Post by TheShadow on Dec 4, 2003 19:12:37 GMT -5
www.oaklandtribune.com
Why won't everyone just let the Raiders move on?
By Bill Soliday, STAFF WRITER
ALAMEDA -- Buzzwords tend to sprout wherever things become tense. It is almost as if an attempt at stock familiarity can straighten out the furniture.
So it was Wednesday that whenever an Oakland Raider of note stumbled into a locker room populated mostly by members of the media, the question always seemed to be: "Have you guys moved on?"
(Note: buzzwords in italics)
And so it also was that 340-pound Lincoln Kennedy, hemmed in by notebooks, pens, microphones and cameras -- was obligated to answer that "moved on?" query.
"I sure hope so," Kennedy said. "I am just waiting for you guys to."
To, as in, "to move on" away from his locker.
The Raiders would clearly like nothing better than to be left alone to deal with their unique problems as the 13th (a potentially lucky number since 1 through 12 weren't?) game of the season.
Fat chance. The official response: we're not moving on, we've already done the moving. We are now on the same page.
"We met this morning," running back Tyrone Wheatley said. "Everybody was together."
That didn't stop the questions. Yeah, sure, but has the team moved past what coach Bill Callahan said Sunday about dumbnation? And while we're at it, how did Monday's meeting go, the one wide receiver Tim Brown called an "everybody in the building meeting"?
"There you go again," Wheatley said. "It's over. You're trying to beat (flatulence) out of a dead horse. It's nothing. But you keep going with it."
"You have to be (past it)," wide receiver Jerry Porter said. "You guys just blew it up into this big old ordeal. He was talking about the play. But as soon as he said this is the dumbest team in America, you guys just took it and ran with it. He was talking about our play.
"A lot of us agree with it. I don't know if I do, but I look at all the penalties we make ... all the mistakes. They can be rectified. It's not necessary."
"I think everybody is together," said tight end O.J. Santiago. "You have to be on the same page. You aren't going to make it very far if you are not. We have a job to do. We have four games left.
Asked if the team had circled the wagons in the face of another "crisis of the week." Porter said "Circle the wagons? We're not buffalo. We're not circling wagons. We try to cock and reload."
And what about that Monday meeting. Any bloodshed? How did everybody leave that room after Callahan talked?
"Hard to say," Porter said. "We'll find out this week whether they tuck their tails between their legs and run or stand up and fight.
"The thing was, he made everybody realize he didn't say, 'You guys are just straight out dumb.' He said our play was dumb. The media ... didn't say he called this team's play the dumbest in America. You just have to take the sense out of the nonsense and move forward."
Callahan, asked if closure had possibly brought the team closer together, said, "I don't know that. I said what I said and we moved on."
A moving on that seemingly just refuses to stop. The moving goes on to Pittsburgh on Sunday, where the 3-9 Raiders take on the 4-8 Steelers in a game between two teams that were at the top of the AFC a year ago.
Callahan said he hoped the team had learned from its mistakes.
"We know where we're at ... at 3-9 it hasn't been a bed of roses," he said. "We've been frustrated and mistakes have hurt us, but we learn from it and we'll move on.
"We've got four games left, and we've got an opportunity to win four games. These guys continue to fight, continue to compete at a very high level. We've been in every game. It would be different if we were getting blown out of the tank and didn't have a chance. But that's not the situation, and I'm just working hard to get more out of them."
If there was anybody who felt lingering pain from the stab of Callahan's words, he couldn't be found in Wednesday's locker room.
"Coach is entitled to his opinion and that's the way it is," fullback Chris Hetherington said. "He's the boss."
"It's like an angry parent," said tight end Teyo Johnson. "I don't take it personally. He has yelled at me numerous times. I never thought, 'Oh, he doesn't like me because I'm Teyo Johnson.' He just didn't like Teyo Johnson the player at that particular moment. You have to separate the two."
But didn't some teammates take it personally?
"I don't know," Johnson said. "I am just a dumb rookie."
It was mentioned to Callahan that a sports psychologist had offered his services to the Raiders.
"No," Callahan said.
He had moved on.
Why won't everyone just let the Raiders move on?
By Bill Soliday, STAFF WRITER
ALAMEDA -- Buzzwords tend to sprout wherever things become tense. It is almost as if an attempt at stock familiarity can straighten out the furniture.
So it was Wednesday that whenever an Oakland Raider of note stumbled into a locker room populated mostly by members of the media, the question always seemed to be: "Have you guys moved on?"
(Note: buzzwords in italics)
And so it also was that 340-pound Lincoln Kennedy, hemmed in by notebooks, pens, microphones and cameras -- was obligated to answer that "moved on?" query.
"I sure hope so," Kennedy said. "I am just waiting for you guys to."
To, as in, "to move on" away from his locker.
The Raiders would clearly like nothing better than to be left alone to deal with their unique problems as the 13th (a potentially lucky number since 1 through 12 weren't?) game of the season.
Fat chance. The official response: we're not moving on, we've already done the moving. We are now on the same page.
"We met this morning," running back Tyrone Wheatley said. "Everybody was together."
That didn't stop the questions. Yeah, sure, but has the team moved past what coach Bill Callahan said Sunday about dumbnation? And while we're at it, how did Monday's meeting go, the one wide receiver Tim Brown called an "everybody in the building meeting"?
"There you go again," Wheatley said. "It's over. You're trying to beat (flatulence) out of a dead horse. It's nothing. But you keep going with it."
"You have to be (past it)," wide receiver Jerry Porter said. "You guys just blew it up into this big old ordeal. He was talking about the play. But as soon as he said this is the dumbest team in America, you guys just took it and ran with it. He was talking about our play.
"A lot of us agree with it. I don't know if I do, but I look at all the penalties we make ... all the mistakes. They can be rectified. It's not necessary."
"I think everybody is together," said tight end O.J. Santiago. "You have to be on the same page. You aren't going to make it very far if you are not. We have a job to do. We have four games left.
Asked if the team had circled the wagons in the face of another "crisis of the week." Porter said "Circle the wagons? We're not buffalo. We're not circling wagons. We try to cock and reload."
And what about that Monday meeting. Any bloodshed? How did everybody leave that room after Callahan talked?
"Hard to say," Porter said. "We'll find out this week whether they tuck their tails between their legs and run or stand up and fight.
"The thing was, he made everybody realize he didn't say, 'You guys are just straight out dumb.' He said our play was dumb. The media ... didn't say he called this team's play the dumbest in America. You just have to take the sense out of the nonsense and move forward."
Callahan, asked if closure had possibly brought the team closer together, said, "I don't know that. I said what I said and we moved on."
A moving on that seemingly just refuses to stop. The moving goes on to Pittsburgh on Sunday, where the 3-9 Raiders take on the 4-8 Steelers in a game between two teams that were at the top of the AFC a year ago.
Callahan said he hoped the team had learned from its mistakes.
"We know where we're at ... at 3-9 it hasn't been a bed of roses," he said. "We've been frustrated and mistakes have hurt us, but we learn from it and we'll move on.
"We've got four games left, and we've got an opportunity to win four games. These guys continue to fight, continue to compete at a very high level. We've been in every game. It would be different if we were getting blown out of the tank and didn't have a chance. But that's not the situation, and I'm just working hard to get more out of them."
If there was anybody who felt lingering pain from the stab of Callahan's words, he couldn't be found in Wednesday's locker room.
"Coach is entitled to his opinion and that's the way it is," fullback Chris Hetherington said. "He's the boss."
"It's like an angry parent," said tight end Teyo Johnson. "I don't take it personally. He has yelled at me numerous times. I never thought, 'Oh, he doesn't like me because I'm Teyo Johnson.' He just didn't like Teyo Johnson the player at that particular moment. You have to separate the two."
But didn't some teammates take it personally?
"I don't know," Johnson said. "I am just a dumb rookie."
It was mentioned to Callahan that a sports psychologist had offered his services to the Raiders.
"No," Callahan said.
He had moved on.