Much of the Raiders’ recent news has been generated in the state of Florida. And most of it has been bad. Two weeks after the haunting death of special teamer Marquis Cooper in the Gulf of Mexico, offensive tackle Cornell Green has been arrested in Tampa for aggravated battery on his girlfriend. According to reports, the couple got into an argument at their Tampa home. Green allegedly shoved Teriyonal Ebony Flowers, the mother of his two children, against a wall… Read More »

Trace Armstrong will not be the next executive director of the NFL Players Association. The 32 team representatives instead elected Washington DC lawyer DeMaurice Smith at a luxury hotel on Maui today. Armstrong, Smith, Troy Vincent and David Cornwell were the four finalists. Smith, an NFL outsider ” the opposite of the last union chief, the late Gene Upshaw ” was selected on the first ballot. I can’t say it’s a bad choice, because I know almost nothing about Smith.… Read More »

To Raiders fans, March Madness has nothing to do with buzzer beaters or upsets by No. 12 seeds. We’re all accustomed to seeing Al Davis’ team act quickly, decisively and even dramatically in the wee hours of free agency. Like in 2004, when the Raiders signed NT Ted Washington on the first day of free agency and quickly added DT Warren Sapp and DB Ray Buchanan. Or in 2005, when they swung a trade for WR Randy Moss as soon… Read More »

As night fell on the Gulf of Mexico, Raiders linebacker Marquis Cooper and two fishing companions remained missing at sea. Good news seemed to be followed by more on Monday. First, Coast Guard crewmembers found former University of South Florida football player Nick Schuyler sitting atop Cooper’s overturned boat about 35 miles west of Tampa Bay. Schuyler was alive and apparently alert as he was airlifted off the deck of the Coast Guard Cutter Tornado and flown to Tampa General… Read More »

Things are getting prickly in the AFC West. The crazy thing is, the Raiders aren’t involved. For once, it’s Oakland’s most hated rivals that are acting petulant. Start with Kansas City, where the new brain trust seems to have introduced themselves to the Chiefs by walking into the locker room and snapping everyone with wet towels. Kansas City Star columnist Jason Whitlock reported that guard Brian Waters, a four-time Pro Bowl pick and former nominee for NFL Man of the… Read More »