Yes, I'm still alive, believe it or not. There's just not much going on that I feel like talking about, with most of the NFL talk surrounding the frickin' lockout. The only "good" news is Marv Albert has joined the NFL on CBS crew, filling Gus Johnson's vacancy. This is good news providing a.) He does more prominent games than Johnson ever did, perhaps challenging Jim Nantz's A-crew spot (that's wishful thinking). Or b.) He does NOT challenge Greg Gumbel's B-crew spot with Dan Dierdorf. So where does that leave the YES! man? Well, actually, not too many places, unless he indeed becomes the fifth-tier announcer, but I could see them bumping his TNT partner Kevin Harlan down a spot and Albert becoming the 4th tier-announcer. We will see, providing there is football, of course.
Now, onto why I really decided to come out of hiding and post. It's regarding a couple of interesting NFL-related YouTube finds.
The first series of videos is then-Raiders coach Jon Gruden post "Snow Bowl" press conference regarding the call, the game, his relationship with the organization, and his future with the team.
The second is Al Davis' press conference the morning after Gruden's trade with the Buccaneers (I can't exactly find the exact date the trade took place, but from the sounds of things, it was after the Super Bowl).
Now for a little reaction from me. I really think this was a sudden situation, I don't think there was some grand conspiracy behind it. The Bucs fired Tony Dungy, and were in need of a head coach, especially after their primary candidate, Bill Parcells, turned the job down and Steve Mariucci decided to stay in San Francisco. Bucs management appealed to Gruden heart and appealed to Davis' wallet, essentially, and I guess Davis thought that his team could have long-term success without Gruden.
For better or for worse, it the press conferences paint Gruden as a mercenary. Despite two division titles and an improving offense, Gruden wanted to coach with a team his family had connections with and wanted to be near family (his brother Jay was the quarterback of the Arena League Orlando Predators) .
And regarding the conversations between Gruden and Bucs management after the loss in Foxboro, Gruden was best to keep them secret from the media, because at first, even Al Davis was in total disagreement, but they were able to make a deal at the last minute and the rest is history.
Now, for the draft picks the Raiders got as compensation. They got first and second round picks in 2002, which turned into Phillip Buchanon and Langston Walker, who weren't exactly busts (Buchanon was still in the league as of 2010), a first round pick in 2003 (Tyler Brayton, who also was still in the league as of 2010 and also not exactly a bust), and finally, a second-round pick in 2004 (Jake Grove, a lineman, who has been a backup with both the Raiders and the Dolphins. He is still a free agent and did not play with a team in 2010).
So while the draft picks the Raiders got as compensation did not turn out to be jackpot players, they were hardly busts, either.
Some speculate that another reason why Davis was willing to let Gruden go was because Davis did not agree with Gruden "West Coast" style of offense. If that were the truth, then why did Davis say he allowed Gruden to pick his own coordinators? You would think with Davis' influence, if he did not agree with a coordinator's hire, that he would intervene and handpick somebody instead.
Another speculation is that Davis was willing to let Gruden go because he would have been in the last year of his contract in 2002 and that Davis was thinking about not signing Gruden to an extension. That may hold water, but to me that fact is nominal in whatever compelled Davis to let Gruden go.
I think it was the lure of draft picks and money that wooed Davis to allow Gruden to essentially be traded. And it was the beginning of the end of Davis to be able to make rational decisions about hiring and firing coaches.
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This year will be Brett Favre's last - until next year.
