Raider Fans Should Get Whole New Wardrobe

Skip Bayless of the San Jose Mercury News, on the new conservative image of the Raiders:

“Fans who attend Raider games dressed as ‘Road Warrior’ meets ‘Rocky Horror’ are now misrepresenting their team.

“These days, they should go as math professors, computer geeks and efficiency experts....

“Once, these would have been laughable oxymorons: Careful Raiders. Efficient Raiders. Precise Raiders. Complex Raiders. Now these adjectives are the fanatical essence of Jon Gruden’s ball-control offense. Few big plays. Few tricks. Very few mistakes.”

Bayless wrote his appraisal of Raiders before they’d lost to mediocre the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday. Now he can add another adjective: Overrated Raiders.

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Trivia time: What was unusual about the USC-UCLA football games in 1936 and 1938?

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Dedicated: Former Philadelphia 76er President Pat Croce, commenting on Derrick Coleman: ‘I had experience with him three years ago. Poor work habits, bad attitude, no commitment to practice, no commitment to team, no commitment to coach, no commitment to fans, wouldn’t sign autographs, wouldn’t attend any community functions.”

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Young showboat: Deion Sanders Jr.--age 7--was recently penalized for doing an end-zone dance after scoring a touchdown in a youth-league game.

Said his famous father, “He got a quick pitch, cut right, cut back against the grain. And, when he got like three yards ahead, he started high-stepping, and then they threw a flag on him. I created that. Why you gotta throw a flag? He’s doing what daddy taught him to do.”

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Short-sighted: Jim Armstrong in the Denver Post: “Why is the NFL swimming in money and major league baseball drowning in debt?

“One reason, and one reason only. Because Pete Rozelle talked Wellington Mara and other big-market NFL owners into revenue sharing in the early 1960s.

“Trouble is, George Steinbrenner, whose view of the world ends at New Jersey, likes thing just they way they are.”

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Oops, wrong vehicle: Scott Ostler in the San Francisco Chronicle:

“Nate Newton, driving a van in Louisana, is stopped by cops, who find two babes and 213 pounds of marijuana. That’s the last time Nate borrows Michael Irvin’s wheels.”

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More Ostler: “Newton, my legal staff says, will be sentenced to community service. He’ll be ordered to work alongside the interstate, hacking down weeds and smoking ‘em.”

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Looking back: On this day in 1965, UCLA routed Stanford, 30-13. The Bruins went on to defeat Michigan State in the Rose Bowl game, 14-12, avenging an early-season loss to the Spartans.

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Trivia answer: They were played on Thanksgiving Day at the Coliseum.

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And finally: Jerry Greene in the Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel: “Still weeping for the Damn Yankees? Don’t feel too bad for Derek Jeter. He just bought a 4,176-square-foot apartment on a floor of Donald Trump’s skyscraper.

“The pad includes a library, 5.5 baths and four bedrooms--including one for the maid. Cost? $10 million. What would he have spent if they had won?”