Clean Out Your Locker

 There was no team from Oakland involved in the National Football League Playoffs this year. The newly minted Las Vegas Raiders, coming off a tumultuous season that saw them lose their coach over a bunch of emails that showed him to be racist, misogynistic and homophobic. One of their star receivers was driving one hundred fifty-six miles an hour before he crashed into an SUV which caught fire, killing the woman and her dog inside. The Raiders decided to let him go. Just like they decided to part ways with another player, a cornerback, who was driving at more than one hundred miles an hour when he was pulled over. No one died in that fracas, but to say that the team "limped" into the playoffs might be an understatement. Maybe they were going too fast for their own good.

And, after all those years of "Just Win Baby" being tossed in alongside their "Commitment To Excellence," this is a team that is only connected to Oakland through memories and merchandise sales. 

Which doesn't mean that there was no interest in my household about who would eventually find their way to the Super Bowl. "My team," the Denver Broncos had all but assured themselves of a front row seat in their own living rooms to watch the post season before half their games had been played. Theirs was another in a series of "rebuilding." Meaning they will be one of a couple dozen also-rans, the ones who will be spending late December and early January figuring out who they want to be their new head coach and who will be in the front office and who will come along to save the team next year. Oh, and they're selling the team, which might finally allow me the opportunity to take the quotation marks off the "my team." I understand that there is a three billion dollar tax write-off available to the new owner. So I've got that to consider.

That and the potential trade for big-time superstar quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Mister Rodgers was not arrested for anything, so he probably won't get an offer from the Las Vegas Raiders, but the talk around the NFL is that a likely landing place for this free agent is the Mile High City. 

I don't live in Denver. I never have. I grew up in Colorado, which pretty much solidified my connection to the Broncos. There were some embarrassments, like the Super Bowls John Elway lost over the span of four years to make us all wonder if there would ever be any joy in Mudville. It wasn't until the twilight of his career that Elway brought home the metaphorical bacon. Two years in a row. So we forgave him and he ascended to car dealerships and the front office, as all legends do.

Thing is, I don't want Aaron Rodgers to bring anything to the Mile High City. His anti-vax, MAGA leaning face is more suited for, well, I don't actually know where someone who would lie about his vaccination status should land. 

But get this: I wouldn't even wish him on the Las Vegas Raiders.