They’re Raiders of the Lost Art of Communication to Writers

Ann Killion in the San Jose Mercury News writes that the Oakland Raiders are a dysfunctional franchise.

“They won’t like to hear that, nor will their fans. Honesty doesn’t slide down as easily as pablum about ‘pride and poise,’ ‘commitment to excellence,’ and twisted percentages that show how often the Raiders win when the moon is full.

”. . . The Raiders try to control the media. They routinely violate league rules and kick reporters out of their facility for writing anything negative. They try to tell reporters how to behave in the press box.”

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Trivia time: Who holds the NFL playoff record for most rushing yards in a game?

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Target practice: From David Letterman: “Here’s what I want to say about this snowball throwing incident. It was ugly, it was embarrassing, they shouldn’t really be doing that. On the other hand, it was nice to see someone finally hitting the Giants receivers.”

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Motivation: Russian coach Igor Dmitriev after his team defeated Finland, 6-2, in the World Junior Hockey Championships in Amherst, Mass.: “If we would have lost [to Finland] we would not have landed in Moscow but in Siberia.”

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Believe it or . . .: Nelson Silva, 18, won a banana-eating competition in the Brazilian city of Sao Vicente Ferrer after eating about 11 pounds of bananas in four minutes. He was disqualified, though, for eating the skins as well.

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Ouch! Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe on the underachieving Miami Dolphins this season: “The Dolphins lost to the Colts, the Saints, and the (gulp) Jets. Losing to the Jets is like losing an arm-wrestling match to Woody Allen.”

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31 missing flavors: Amy Shipley in the Miami Herald: “Center Joe Wolf--yanked from the Dairy Queen he was working to sign with the Magic this season--got bad news last week: His ice-cream shop in Kohler, Wis., was vandalized.”

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Fashion note: Before last night, when Dennis Rodman changed his hair from green to blond, the Chicago Bulls were 10-1 in games he had green hair. They are 4-0 in games he has had red and blond hair.

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FYI: The 62 points scored by Nebraska against Florida in Tuesday night’s Fiesta Bowl were the second most in a bowl game. Texas A&M; defeated Brigham Young, 65-14, in the 1990 Holiday Bowl.

Moreover, Tommie Frazier’s 199 yards rushing were the most by a quarterback in a bowl game. The previous record was 180 by Mike Mosley of Texas A&M; against USC in the 1977 Bluebonnet Bowl.

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Trivia answer: Eric Dickerson of the Rams, with 248 yards against Dallas on this date in 1986.

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Quotebook: Jayson Williams of the New Jersey Nets on the fleeting aspect of fame: “What can you do? Today a peacock, tomorrow a feather duster.”