Oakland Raiders in Tampa Bay

Just watched a good game between the Oakland Raiders and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It was do or die for the Bucs, and they fell short. It was bittersweet for me for the Raiders to win this game. I’ve been a Raiders fan for around 25 years, but the Bucs had to win this game to have a shot at getting into the play-offs. Now the only way they’ll get in is if certain planets align certain ways and they get a wild card.
But however disappointed I was that the Bucs’ season has almost certainly ended, it great to watch a Raiders game that they actually won. Especially wearing my new Raiders t-shirt that I got for Christmas. Katie called Victoria a fair-weather (Bucs) fan for giving me the shirt, and there was some conjecture that it might have jinxed the Bucs’ chances. But really, I think the Bucs’ season ended when they found out that the grand old man of the franchise, Monty Kiffin, was leaving after this season. It seems like after that was announced, the Bucs defense just stopped trying.
My heart goes out to Cadillac Williams, too. He injured his knee again today. He’s fought so hard to get back into playing form after an injury last year that most people thought was career ending. To come back this far and have another injury is just heart-breaking. You could see it in everyone’s faces. Everybody knew that Williams’ career might have just ended. Right after it happened, it slipped through the microphones what Cadillac Williams was thinking, when he was yelling and spat out “You have got to be fucking kidding me!” If his injury is career ending, I think if I ever get a Bucs jersey, it’ll be with Williams’ #24 on it. I admire the guy because he plays with all his heart.
Still, I have to admit to a quiet pride in the fact that my beloved Raiders won. They have no chance of going to the play-offs, so I was sort of pulling for the Bucs’ hopes to stay alive, but I can’t grumble or complain that I saw a Raiders win. If the Bucs’ play-off chances were going to end today, at least it ended with the Raiders. And at least it was a good game. The Bucs might have lost, but they went down swinging against an opponent who gave no quarter. Unlike many of their other recent losses, the Bucs didn’t kick their own asses this time.
I’ve kept the celebration to a minimum. Katie might have taunted me going into it, saying “Get ready to lose”. Like all Raiders fans, I just smiled and let it slide off my back. When you’re a Raiders fan, you have to believe in miracles. Anything can happen. And just when you think a team is going to have an easy win because they’re playing the Raiders, the Raiders will bloody your nose just to show you they still can. Katie pondered at one point why the Raiders were playing so hard if they didn’t have a chance at all of getting into the play-offs. I told her, “Because they’re the Raiders, that’s why.”
I think that about sums it up.