Although the Las Vegas Raiders haven’t exactly been a model franchise since the turn of the century, or anything approaching one, this was once the most feared organization in the NFL and the most successful in all of the major sports leagues.
When he was younger, Al Davis had the Silver and Black humming in a way that he just couldn’t maintain toward the end of his life, and that his son, Mark, hasn’t been able to recreate. But the tide has to turn at some point for this once-great team; why not soon?
All of the proper pieces appear to be in place with a savvy young general manager, a bright head coach under the age of 40 and a rookie quarterback who has all the makings of a franchise player. Plus, the Raiders have some promising skill position players and young veterans.
And if that’s not a positive enough picture to paint in your mind, don’t worry; Maxx Crosby recently painted one for Raider Nation that they’ll want framed and hung up on their wall.
Maxx Crosby’s recent speech is the kind of thing Las Vegas Raiders fans dream ofÂ
On the most recent episode of The Rush With Maxx Crosby, Crosby and his co-host, Brogan Roback, were talking about Crosby’s foundation having a recent event at Allegiant Stadium, and several current Raiders teammates, as well as Mark Davis, showed up.
Roback then made note of a particular part of Crosby’s speech that feels like a dream world for this fanbase.
"I love last night, really quick, for when you told Mark when you're on your speech, and you're like, 'I want to win a Super Bowl for you. Al Davis has his; it's time for you to get yours. And when we're going down Las Vegas Boulevard in the parade,' like, that was [expletive] dope," Roback said. [Davis] is cheesing, bro. I love that."
Crosby then said the following:
"It's real, bro. I see it every [expletive ] day, bro," Crosby said. "That's why I work so hard. I want to not just selfishly for myself. Obviously, I want to [expletive] be a champion, but for everybody in this whole city and this whole fan base. It's going to be incredible when that happens. So, yeah, bro. Imagine that [expletive] parade. Are you kidding me? Oh my god. The whole LA is going to be there. Oakland's going to be there. It's going to be a [expletive] show."
Based on how bad things have been in Las Vegas, this may be difficult to envision. But for those of you who can see the light at the end of the tunnel, did you not get chills? If you didn’t, that’s okay. You aren’t a non-believer or a lacker of imagination.
But this struck me as moving because it seems like it came straight from Crosby’s heart. It wasn’t lip service. Even after the trade debacle this offseason, he truly wants the Silver and Black to return to greatness and for Mark Davis to have his day in the sun.
Winning solves pretty much everything in the NFL, and hoisting a Lombardi Trophy would be quite gratifying and unifying for a fanbase that has been at each other’s throats quite a bit over the years, with the team lost for answers and everyone having their own way to get out of the funk.
It has been 43 years since the Raiders have been on the NFL mountaintop. The 1983 NFL season. That’s before the Apple Macintosh PC was released, before Prince released "Purple Rain" and before Blockbuster opened its first store.
Simply put, it has been a while, and both the team and Raider Nation have been through a lot since then. It’s July, the offseason, which is the time for eternal optimism. So let’s just appreciate what a beautiful picture Crosby painted and hope one day it can actually be on our walls.
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