Oakland Focus News | Oakland News Online Blog

More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget! | Visit YouTube | Visit UShow.com The lastest information on the ongoing story of the trade of New England Patriots Defensive End Richard Seymour to Oakland has Raiders Head Coach Tom Cable on the NFL Network today at 4 PM PST saying that the star lineman told him he wants to come to Oakland. According to Jerry McDonald of the Contra Costa Times , Cable said he talked to Seymour today. That counters earlier information that Seymour didn't want to come to Oakland. He was traded to Oakland for the Raiders 2011 first round draft pick, leading some to scratch their heads regarding why the Silver and Black would make such a trade for someone about to turn 30 years old. The NFL network's Alex Flanagan said it for me "It seems confusing." Mike Mayock said that the Raiders could control Seymour by slapping the much-hated "franchise" tag on him after 2010. Solomon Wilcots observed tha...

More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget! | Visit YouTube | Visit UShow.com On Saturday, the New Orleans Saints clobbered the Oakland Raiders 45 to 7, and it could have been worse were it not for one dropped pass in the end zone in the second quarter. One item of good news is that only 32,585 people saw the beating at the Oakland Coliseum. But the bad news is that only 32,585 people saw the beating at the Oakland Coliseum, and that causes me to ask this question: Will the Oakland Raiders' Monday Night Game against the Chargers fail to sell out thus preventing the Bay Area from seeing the game? The Bay Area economy is in terrible shape and it seems with all of the plant closures, the Raiders blue collar fan base is being harmed. The Washington Post reports that NFL sources point to the Raiders as one of the teams that could have problems selling tickets this year. Now, the Bay Area's unemployment is at nearly 10 percent, with rates over 9 ...

  More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! The Oakland Raiders picked University of Maryland'Darrius Heyward-Bey even though he was rated by many behind Texas Tech Wide Receiver Michael Crabtree. Even in cyberspace, Crabtree's a better rated pass catcher. On Madden Football, Michael Crabtree is rated ahead of Darrius Heyward-Bey 84 to 79, but Darrius Heyward-Bey was taken ahead of Crabtree. For the Raiders, Draftniks here in NYC think it was a question of speed. Heyward-Bey runs a 4.3 40 yard dash versus Crabtree's 4.5 time, but Crabtree's a gamer. Still his underclassman status and his recent injury have caused Crabtree to be down-graded by some. But not so far that the San Francisco 49ers took him as the 10th pick. A number of people here at the Draft are questioning the Raiders decision to pass on him for the lower rated Heywood-Bey. Here's a video example: a conversation featuring our Bill Chachkes and Dewie from Yardbarker both in the Interv...

More at Raiders Gab : “The Desert News reports that the Raiders and owner Al Davis actually were looking to hire Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham. Here is the report: Al Davis, the Oakland Raiders eccentric owner who once hired Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham’s father Fred as a defensive coach, called Whittingham after watching Utah dominate Alabama at the Sugar Bowl and tried to hire him to coach the Raiders defense. A little less than a week before the Sugar Bowl that piqued Davis’ interest, Whittingham agreed to a five-year contract extension worth roughly $6 million.” -- If Al can't get an unknown college coach, then is there hope for the Sliver and Black?

More at Inside Bay Area : “The Raiders are making another run at Al Saunders. This time, it will be for the offensive coordinator vacancy created by the departure of Greg Knapp to the Seattle Seahawks. Saunders was just fired by the St. Louis Rams as part of the purging of the Rams staff by new coach Steve Spagnulo. He is scheduled to interview with the Raiders as soon as today. "We anticipate giving him an interview within the next day or two," Raiders senior executive John Herrera said Tuesday afternoon. Raiders managing general partner Al Davis interviewed Saunders for the head coaching vacancy before he settled upon Art Shell. Saunders was hired by the Washington Redskins that season. He returned this season to the Rams franchise that he helped reach the Super Bowl in the 2000 season. However, new coach Steve Spagnuolo already is interviewing prospective replacements for Saunders. Saunders is regarded by many as one of the most innovative and gifted offensive coordinators...

More at IBA : “New York Giants offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride spent more than four hours at the Raiders' year-round facility in Alameda on Thursday in an attempt to persuade managing general partner Al Davis that he deserves a second shot at an NFL head coaching job. Gilbride arrived from New York in the early afternoon, headed to the team's facility and met with several people in the Raiders front office, as well as Davis. His day concluded in the early evening without any official word on whether he made any headway. For now, Gilbride is competing with Tom Cable and Green Bay Packers assistant head coach/linebackers coach Winston Moss for the job Cable held for the final 12 games last season on an interim basis.” -- Kevin Gilbribe is not the best choice for the job. Mike Shanahan's a better pick, if Mr. Davis would get over his petty issues with him.

More at Inside Bay Area : “The Raiders dismissed an ESPN report Sunday that said managing general partner Al Davis is negotiating to sell part of the team to a group with designs on moving it to Los Angeles. The report was written by ESPN's Chris Mortensen, who Davis called "a professional liar" on Sept. 30 for his penchant for writing stories about the Raiders without attributing them to named persons employed by the Raiders. On Sunday, Mortensen wrote that Davis and chief executive Amy Trask are negotiating a transaction with a group led by C. Dean Metropoulos a transaction that would turn over at least 10 percent of the Raiders. Mortensen attributed the story to unnamed "league sources." Raiders senior executive John Herrera spoke with Davis on Sunday morning and characterized Davis' reaction to the report as "incredulous." He also vehemently denied the report.”

By The Blue Screen - NY Daily News : “The Giants have won 22 games in two seasons, and followed up a Super Bowl championship by earning the No. 1 seed in the NFC. So really it’s no wonder that other NFL teams would be interested in raiding their coaching staff. And apparently defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo isn’t the only one drawing interest. The Oakland Raiders are reportedly going to contact the Giants about speaking to offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride, too. Gilbride, who was the Giants’ quarterbacks coach from 2004-2006 before stepping up to offensive coordinator last season, was instrumental in the development of Eli Manning and helped turn the Giants into one of the most powerful and diverse offenses in the NFL.He also has head coaching experience, with the San Diego Chargers in 1997-98.” -- For some reason I'm not excited about Gilbride and that's because I view his offenses as static and inflexible. I also don't think he has the right temperment to coach ...

More at Inside Bay Area : “Jon Gruden will be on the sideline with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, with general manager Bruce Allen in a suite. Rich Gannon will be in the television booth, lending commnentary for CBS. Rumor has it that even Lane Kiffin may attend, with his dad Monte in his final home game as the defensive coordinator of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers before joining his son at the University of Tennessee. The only thing missing when the Raiders visit the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium Sunday will be the man responsible for bringing them all to Oakland _ Al Davis. Davis, with leg and ankle problems, has heeded the warnings of his physicians, did not make the trip, and reconsidered the idea of taking a private plane Saturday, Raiders executive John Herrera confirmed. "The doctors told him it's probably not the best thing to spend 10 or 12 hours in the air," Herrera said, referring to the roundtrip from Oakland to Tampa.” -- Get well, Mr. Davis!

More at Oakland Tribune : “The Raiders' all-around impressive 27-16 victory over the red-hot Houston Texans on Sunday had those who braved the cold and rain at the Coliseum roaring their approval and likely wondering if this was a one-game aberration or a harbinger of things to come.”

Assistant's resignation leaves Tom Cable fuming - Inside Bay Area : “ALAMEDA — Former Raiders coach Lane Kiffin won't be receiving a Christmas card from current Raiders coach Tom Cable anytime soon. Not after the manner in which Kiffin lured away assistant offensive line coach James Cregg to join him at the University of Tennessee. Cregg phoned Cable after Sunday's game against the New England Patriots and informed Cable of his resignation, effective immediately. Cable likened it to quitting on the Raiders. "You got to understand offensive linemen," Cable said during his weekly news conference Monday. "This is our world. If I can speak freely here, it's about pride, it's about commitment, it's about trusting everybody next to you. So, to walk ... out of here is about as bad a deal as you could possibly do to that group of guys." Cable didn't mince words when he gave his thoughts on Cregg, Kiffin and the way the situation unfolded. In resp...

Raiders' losing becoming historic - Inside Bay Area : “The Raiders went 33-15 in their 48 regular-season games from 2000-02. They enter today's game against the New England Patriots enmeshed in a 22-71 tailspin that isn't losing much, if any, of its momentum. By comparison, the Patriots are 74-19 during the same period. A loss today by the 3-10 Raiders, or in any of their final three games, would cement their place in the annals of the Advertisement NFL as the first team with six straight seasons of at least 11 losses.” -- The Raiders are an organization in search of true leadership. The problem starts in the front office and from what I'm told, a culture that fosters fear and backbiting.

Raiders-Chargers game will be shown in 3D - Inside Bay Area

Jim Fassel says he wants to coach the Oakland Raiders. I think he should hold off on that before he hears my take. To make it work, Mr. Davis, the Manager of the General Partner of the Raiders, needs to really give the head coach power to be...head coach. 

I have it from a good unnamed source that the Oakland Raiders -- rumored by some to leave after the current lease expires in five years -- plan to remain in Oakland through 2016, when the original Raider bonds expire. The news comes as welcome on the day that Oakland opens a sold-out Coliseum and hosts the hated Denver Broncos. But the obvious question of if the Raiders retention will mean a new stadium is not settled. As the current Coliseum is vastly behind schedule for an upgrade and a mostly-privately-owned stadium could bring big bucks to the "Coliseum Redevelopment Area" surrounding the Complex, combined with corporate sponsorship, the targer appears to be an ungrade of the stadium. It's also clear that what I told GAP Founder and Oakland A's owned Don Fisher two years ago is coming to pass: the Fremont A's deal is a loser because of its design based on land-sales performance. While that scheme works in a great economy, it becomes more and more te...

I want to be the first Oakland blogger to affirm Chip Johnson's article today charging favoritism in the City of Oakland. My response is that it doesn't start or stop at the CAO's office or with Deborah Edgerly herself, and a really complete look should go back 10 years, not just 2004. Look, I was treated so terribly by the City of Oakland when I was trying to bring the Super Bowl here , that my own mother -- who's still cancer-free by the way -- observed that "Between Blacks who are jealous of you and Whites who think someone White should be doing what you're doing, you're going through a terrible place." She was right. Oakland's government has a long history of hating well-educated Black men who don't follow the normal ethnic stereotypes. I remember 1998, when all of us from Elihu Harris' office -- I was economic advisor -- were being placed in various departments of the City of Oakland after Jerry Brown won a landslide victory to ...

Javon Walker, the wide receiver the Oakland Raiders attracted from the Denver Broncos, and to which the hopes of a revived passing game were placed, was found in Las Vegas unconcious according to MVN.com . The report states that... The main problem for the Raiders is that he has an orbital fracture and this could be a serious injury. Kirby Puckett, the great Minnesota Twin outfielder had his career ended by an orbital fracture in the early 90’s due to double vision. Besides his legs and his brain, Javon Walker’s eyes are very important if he plans on being an NFL receiver. According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Walker was last seen dousing patrons of the club Tryst with 15 bottles of Dom Perignon. Tryst is located at the Wynn casino. Walker, the former Bronco who was in the back of the SUV that Darrent Williams was shot and killed in was thought to have been an innocent bystander in the incident. Over this summer, rumors have leaked out that the entire scuffle had been started by...

I found a website by Conde Nast called Portfolio.com and which shows the baseball stadiums that have the best -- and worst -- heath code records. The title of the article is "Foul Ballpark" and the subheading is "even the rats and flies have pretty good seats". If that's the case then one of the places with the best seats for Rats and Flies is The McAfee / Oakland Coliseum, home of the Oakland A's and the Oakland Raiders. According to the article, the home of these great teams had 493 Heath Code Violations In 2007. The website points to various online articles as the source for its conclusions. The website has Oakland front and center as a major violator in this area. It reports that food storage was so bad that food was exposed to "overhead leakage" and that "dirt, insects, rodents, and chemical contamination" was found. What's so embarrasing about this is that it happened 493 times in one year. There are only 365 days in the ...

I met with Oakland's elected City Attorney and my friend John Russo the day after election day to talk about his unopposed win for a third term, how Oakland has changed, Oakland Politics and the District Three Council race, who Senator Obama should pick as his VP, what Russo's is proudest of with the evolution of his office, and the talks between the City of Oakland and the Oakland Raiders. Russo explains that the talks are between the Raiders and the Oakland / Alameda County Joint Powers Authority and that they're going well. He also confirmed that Raiders Manager of The General Partner Al Davis is not in good health and has not attended all of the meeting. As to the possibility that the Raiders would get a new stadium, he said no, but they're in agreement on the matters of concern to the Raiders. Given what I know from trying to bring the 2005 Super Bowl to Oakland (we lost to Jacksonville), that means we should expect to see an upgraded Coliseum at some point i...

Patrick McCullough is an Oakland hero. In 2005, he stood up to attack by drug dealers -- a gang that he reported to Oakland police, but who were still at large at the time. In defending himself against the gang, Pat shot and wounded one of the gang members. Mr. McCullough was found to have been acting to defend himself, and thus the D.A. did not press charges. Pat is one who was and is trying to take back his neighborhood. The ultimate action is the one he's taking today: running for Oakland City Council. This blog post in an endorsement of an Oaklander who can and has made a difference. It's not a matter of being against the incumbent Jane Brunner, but for a remarkable and remarkably brave person in Pat McCullough. A person with a resolve and will to stay in Oakland and help make it better. Oakland Residents For Peaceful Neighborhoods tells McCullough's story: Patrick McCullough: Triumph of a Hero Patrick McCullough, the north Oakland resident who stood up ...