FanPost

The hottest fire forges the strongest steel

Man, I was all stoked a couple weeks ago.

The Raiders had beaten the Cheifs in OT, JC had done the one thing I needed to see him do (a comeback drive to tie the game), and I had 2 weeks to enjoy the glory of being a fan of the best team in the West.

When shit can go bad, it will.

As I drove back from Moscow, Idaho on a cold but sunny day, my car decided to start overheating. I would drive for a few miles before it would hop into the red, stop for an hour, add antifreeze, start going again, repeat. Halfway home, I gave up, called my brother, got home and had it towed. Diagnosis? Water pump and thermostat. Damn. Oh, well. I can deal with an issue that I can fix. I get home to write a mea culpa proclaiming Son of Ja is our starter for the rest of the season, only to find that my monitor had burned up. Literally. Apparently the screen went awry and it started smoking. I guess that it was trying to become more like its owner. Hence my absence, for those wondering where my acknowledgement of JaSon went. In addition, I had to kick out my best friend of 13 years due to my landlord's hatred of pets. And I turned 30. So yeah, I've had better times in my life.

If you are looking for a convenient scapegoat for the Raider loss, feel free to blame me. You see, the night before the win streak started, I purchased a beanie. Nothing fancy, just one that had a skull and crossbones over a cross, slightly emo but more piratelike. I wore it for every game, even the battle with KC which was not televised, for whatever reason. But Saturday night it went missing. And the Raiders tasted their first utter beatdown since the season opener. Luckily I found it today, and not just because it's going to be -12 tonight.

I really wanted to be wallowing in self pity after the Raider loss and the shitteth hitting the faneth in my life.

But I didn't. I decided to play my own "fuck-it" card, and emerged with a far better monitor, a potentially better job offer, and my car closer to getting fixed. So if you truly want to bitch, whine and moan...BFTB is the place to be!

Seriously, though. This is a young team that is still learning how to walk. The wheat is beginning to separate from the chaff. We are still finding out who should be on the roster and who shouldn't. We flat out got beat by a team everyone says is at the top of the league without our defensive leader (Nnamdi, in case you were wondering) and our top receiver at far less than 100% (Zach). We barely beat a Cheifs team we should have smoked like a Snoop special.

We are all angry. This is the anger that good teams feel. The same blind rage that made Richard Seymour punch Ben Roethlisberger in the throat is the rage this team needs to channel towards Miami this coming Sunday. Ex-Chief Tyler Thigpen and ex-Bronco Brandon Marshall are hearing the whispered cries from their former teammates that this is not the Raiders of the recent past, but a wounded tiger that is dangerous and enraged. And if this team is not dangerous and enraged, then we are truly damned to another 10 loss season.

"Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light."-Dylan Thomas

-On another note, if someone wants to make a Chaz Schilens "missing child" pic, that would make me laugh my friggin ass off.