Before many will even begin to read this column the words relating to “making something great again” will surely stir up some emotion no matter what end of the political spectrum you’re on. Even if I were to say “Make The Raiders Great Again” would that be so bad?
No, this is not a political statement nor am I trying to convince anyone to change their views, but we seem to live in a time where the NFL and politics are one in the same. Hasn’t the business of the modern NFL always been (prior to this current presidential administration) to win games at any cost or as Al Davis used to say, “Just Win Baby.” So if Nick Bosa is there at #4, should the Oakland Raiders bite and take this young man that seems to be so polarizing on social media these days?
Before people jump on the wagon and being to say the Raiders, who are steeped in civil rights history (Most notably hiring minority head coaches in Art Shell and Tom Flores), would never take such a “divisive” player, let’s take a brief look back and you’ll see it was Davis foremost who just wanted to win games no matter how flawed certain individuals were.
Briefly look back…
Case in point, look at Bill Romanowski, who infamously spat in J.J. Stokes’ face back in 1997 and also kicked Larry Centers in the head two years prior, it was later reported that “Romo” referred to black players by the N-word. In spite of this, fast forward to 2002 and Romanowski was brought in to the Raiders as they made their push for Super Bowl XXXVII. Quarterback Kerry Collins, who was signed to be Rich Gannon’s back-up in 2004, had previously had issues of his own dating back to 1997 as Mike Freeman had written about in the N.Y Times regarding Collins’s tenure with the Carolina Panthers. Apparently, receiver Muhsin Muhammad was not a fan of Collins’s use of “racial epithets” with certain black players. And yet, just like Romo if Collins could help get wins then all would be forgiven or maybe worst-case scenario swept under the rug as long as the win column could justify it.
Bosa Was Not a Fan of Black Panther?
It’s quite insane when you look at the previous examples and you objectively compare them to the “deeds” that Bosa has done, which mostly prevail on social media specifically Twitter. So what was it that lit up Twitter on fire you ask? Well (and I don’t agree with this sentiment), Bosa was not a fan of Marvel’s Black Panther calling it the “worst Marvel movie of all time” and that’s just not true, Howard The Duck anyone? Another Tweet that made Bosa quite the target was saying Beyonce’s music is “complete trash” and while I’m not a member of her fan club nor do I care for her music, how exactly are any of those two statements blatantly racist?
Now this is where it gets tricky for some folks as the one thing that has garnered the most controversy is his love of all things Trump (there I said his name) as he apparently deleted Tweets that date back to 2016 in support of the POTUS. Am I missing something, but isn’t it the right of every American to freely support who they want? Clearly, none of this has affected Bosa’s stock as he’s expected to go in the top five according to most mock drafts. My question to Raider Nation is this, would picking a player that Tweeted foolishness really affect your support of your beloved Silver and Black? I would be hard pressed to believe that a Jon Gruden led team would allow Bosa to become a divisive force much less bring down a team.
We’ve even recently ran a poll to gauge what most people really think behind the power of an anonymous vote via Twitter and the results are pretty overwhelming.
If Bosa were to fall (however improbable) to #4 and the #Raiders were to pick him how would you feel given the coverage that he's been getting?
— RaiderRamble.comâ„¢ (@TheRaiderRamble) April 13, 2019
The bigger question for people that seem to make up the group that would not support him is: Do you want your team to win at any cost or do you want your football team to reflect your political affiliations and stances? These are the Raiders and at the end of the day, wins are all that matter, right?
[pickup_prop id=”20672″]
