If you aren't into sports, stop here. Go find another post with the political mumbo jumbo you so love to get wound up about. This is about a different kind of fantasy world, but just as full of Armchair Quarterbacks!

I really wasn't into football at all. I didn't even know who was who really. I didn't know who was going to the Superbowl in 1976 until my best friends Dad started talking about the Minnesota Vikings and how they were going to clean up on the Oakland Raiders. I had no idea about any of it, but since LeRoy was so adamant about the Vikings I just HAD to bet him that they would lose. We bet twenty dollars. I didn't even watch the game, but the day after the Bowl he called me and told me to come get my money. I became a Raiders fan at that point.

It was casual for a few years as I was still so into racing bikes I really didn't have time for another sport, but after High School I began watching all the time and the Raiders were still a hot team and it was cool to watch them beat up on opponents, even if they lost. I liked the outlaw attitude of the team and I liked the fact that so many people hated them. It made watching them win all the better.

I liked their colors too, They just looked cool and sinister at the same time. I liked the logo and I liked the fans who were absolutely die hard and commited to supporting their team. They knew the history of the team and were ready to jump into a heated debate about any aspect of their beloved silver and black. They had some of teh greatest players in the NFL and had the highest winning percentage of any team in the history of sports. It was fun to be a Raiders fan. Other fans would stop and talk to you in stores and there no bandwagon fans for teh Raiders. You were hardcore and die hard. I loved it.

They went into the 1980 playoffs as a wildcard team and went all the way, shattering the Eagles with relative ease with their newly aquired "Old Man" quarterback, Jim Plunkett, a reject from the 49ers and a man most people figured was washed up after an unspectacular career in the Bay. Then in 1984 they went into the Superbowl as big underdogs to the high flying Washington Redskins and made the big, trash talking John Riggins look like an inept High School Half back and sent Joe Thiesman into a crybaby routine that still irks me to think of it, even though I like Joe as a commentator. Marcus Allen was obvioulsy the Runningback of the year and showed his prowess throughout the decade.

Al Davis moved the team to LA 1981 and I was kind happy and kinda sad. Sad because Oakland seemed to be a greatr place for the team. Maybe just because that's what I was used to. Happy because I could now attend games without having to make it an overnight trip. I went to two games there, one in 1985 and the other in 1987. I couldn't believe the air of hostility and violence. The feeling you get in a bar when a brawl is about to break out. I never went to another game.

These were the "Dark Times". The Marc Wilson era followed by a host of hacks at the helm. Forgettable names like Jeff Hostettler, Jay Schrader, Rusty Hilger and Todd Marinovich. Everytime Wilson would drop back I would close my eyes! He was horrible and, at the time, was the highest paid quarterback in the league! Hoss and Schrader really tried, but the rest of the team was subpar. Hilger and "Marijuanavich were simply losers. Al Davis had begun his slide down the slippery slope of obvious senility by making terrible decisions involving the direction of my beloved team. I think he became overzealous about picking up older players and hoping they would provide the magic Plunkett did. It didn't work out that way.

During the teams tenure in LA I began to realize that the Raiders fanbase has shifted dramatically. From the hardcores to the hard asses. The idiots who just wanted to be a part of the "Bad Boy" imiage the Raiders had fostered which was never meant to leave the field. Fans became openly violent and Silver and Black became gang affliated colors. You were as likely to be attacked for wearing a jacket to the game as if you didnt if you weren't a gang member. I began to have reservations about wearing my jackets outside of Kern County.

When the team moved back to Oakland(Idont even remember what year it was now)I was happy. I thought maybe that Mexican gang persona the team had unwittingly aquired in LA would fade into the fog of the Bay area. I was wrong. The Gang element had moved north as well and had taken it's gang connotations with them.

In 2002, Rich Gannon, the last of the "has beens" led my team to the Superbowl. They had a stellar season but were soundly beaten by my "closet team", Tampa Bay, of whom I had been a fan also since the 70s because I like an underdog too. I wasn't unhappy about the game. The Buc's won, but the Raiders had a great season and I was cool with it all.

Then came the news of rioting in Oakland. Violence and cars and building being burned and sacked over teh loss. It was despicable. It was the only time in the history of football that fans had ruined at town because THEIR team had lost. As I watched news reports of what was going on in my room(I was in Vegas for that game)later that night, I saw that the vast majority of those involved in the melee were mexicans. I didn't get it. What were these people so pissed about? Then it started to makes sense. I remembered trying to start a conversation a couple years earler with a mexican guy in a Raiders jacket and beanie. He had no clue as to what was going on in the NFL. He was just a thug in Silver and Black.

It was after this game that I first started to question why I was still a Raiders fan. I had no desire to be lumped into the same pile with gangsters and punks. I just loved my team and couldn't understand what would possess a group to take the luster out of such an enjoyable pasttime as being a Raiders fan just so they could seem to be cool. I don't care what color a fan is as long as they are a fan and not using the colors to incite violence as posers, which they are. But, I stuck with them because I had been a fan for so very long. I had stuck out the LA years, the Dark Times and I would stay the course now.

That was five years ago and not much has changed. Then, a few weeks ago I was driving down the freeway and saw a Raiders decal on a pickup window, except the it wasn't really a raiders logo. It was in Gothic lettering and the helmet had been replaced by a SOMBRERO! Someone had decided it was OK to deface my beloved Raider by turning him into the Frito Bandito! I was aghast! It was unthinkable! There are Mexican fans of many teams, but none of their logos have been defaced! Could you imagine a Broncos logo woth a burro? Then my grandson, Dante,(another devout Raiders fan),went to a game in Oakland two weeks ago. His car was broken into and destroyed for his stereo.

That was it. The straw that broke the Camels back. I am no longer a Raiders fan. I don't care what happens to this shithouse franchise and I have no desire to be a part of a fanbase that is more interested in personna and image than in whp is starting at QB or what the teams record is. They can have each other. They can recreate the logo, they can redecorate the Stadium in dingleberries if they want. I will have no more to do with them and that is sad. I'd have stuck by them if they never won another game, but I have had enough of what it means to be a modern Raiders fan.

I will go with Tampa Bay for now and when and if my grandson, Ryan Mathews, makes it to the big leagues, I will become a fan of whatever team he plays for(unless it's the Cowboys or the Raiders!). Here's to many years as a dedicated Raiders fan. I wish the team itself no ill will, but it's fans can take a flying leap at a rolling donut.

What is it that makes Christmas any different than any other time of the year where giving and good will is concerned? I actually give all year long and tend to feel better and enjoy it more because it's not expected of me. I get my kids stuff throughout the year for good grades, good behavior and just cause I sometimes feel like it when I know they want something or I see something I think they'd like. I send flowers to friends and loved ones of the opposite sex on special days and sometimes just because I feel like it. My best friend is a Steelers fan and every time I see some cool Steelers thing I just get it for him. I donate regularly to charities and even give money to street people once in awhile even though I am sure they're just going to get drunk or high with it. I give away blankets and jackets and bottled water. Through all of this I have a greater sense of self satisfaction for it not being expected. I just like to do it. I like to see the smiles on peoples faces, the looks of appreciation, hear the thanks and the God Bless You's. And I enjoy it all year.

I practice good will toward men all year too. I am generally much nicer and affable whan I am not stuck in ridiculous traffic, elbowing my way through inattentive, rude and unruly crowds, dealing with screaming, destructive, unattended kids(well..that's pretty much all year..just not so many at once)and enduring the general mayhem of the Christmas shopping season in every store, even the grocery store. People bent on racing to the best deal or the last Wii or whatever it is that will keep their kids up with, or ahead of, the Jones' kids and perfectly willing to be total assholes to beat me to it even though I am not even there for that, I just happen to be in the same store walking in the same direction!

Don't get me wrong. I do like to get together with the family and friends, watching them laugh and enjoy good company and opening gifts and I especially like gorging on food at Mom's on Christmas Day(especially her fudge). It's the rest of it that wears me out. The pure commercialization of the season that begins just after Halloween. The money expected to be spent. Ad's that make me feel guilty for NOT spending a bajillion dollars. Lines full of people with baskets overflowing and credit cards at the ready...You get the picture.

I promised myself that I would not put anything on a credit card this Christmas as I have recently paid off my last credit card. I would use cash and I have succeeded. No, I didn't go all out on my gifts either. I spent a modest amount of money on my kids, who are not spoiled..well, not too badly, anyway! They had very short Christmas lists and nothing outrageous was on either one. I also made a few of teh gifts myself. Collages in pictures of the lives of my grandsons, a poem I wrote about my oldest daughter surrounding a photo of me and her. Gifts that werent very expensive, but will mean more than something off the shelf at Wal-Mart ot Target. I like to put thought into the gifts I give and I use that thought proccess all year, not just at Christmas.

Giving is not a seasonal thing to me. Love and good will should be things that happen the other eleven months of the year. It should be mandated that adverstisers not be allowed to advertise for Christmas until the first Saturday in December. OK..That's silly, but surely you see my point. I love my family and friends all the time and I like to show it all the time. I can be such an asshole sometimes and that CERTAINLY isn't something that only happens in December, so why shouldn't the caring side of my nature work all year too?

I understand the celebration of Christ's birth is(was?)the motivating force behind the Holiday, but we all know that He wasn't really born in December, and in my opinion, Easter should be the larger celebration as it marks his victory over death, his ascendence to Heaven and the promise of eternal life for all believers, but I digress and will get back on track! I hate that people are expected to give no matter their situation. That so many kids have come to expect a new laptop, a Wii or a new car for Christmas instead of just being happy to be alive when so many other kids have nothing at all and being alive isn't necessarily an enjoyable thing. It's time to remind everyone of why this even happens and I always read from Luke on Christmas Day so my family doesn't forget.

I like the lights, the cheer, the smiles and the basic good nature of the majority of the people I end up dealing with during this time of year, I just think they should do it all year long.

A High School teacher in Mission Viejo, Ca is being sued over an anti-Christian statement he made during a lecture in a class on the development of Europe, of which Christianity was, right or wrong, good or bad, a large part. I say it's about time someone on the non believer side was called on the carpet for their words and/or actions of intolerance. Had a Christian teacher made a simalar disparaging remark about athiests(or anyone else for that matter)heads would be rolling, as they always are. It's about time the anti-Christian crowd was made to see that tolerance is a two way street. In fact, I, as a Christian, am FAR more tolerant of non believers than they are of me. Their belief or lack of it, is not my business, but I am always made to see that my belief IS their business.

Was the teacher in question being intolerant? Sure seems like it even though you can't say what is really in a mans heart, but that's not the point. The point is that he is in a position to influence young minds as an authority figure with a captive audience and his personal views on religion should not be part of any lesson in which he may be involved just as a Christian teachers should not be brought into play in the same situation. If the guy was hosting an honest, open debate on the pros and cons of religion in the lesson in question, inviting discussion and debate from both sides while utilizing his views as a tool to enhance and contribute to learning I would have no issue with it, but that is not what was happening. He was simply engaging in namecalling and belittling Christians.

The phrase used was "When you put on your Jesus glasses you can't see the truth". A student siding with the teacher stated the teacher was being sarcastic to prove a point. Um..What point was that? The point that being a Christian and having faith is tantamount to living a lie? Who is this man to make that case, especialy in the classroom of a public school. What if he had made a similar comment about Mohammed, Vishnu or Moses? What if a Christian teacher had made a similar comment about rose colored glasses or blinders that athiests may wear? The outcry would have been instantaneous, vocal and widespread, the teacher would, most likely, be place on administrative leave and apologies would be demanded by parents of anyone who had been remotely offended by such remarks.

The people who speak with such conviction about the separation of church and state(another gross misinterpretation of the constitution, but that's for another debate)have got to realize the double standard they consistently support as they pound the nails into the "One Way" signs on any street whos direction they disagree with. Intolerance seems to be a matter of convenience to such people and the aforementioned double standards seem to be the rule rather than the exception. Why is it that I am expected to be tolerant of a groups views when they aren't expected to be tolerant of mine? They say I am narrowminded, which is poppycock, but even if I were, how is that their business? I make no demands of them and their views. I don't expect them to agree with me, but I am expected, on pain of litigation or castigation, to agree with them. The disparity in fairness in my beliefs to theirs is incredible and their suing me over my right to voice my opinion where my beliefes are concerned is in violation of MY first amendment rights, but that fact is largely ignored by the opposition and the media. Let's see what the media will have to say about this incident, if it even covers it again.

The fact is that America is not becoming more tolerant at all. The squeaky wheels are simply being allowed to disguise their own intolerance as progressive free speech and positive change using self serving, demeaning and vitriolic language and actions without fear of reprisal while Christians are nearly always taken to task for voicing their opinions. It seems that you are only able to safely exercise free speech if you don't mention Jesus Christ. The other side gets to pick and choose what they will and won't tolerate and anyone who disagrees with them, even if they aren't outnumbered, may find themselves involved in expensive and time consuming litigation because the "No Christians" crowd understands that most groups and people just don't have the time and resources to legally defend an issues as intangible as faith.

I wonder if this teacher has the resources to defend his lack of belief and the right to teach "anti-Christianity" when it has been made so crystal clear that teachers cannot teach the other side. I don't know. As I have stated many times in this and other posts, his non belief is his affair, but I am glad HE will now have to defend it.