Horrifying Information Jocelyn Pierce, the spouse of HC Antonio Pierce, filed for divorce after only five years of marriage.
Not to just talk about doing it. But to go out and actually do it? Because that’s where this is headed. That’s where we’re going with this.
And, look … I’m not trying to be funny here. This isn’t some rah-rah p.r. thing. What you need to understand is: I’m ALL ABOUT THIS. This isn’t a coaching job for me. This is my dream. This is my life. This is dead serious. Raider football. The Silver and Black.
Not. To. Be. F***ed. With. Just like in the old days. That’s where we’re takin’ it. I’m telling you. I’m telling … everyone.
The legacy of this franchise, the history, everything the Raiders have always stood for … those things matter to me more than I can put into words. It’s what I grew up with as a kid in Compton. Everything I love. Who I am. I mean … when Mr. Davis told me a few months ago that he was going to entrust me with being interim head coach, I remember I looked him dead in the eye, and you know what I said?
“I’m ready.”
No hesitation at all. Just, “I’m ready.”
“You sure?” he said.
“Hell yeah, I’m sure. I was born to do this. I’ve been ready.”
What you need to understand is: I’m ALL ABOUT THIS.
Then, not too long after that, I get to go out there with my guys for that first game after the coaching change, against the Giants, a team where I was a captain, where I won a championship. And before the game started, pregame, I walk out to midfield and shake the hand of Mr. Mara, their owner … and I’m actually shaking that man’s hand as the head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders. It was surreal.
But then also, you know what else? I told him right away, right after I shook his hand and asked how his family was … I told him, and all those Giants guys I talked to before that game, I said … “You know we’re about to whoop your ass today, right?”
No lie. Ask ’em. That’s what I said.
“You have no idea what’s comin’. This is gonna be ugly.”
And every single New York Giants person I talked to was like, “What?!? Get outta here, man.” They’re like, “That’s just AP talkin’ his talk. Hahahah.”
Everybody laughing.
Was I laughing?
No, sir. I didn’t even crack a smile.
A few hours later it was a 30–6. Raiders. We out.
Now they’re all walking off the field, and it’s not so damn funny anymore.
In the end, it was a pure ass-whoopin’. It wasn’t just the Raiders. It was THE RAIDERS.
It was like those ’80s Raiders I knew from when I was a kid.
Now they’re all walking off the field, and it’s not so damn funny anymore.
In the end, it was a pure ass-whoopin’. It wasn’t just the Raiders. It was THE RAIDERS.
It was like those ’80s Raiders I knew from when I was a kid.
The RAIDER RAIDERS.
The first Raiders game I remember watching was when I was five. 1984. The Marcus Allen deal, where he reversed field in the Super Bowl and ran past everyone and took it to the house. Unreal, man.
But you know what? My favorite memory of the Raiders as a kid? It’s gotta be Bo Jackson destroying Brian Bosworth at the goal line in that Monday night game where my man ran into the damn stadium tunnel and disappeared.
Bosworth had been talking his s**t, and the announcers on that game, they were buyin’ into it. It was like: He has a mohawk! And a bandana!! Ohhhhh, he’s so cool!!! Then, second quarter … BAM! You got Bo going 91 yards straight past Boz, into the damn tunnel. And look, that was crazy, don’t get me wrong. But maaaaan when Bo ran Bosworth’s ass over at the goal line later in that game and basically carried him into the end zone? For me, that was the ultimate. When I saw that? It was the coolest thing in the entire world to me. You had an offensive player out there doing damage, putting the hurt on someone. Raider mother***ing football at its finest. After seeing that, I’d fire up Tecmo Bowl and replay that s**t over and over again. I relived that moment thousands of times in my head, and on my Nintendo.
