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The Oakland Raiders last week made clear they didn’t want Rich Gannon showing his face at their headquarters in preparation for calling the team’s game for CBS-TV.

John Herrera, a “senior executive” for the team, told the press Gannon wasn’t welcome because of “incendiary” comments the Raiders’ one-time quarterback has made about the Raiders’ organization since he became a broadcaster.

The Raiders gave in because they basically don’t have the right to keep a network broadcaster away. But when Gannon wasn’t able to catch a flight to Oakland in time to spend time with team officials heading into the game, Herrera apparently told the Oakland Tribune it “was a win-win situation for us.”

Newsflash for the Raiders: That would be the first multiple win situation this team has had in quite awhile.
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We’ve written a couple of posts regarding Twitter and the NFL now, a topic that given that my day job requires a certain amount of knowledge of the platform, continues to amaze me.  I’ve grown from someone who thought Twitter was a complete waste of time to someone who…thinks that it’s still largely a waste of time, but is strangely useful and entertaining for certain things.

For instance, during the NFL draft this past spring, I was watching the draft and following along on Twitter at the same time, gauging reaction from fans (and in a couple cases communicating directly with them) around the country (globe?) in real time, as the picks rolled in.

Further, as we’ve built our list of people we follow, we now occasionally find news tidbits that we will write about, or explore further on Zoneblitz.

More recently, we’ve started following a lot of NFL players, teams, and league employees (and even Drew Rosenhaus…although we still feel kind of dirty about that), watching for their opinions and comments on league happenings.  A lot of it is crap, but again, at times it’s entertaining.

To that end, we’ve started putting together a list of all of the official NFL team, player, and media profiles that we’ve found, so that anyone who’s into Twitter can find their favorite team’s players, and start following them as well.

We’ll do our best to finish the list (we’re probably not even half way there yet), and keep it updated–but feel free to contact us if you see something that we’ve failed to catch.

RACINE, Wis. – We’re off on our journey to Canton for the Hall of Fame induction Saturday.

Before we left I had seen the news of Eli Manning signing a $97 million contract with New York that makes him an even more highly-paid quarterback than brother Peyton.

But I didn’t catch until we got off the road in Racine, Wis. that former Buffalo Bill, San Diego Charger, Jacksonville Jaguar, Dallas Cowboy defensive end Marcellus Wiley ripped him during a commentary on ESPN.

He faced the cameras and asked, as though talking directly to Eli, if the quarterback truly thought he was worth all that money?

“I don’t think so,” Wiley then replied. He then spent a few minutes discussing how Manning didn’t play well in the playoffs last year, helping cost the Giants in their playoff loss.

Wiley did leave out that Manning was playing with a less than stellar group of wide receivers, minus Plaxico Burress, in that game and he did later acknowledge that Manning had a Super Bowl ring from the year before.

I share Wiley’s concerns that Manning’s contract might be outpacing his true value to the team, though I don’t begrudge him the money. Heck, the Giants offered it – there’s no reason he has to say “Thanks, but I think that’s too much.”

I thought Wiley’s comments might have been a tad more harsh than they needed to be. But I’ll say this – I like that Wiley is willing to give a real opinion.

There are always concerns when retired athletes move into broadcasting careers that they’re going to give their athletic brethren the benefit of the doubt and be afraid to criticize.

Prior to making his Eli Manning comments, Wiley has mixed it up with some of the greats, including former Vikings quarterback Fran Tarkenton and Kansas City Star scribe Jason Whitlock.

Wiley could run the risk of alienating some current and former players with his outspoken-ness. But I hope he’s able to maintain his willingness to give a real opinion. In an era of political correctness and clone-like commentators, both on ESPN and in general, I think for the most part it’s a much needed breath of fresh air.

Peter King is currently on his annual four-week vacation–because apparently penning a 4,000 word essay each week about coffee and travel annoyances [along with a few football tidbits], tweeting up a storm, and appearing on NBC sports means you need four weeks off–and is having some NFL players guest write his regular columns while he’s out.

First up was Matt Birk, who posted his Monday Morning QB column yesterday.  Our advice to Birk?  Don’t quit your day job…although not because it’s bad writing, it’s just that making millions to drive people into the ground is probably a lot more glamourous (and financially rewarding) than penning a regular football column (or penning a football blog, for that matter).

While not nearly as long winded as King, Birk provides a couple of solid pages, including a full on ’10 Things I Think I Think.’  He touches briefly on the Brett Favre/Vikings saga, leading that into a topic near to Birk’s heart–current players needing to take care of former players financially and medically.  While it’s a bit deeper than your average King column, and maybe a bit more of using the column as a forum to further his own agenda on the matter than a regular columnist would be ok with, it’s something we actually agree with Birk on.  He also touches on the Steve McNair situation, without going into too much detail.

In fact, the only area that we think Birk really missed the mark on is with his #1 on his list of 10 Things He Thinks He Thinks, where he says:

“I think Favre will play for the Vikings this year. This will start a civil war between Minnesota and Wisconsin. A truce will be reached in this epic border battle after it is discovered at a tailgate party that Johnsonville Brats (Wisconsin) and Grain Belt Beer (Minnesota) are perfect complements for each other.”

As a true native of Minnesota, Birk should know better–there is no way that Wisconsinites would give up their paint thinner and Miller Lite for the goodness of Grain Belt Premium, and while I acknowledge that Johnsonville makes a decent brat, if it really came down to it, I’m sure that Minnesota’s own Hormel must make a line of brats that is as good (or better) than anything Wisconsin could provide.

People have lost their jobs and their houses. The country has been at war for what seems like an eternity. The news is filled with reports of international threats from North Korea and Iran.

So what exactly were we supposed to feel when “MJD” posted this column about how NFL players are “poor” compared with other professional athletes?

Don’t get me wrong. I’m a capitalist, just like the next guy. But I’m not going to feel sorry for Peyton Manning or Tom Brady – or any NFL-er making today’s NFL minimum wage – because they get paid less than basketball players, baseball players, golfers and whoever else happens to hit the jackpot.

And I don’t think Manning or Brady would ask us too either, … if they are as reasonably intelligent as they seem to be most of the time. Seven figures, eight figures – at some point it becomes just a number or to the exclusive restaurant where you can try to one-up your buddy who also makes seven figures.

MJD has written some interesting, informative stuff in the past. But this was one of the most pointless columns I’ve ever seen published. MJD, I think even though they are making less than the NBA-ers of the world, unless they snort it up their nose or find some other way to piss it down their leg, they are going to be alright.

I guess one of the downsides of the Internet is that there is room for almost anyone to write almost anything they want.