PRO FOOTBALL: DAILY REPORT : RAIDERS : All in All, a Good Bye

Raider quarterback Todd Marinovich spent the time with a surfboard under his feet.

Coach Art Shell spent it with a remote-control device in his hands.

Defensive lineman Anthony Smith spent it working with children.

Each of the Raiders used the weekend bye to find a different refuge from the pressures of a 3-5 season.

And each seemed to come back with new hope and resolve for the remaining eight games.

“It was good to get away,” Marinovich said. “It was good to get the rest, both physically and mentally. I’m pretty pumped up.

“Now, this is a new start. Whatever happened in the first eight weeks is done. We’re looking at it now like a new season.”

Shell’s idea of a vacation from football was to sit home and watch every game he could find on television, college and pro.

In his household, the Raider coach acknowledged, he is a notorious channel jumper.

“I probably irritated my wife,” he said, “jumping back and forth like that.’

During practices last week, Shell saw irritation of a different nature, the irritation of a team unhappy with its first half.

That irritation manifested itself in workouts that became more physical than normal as players vented their frustrations.

“The tempo was up,” Shell said. “There was probably a little more contact than you’d like to see.”

That made the break all the more beneficial.

“It’s good to kind of get away from the atmosphere,” Shell said. “They come back with a fresh attitude, ready to go to work. We’ll be hungry.”