Just win, baby!

Hue Jackson knew that when he got the gig. The man before him learned that the hard way. Tom Cable might have been content with “not being losers anymore” but celebrating .500 was never in the cards for Al Davis.

The last few weeks have seen all of Hue’s loveable swagger come to be viewed as arrogant. But that is what happens when you’re losing. Suddenly a burgeoning football genius becomes an overbearing coach drunk with power.

To be sure there are no bigger egos in the sports world than that of coaches. Forget what you think you know. The players might be the ones that display their arrogance in more a public manners but the coaches are the ones that have egos which consume the room. How else do you expect one man to command the attention of talented millionaires though?

This week began with a PFT headline decrying that “Hue’s Honeymoon is Over”. Citing those ever so knowledgeable anonymous sources, Hue is said to be drunk with his newfound power. Supposedly Jackson told his players that no job is safe and he is already looking at free agents.

Yesterday Jackson appeared on Jim Rome’s show on ESPN and dispelled some of those rumors. Today he’s doing more damage control.

Now let’s get a couple of things clear.
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Time for the Raiders to take pride and beat the Charger streak. (Photo: YardBarker.com)

This could be the darkest hour for Tom Cable. He stands squarely at the crossroads staring the San Diego Chargers dead in the face. In one direction is a dead end where Al Davis awaits holding a pink slip. In the other direction is a faint glimmer of hope.

Just which way Cable guides his men remains to be seen Sunday.

13 consecutive losses to the hated SoCal rivals have put this traditional tilt into the Black Hole. Lost in a six-year abyss of Charger dominance is the pride that once filled Raider Nation whenever Charger week rolled around.

Way back in the day, when Jim Rome was working for the San Diego based Mighty 690, Friday on a week just like this turned Rome’s show into a three hour long smack-off between Raider and Charger faithful. Forget about whatever the hottest topic was in the sports world, there was a heated rivalry game to be played Sunday.

Now, there is nothing to discuss.

Raider Nation can’t continue to run the “show me your Super Bowl rings” smack any longer. That routine is tired…true…but tired.

Likewise, Charger fans can’t pull the “Got blackout?” card anymore. That San Diego bandwagon loses members by the minute to the point where they too have to trot to local sports bars to drink away their powder blues due to local TV blackouts.

This Sunday’s contest has much at stake.
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To this day, Jim Rome still references those two weeks out of the year when his talk show was high jacked by Raider Nation and Bandwagon Bolties who ran more smack than the host himself.

These days the trash talk is minimal. Not that it doesn’t exist. It’s just irrelevant.

Naturally you’ll get some heated exchanges on message boards. The stands are still ripe with the fruits discontent no matter the venue. None the less, when a team has won 12 straight contests over their “rivals” it is hard to call the game meaningful.

Ignore the last six years of double digit losses in the East Bay. If the Raiders managed to stick it to the Chargers at least once a year, you’d still hear a sense of excitement among the most infamous fans in football.

Instead, all you get is recycled material devoid of imagination.

Raider fans remind Charger fans that they still have an empty trophy case. Charger fans remind Raider fans that they might have three Lombardis, but those things are as dusty as the Billy Joe Tolliver jerseys hanging in closets throughout San Diego.

In 2009, Tom Cable has his team half way to yet another year of 10 or more L’s. Meanwhile, Norv Turner is setting his misguided fans up for yet another season of mediocrity.

Talking trash is what makes football great for fans. The freedom to polish off a case of beer before noon and lighting up every dope who strolls by in a powder blue Tomlinson jersey used to be enjoyable.

Now it’s just pathetic.

You can’t really get under the skin of a fan base that takes your team about as serious as JaMarcus Russell does his job.

Again, it’s not even about how terrible my Raiders have been the last six years. It’s about how terrible my Raiders have been against the Chargers the last six years.

Some things are eternal.

If you live in Columbus and only win one game a year, it had better be against Michigan. If your beloved Cowgirls only taste victory once, it had better be at the hands of the Redskins.

Not saying that what the Raiders and Chargers have is on par with the above mentioned clashes. Most Raider fans would sooner see the Silver and Black defeat the Steelers, Broncos, Jets or even 49ers. It’s just that the jeers of bandwagon Dolt supporters have grown exponentially in recent years and the time has come to shut their fair-weather mouths.

Consider the fact that Philip Rivers has never lost to the Raiders. That’s right. The most arrogant brat in the NFL not named Cutler has something in common with Al Davis. He owns the Raiders.

Cable might have his team on a direct flight towards drafting Taylor Mays, but that doesn’t mean he can’t take a little Bolt booty en route.

This team has a long way to go before it can be considered a relevant franchise again. After this year, who knows what the future holds. All I know is that after Sunday, I’d better be able to run some trash come this time next year.

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