

"He might be suffering from burnout," Bugel said of Gottfried. "He needs a vacation. Something may be seriously wrong with him." If Russell, who Bugel says reminds him of a young Reggie White, racks up 10 sacks this season, nobody will care what the draft mavens said."

Angry Pope

06-13-2006, 09:48 AM

Darrell Russell on Al....

"It makes me more comfortable knowing that I'm under a person with a mind like his," Russell says. "He has an impeccable record. Everywhere you go, everyone either fears or doesn't like the Raiders."

Angry Pope

06-14-2006, 09:55 AM

"Everybody says the Raiders cheat...OK, we cheat. So, what are you going to do about it?"

John Madden

Angry Pope

06-14-2006, 09:57 AM

"Rich did this, and we all helped," center Barret Robbins said. "That's why he's the most valuable player of this league. You could sense a calm feeling out there."

Barrett after Rich brought us back to an overtime victory...

Angry Pope

06-14-2006, 09:59 AM

Lincoln Kennedy on Jon Gruden’s (with Tampa Bay) intense demeanor....

“He wants to rule the world. I'm 6-7. He is 5-foot-nothing. You look at him and he wants to rule the world. He has this little scrunch on his face when you are around him. He takes little shots at you. It's funny. I laugh every time I see him. To me it's tickling. He's not mean in any way. For me to try to look at him when he is trying to be big and bad is hilarious.”

Angry Pope

06-15-2006, 10:49 AM

Raiders chief executive Amy Trask quieting talk that 73-year-old owner Al Davis might retire if his team wins the Super Bowl...

“He’s fine. He’s not going anywhere. He’s the owner. He’s not retiring. He will continue to lead this team as he always has, and his personal achievements and contributions to the game of football will continue. Everyone you know in the NFL will be retired before he is, and long before he’s finished making contributions to this game.”

Angry Pope

06-15-2006, 10:52 AM

Joe Washington, a Redskins running back, on our defensive line (Super Bowl)...

"They were butchering us at the line of scrimmage. They just put an old-fashioned can of whip-ass on us."

Angry Pope

06-15-2006, 10:54 AM

On Tuesday night, after the Raiders had been in Tampa for only one day, they were ready... Alzado...

"I want to play right now. I read one paper that said I couldn't handle Joe Jacoby. I don't want to hear his name. I can't stand to hear it. I want to go out and play, now, right now; I want to settle this thing."

Seraph24

06-15-2006, 10:56 AM

Good stuff MM. I like the Barrett Robbins quote on Gannon. Too bad he lost control of his bipolar issue. We haven't had a legit replacement for him yet(which is probally in direction relation to the O-line troubles we've had the last 3 years). I hope that changes this year.

Angry Pope

06-16-2006, 09:42 AM

"I was really being a jerk on the sidelines to the coaches, I was being un-Tim Brown like. Sometimes you've got a funny way of being brought down to earth. God don't like ugly."

Tim Brown...

Angry Pope

06-16-2006, 09:46 AM

"I'm gonna take off Joe Theisman's head."

Alzado before the Super Bowl...

Angry Pope

06-16-2006, 09:48 AM

"A good hit is when you wake up on the sidelines with a train whistle blowing in your head. "

Jack Tatum

Angry Pope

06-18-2006, 10:50 AM

Sapp on the chances of him giving NASCAR a try...

“It would take an act of God [to get me into a stock car]. Let me clarify that, it would take a physical act of God. It's too fast and the wall is too hard. I like quarterbacks that are nice, soft and cushy.”

Angry Pope

06-18-2006, 10:53 AM

Frank Middleton, one of the Raiders most critical of teammate Barret Robbins after the All-Pro center went AWOL before the Super Bowl, on Robbins’ attempt to mend fences with the team...

“We're working together as a family to get past this. He apologized to the team. That's all we can ask for. Once we start playing, this all is going to get behind us. The guy went through a little problem and paid the price. I can't be harder than the judge. You steal a couple times and get three strikes. I'm giving the man three strikes. ... I can forgive. I'm a big enough man to forgive.”

Angry Pope

06-19-2006, 09:52 AM

Jerry Porter on the Tampa Bay secondary, which he is convinced is not any good....

"Let me tell you, if Ronde Barber had to cover all day, he'd be living with his brother (Tiki)."

Angry Pope

06-19-2006, 09:55 AM

Middleton on why he thinks C Barret Robbins, who missed Sunday’s Super Bowl after being kicked off the team for missing a team meeting and a pregame walk-through, wasn’t benched earlier in the season by head coach Callahan...

“(Robbins makes) too much money. He made the Pro Bowl because he played with four other great offensive linemen.”

Angry Pope

06-19-2006, 09:57 AM

Tim Brown on dropping a pass with 3:06 left that would’ve sealed the win in our 28-18 victory over Minnesota that gave the Vikings their fourth consecutive loss...

“I was really being a jerk on the sidelines to the coaches. I was being un-Tim Brown like. Sometimes you've got a funny way of being brought down to earth. God don't like ugly.”

Angry Pope

06-20-2006, 09:44 AM

Sapp (with Tampa Bay), who is acting as a mentor of sorts to rookie Jets DT Dewayne Robertson, on the importance of having a veteran to learn from....

“I remember when I first got into this league, nobody reached to me. So when I got good, I didn't reach back. But now I understand. … I'm teaching and sharing my game, so I'm leaving something. I'm going to leave this game one day, and I want to leave it in good hands with some people I can watch and talk about.”

Angry Pope

06-21-2006, 09:30 AM

Gannon on the decision to sign former Collins during the offseason....

“I don’t know what people think, but I do have some intelligence. You know, I am 38 years old. I think that they looked at what happened a year ago when I did get hurt and they probably felt like they needed to continue to try and improve (the QB) position. And, so, (the signing) made a lot of sense to me. It didn’t surprise me at all.”

Angry Pope

06-22-2006, 09:51 AM

Callahan on his decision to suspend LB Bill Romanowski after he pummeled teammate Marcus Williams in practice....

“It doesn't matter who it is. When it gets to that severity, I'm going to level a discipline. It goes beyond the game. Once it's beyond the respect and dignity of a player, it's a tragedy.”

CrossBones

06-22-2006, 05:55 PM

AP if you can direct me to any more audio or video featuring the late great Bill King it would be appreciated.

~CB

CrossBones

06-22-2006, 08:34 PM

I think I finally found 'em....

Part I (http://24.104.40.88/knbr/billKingTribute1.mp3)

Part II (http://24.104.40.88/knbr/billKingTribute2.mp3)

Part III (http://24.104.40.88/knbr/billKingTribute3.mp3)

Part IV (http://24.104.40.88/knbr/billKingTribute4.mp3)

KNBR's tribute to Bill King. I'm pretty sure AP posted these in the past but I counld't locate them. But anyway, with football approaching it is nice to listen to the great Bill King calling games for the Raiders.

Angry Pope

06-23-2006, 09:50 AM

Bob Golic...

If you're mad at your kid, you can either raise him to be a nose tackle or send him out to play on the freeway. It's about the same.

Angry Pope

06-26-2006, 10:48 AM

Dan Birdwell....

You have to play this game like somebody just hit your mother with a two-by-four.

CrossBones

06-26-2006, 11:59 AM

Oh that one is perfect.

The current squad needs to take on that type of attitude.,

Angry Pope

06-27-2006, 09:42 AM

Lester Hayes....

In the days of old when Charlie Sumner became our defensive coordinator in 1979, my life changed. The defensive tactics changed, allowing my confidence level to increase to the tenth power. The most important factor in the National Football League on the football battlefield is confidence and the need to trust your leader. The trust level was intensified upon the arrival of Coach Sumner. When a player trusts and loves his leader 110% from a defensive standpoint, they will do anything – if we had to, we would walk through a round of pitbulls wearing pork chop underwear. That is love. And we believed that we would not be bitten.

Angry Pope

06-28-2006, 09:55 AM

Clem Daniels and the 1967 Super Bowl....

We lost the game, that part hurt. The funny part is that I broke my leg in Week 10 and didn’t play in the Super Bowl. I still tell people if I had been in that game (Super Bowl II), we would have kicked their butts.

Angry Pope

06-29-2006, 11:07 AM

Clem Daniels...

I can’t remember when the game was but we were playing at Denver. We ran a play off-tackle and netted a lot of yards. But a holding flag was thrown so the play was negated. I came into the huddle begging for the play to be run again. I told the O-Lineman not to worry, just do your job. We ran the play again and I was dragged down at the Denver three-yard line. Those plays stood out because of the family mentality fostered by everyone associated with the Raiders. We take care of each other.

Angry Pope

06-30-2006, 10:07 AM

Clem Daniels....

Oh, heck yeah! Family is very important. Mr. Davis brought that to the Raiders. Bill Walsh once said, “The togetherness and family tradition of The Oakland Raiders is second to none.” I truly believe that. Any organization of substance has to have tradition to be great. Part of our tradition, from the owner down, is a sense of family. We are all Raiders.

Angry Pope

07-03-2006, 10:23 AM

When Eric Allen started the rather painful rehabilitation process, even though his future was uncertain....

"There were a couple of instances in rehab when I thought about quitting" he said. "But maybe five or six months into it, I thought maybe I'd be able to come back." His children played an important role in his decision. "I have two little boys, Austin and Hunter, who wouldn't let me quit," he said. Allen didn't quit and he hasn't lost a step. Even if he had, it wouldn't matter. He's not that kind of cornerback, he said. "I never really based my playing on speed alone," he said. "I'm more of a studier, if you are in the right place at the right time, it doesn't really matter how fast you run."

Angry Pope

07-04-2006, 11:55 AM

This belief was rampant among the Raiders about going to win the Super Bowl...

Villapiano...

"We knew by Wednesday we were going to win. The only hard part from then on was waiting for the game."

Angry Pope

07-05-2006, 10:04 AM

Morrison....

“I do a lot of film preparation,” Morrison explained. “I watch it at home. Sometimes I can just pop a tape in and watch my opponent for the week. I think that when you watch your opponent so many times, you get to a comfort zone. When you’re in the game, you’ve seen that play a hundred times already, and you know how it’s going to work.”

Angry Pope

07-07-2006, 10:02 AM

Al on Bill King....

"Bill King never played for the Oakland Raiders, nor did he play for the Los Angeles Raiders. Nor did he wear the famed colors of silver and black. If he had worn them, he would have worn them with poise and with pride and with class, because he was a star."

Angry Pope

07-10-2006, 09:11 AM

Here is Bill King calling the end of the "Holy Roller"...Bones provided the audio...

BILL KING: Ten seconds left, (Fred) Biletnikoff out, (Morris) Bradshaw in, the ball on the 14, Oakland trails 20 to 14. The crowd takes up a chant of "Defense!" (Terry) Robiskie and Banaszak are the backs. Slot right, (Cliff) Branch inside Bradshaw.

Stabler back. Here comes the rush. He sidesteps and HE FUMBLES! HE'S SACKED! The ball, flipped forward, is loose! A wild scramble! Two seconds on the clock. Casper grabbing the ball. It is ruled a fumble. Casper has recovered in the end zone! The Oakland Raiders have scored on the most zany, unbelievable, absolutely impossible dream of a play!!

Stabler, while being hit, the ball squirted forward. (Raiders coach John) Madden is on the field; he wants to know if it's real. They said yes, get your big butt out of here! He does!

The ball went wildly, bounding inside the 10. [Unintelligible] goes on the field. Stabler, it is ruled, has been hit and fumbled. Banaszak knocked the ball forward, it bounded crazily. I'm looking at a replay now. Ultimately, Casper fell on it in the end zone. On the replay you see Banaszak go after it, it's knocked away as he shovels it forward. It's bounding inside the 5, Casper flips it with the fingers and falls on it.

And I have to tell you, I think Kenny Stabler threw the ball away, belt-high with a little flip and got away with it.

MONTY STICKLES: I'll tell you what, I think Kenny threw the ball away and got away with it. I think Banaszak fumbled it forward. But on all of that, Casper still has the presence of mind to get it in the end zone.

BILL KING: There it is, the kick by Mann is up - IT'S GOOD! THERE'S NO TIME LEFT!

There's nothing real in the world anymore! The Raiders have won the football game! Fifty-two thousand people, minus a few lonely Raider fans, are stunned! The Chargers are standing, looking at each other, looking at the sky. They don't believe it! Nobody believes it! I don't know if the Raiders believe it!

It's not real! A man would be a fool to ever try and write a drama and make you believe it. And now, this one will be relived - forever! Bitterly here in San Diego, joyfully in Oakland. Final score: Oakland 21, San Diego 20!''