I have to disagree with that last paragraph. Oakland played so bad that I actually quit watching the game sometime in the third quarter. That is unprecidented in first week Monday night football history. Of course the league must have somehow known that the game was going to suck, as the Washington vs. Minnesota game was far more balanced, and at least sated the football (well, competitive football) jones that the fans have after a long off season.

One thing I am curious about is how well this game rated for tv ratings. I thought it was an odd game to be putting on Monday night in the first place, since the majority of the market is east coast, and two California teams playing isn't likely to make a lot of New Yorkers stay up until 1a.m. -especially not when it is this lop-sided. To be fair though, all the talking heads seemed to think that it was going to be a pretty balanced game, right up until halftime, that is, when they all started with the "I knew that Oakland didn't have a _________" tactic, obviously hoping that no one had watched what they said prior to the game.

As long as I am on the subject of football, I am not liking the games being on ESPN. Granted, with two games everyone who works for the ESPN got some face time this week, but if Chris Berman is going to be doing any commentary during the regular games, I may be skipping a lot of MNF. I thought that I hated John Madden's commentary, but after listening to Berman babble on, he doesn't seem so bad by comparison. Hell, at least Madden coached the game at one point, and somewhere hidden deep in the "now, here's a guy ..." statements, there is generally truth to what he says. With Chris Berman and the ESPN crew the analysis is really only about how well each of them (the commentators) knew the outcome prior to the game.

At any rate, San Diego did well last night. That could just be because my sixth grade Pop Warner team could have beaten the Raiders though.

 

Well I could never have sat through it live, but then again, I can't sit through any football game live at this point. I was out until 8:30, then at the gym until 10, while making sure not to look at any of the tvs there. I watched it on tape while enjoying a late supper, and it was fine that way.

Though I did get bored with SD's "we'll run every play since Oakland can't score anyway" offensive strategy during the punt-filled 3rd quarter.

As for national TV, I don't think they had much hope of that with the 10:30 EST kick off. The early game was for the east coast and midwest, and the late game was for the west. With teams to match. Pity they can't do that every Monday night. Besides, quit your bitching about the Raiders; it's not like you'll ever have to see them again, from your desert southwest location.

 

Oakland sucks.

But San Diego also sucks.

This is not a San Diego or Okland year.