Phew! I was starting to get nervous there for a second. I mean, word out of Raiders Camp this off-season has all been incredibly positive. Warren Sapp was in shape, JaMarcus Russell looks like the real-deal, Lane Kiffin seems to be a solid choice. The Raiders seemed to be on the path to respectability. Lucky for me, they quickly came back to reality and remembered who they were, the worst organization in football.
The NFL has cancelled the final week of the Raider's OTA's after the Player's Association complained that the workouts were too intense. In a brief statement, coach Lane Kiffin said the players' union believes the Raiders' offseason program violated league rules on practice standards.
"The union has complained about the high level of intensity, player aggressiveness and fast pace of our practices and, as a result, has taken away the final week of our offseason program," said Kiffin, the NFL's youngest and least experienced head coach.
Maybe somone should remind the Raiders that they SUCK. Maybe someone should remind the Raiders that they finished 2-14 last year. Maybe someone should remind the Raiders that football is a tough sport and can get "intense" at times. Tough, intense workouts are exactly what the Raiders need, and I was nervous when I heard Kiffen was runnng highly competitive off-season practices. My concerns have quickly been eased by the Raiders doing what they do best, whining, moaning, complaining and quitting. By crying to mommy the Raiders' players can get on with their off-season of being fat, lazy, over-paid, under-acheiving "Pro" football players that feel no need to work hard.
Thanks, Oakland, for making sure you remain irrelevent.
I think we can say that the career of Pac-Man Jones is in serious jeopardy, and that's being polite. Police in Atlanta are seeking Jones in order to question him about a shooting outside a stripclub early Monday morning.
Jones, a cornerback for the Tennessee Titans on suspension following a melee and shooting at a Las Vegas strip club, his group and three other people got into a fight, apparently over a woman, at a club around 4 a.m., officer Ariel Toledo said.
After everyone involved left the strip club -- the three people in one car, and Jones and his entourage in three other cars -- someone in Jones' group shot at the car, and the others returned fire, Toledo said.
Toledo said Jones was not present when the shots were fired.
"We believe he knows some of his entourage who were involved in the shooting," Toledo said. "On himself, we do not have any charges on him. He wasn't there when the shooting occurred."
One person who was outside the vehicles and not involved in the dispute was injured by debris in the shooting and was treated by emergency medical technicians, Toledo said.
Manny Arora, Jones' attorney, said he was trying to find out what had happened from the police, but he understood Jones was sought only as a witness to the incident.
What about a strip club is so enticing to Jones? He plays in the NFL, or at least he did. He has the money to buy whatever he wants and have whatever he wants come to his place, to be enjoyed in the privacy of his own home. That, and how many times can Pac-Man be involved in shootings? This isn't the first, and to talk to Pac-Man you'd think his life-style was the norm in this country. Pac-Man is done, and the sooner he just goes away, the better for the rest of us. There is just no room for bad people in the NFL, and PAC-MAN Jones just isn't a good guy.
Things have gotten off to a painful start for Redskins rookie LaRon Landry. Landry was at a team-building paintball match last week when he was hit in the "groin" by a paintball. The No. 6 overall pick in this year's draft was injured during a team-building outing Wednesday, when coach Joe Gibbs allowed the players to leave early at the end of the voluntary spring workouts. Some players went bowling or had lunch together, while many of the defensive players went to play paintball.
"I didn't know paintball was that dangerous," linebacker Marcus Washington said. "I hope it wasn't friendly fire."
Landry was on the sidelines when practice began, but within minutes he left and began laboring slowly up the hill toward the team's main building, appearing to favor his left leg.
Gibbs said Landry should be fine after a couple of days' rest.
"It's kind of bizarre," Gibbs said. "Almost anything can happen in life, so every now and then something like that does happen."
The NFL's Police Blotter was also ultra-active over the weekend with news of the arrest of Packers LB Nick Barnett. There is probably no need to get into details since all matters like these usually involve a fight, outside a nightclub, in the middle of the night. Just for fun, let's take a deeper look....
Police said in a statement that Barnett was taken into custody for battery after allegedly being involved in a physical altercation about 2 a.m. at the Wet. He was taken to Outagamie County Jail in Appleton and released within an hour after posting a $500 cash bond.
Barnett appeared for the Brett Favre Celebrity Softball Game later Sunday, participating in a preliminary game involving Packers players and sponsors. But he left the field before the regular game -- attended by a record crowd of 8,597 -- and didn't return.
He was unavailable for comment.
In a statement issued after the game, the team said, "We are aware of the incident in Appleton involving Nick Barnett. The Packers organization is going to defer further comment until we have had a chance to speak with Nick and gather more facts."
Damn, Nick, way to follow the crowd. 2 A.M., at a night club. Someone has a few too many, tells Nick what he thinks of the Packers run defense, and Barnett goes David Kircus all over his face. Can we just all agree that nothing good ever comes form spending the early morning hours of the day at a stranger's house, or a club called The Wet?