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NEWS > SPORTS > OAKLAND RAIDERS FINALLY INFORMED THAT THE SEASON HAS STARTED
OAKLAND RAIDERS FINALLY INFORMED THAT THE SEASON HAS STARTED
October 16 2009
Oakland, CA – There are few places in the world that have the type of fan dedication than in Oakland. Raider Nation, whether in Oakland or during their brief stint in Los Angeles, has long been regarded as among the most dedicated and arguably mentally
unstable fans in professional sports. That fandom has not diminished in recent years 
despite the lack of success the team has enjoyed on the field. That though may change with a recent statement from Tom Cable, head coach of the team.
Cable spoke to the Oakland press, apologizing for their 44-7 drubbing at the hands of the New York Giants on Sunday and acknowledging that they hadn’t been informed that the regular season had already started. At the bottom of the barrel in virtually every category, the Raiders have only managed to eke out win this season against the still winless Kansas City Chiefs. They have also been burdened by an ongoing legal issue with head coach Cable, who assured the paper that his personal issues are not affecting the team and that their repeated losses have been a result of a mistake with the team calendars.
“I’m not going to sit here and make excuses. We all realize things have been bad but we are working hard to make them better. We have a good group of guys who are bleeding their hearts out every day trying to make this thing work and we will get it going, both for us and for the fans,” said Cable. “The issue is ours, the coaching staff. It appears that someone has been changing the calendar every day after we leave and we believed we were still in preseason. The staff believed that and so did the players which resulted in a less than stellar effort on game day. We have been trying different combinations, sitting starters, all the normal things you do in preseason but unfortunately we have been playing the regular season for a few weeks now. We apologize for that; it is our fault.”
Cable also acknowledged that he felt it a little odd that the preseason had been going on for so long, prompting him to call league headquarters, which led to the discovery of the error.
“Unfortunately we’ve received a number of similar calls in the last few days. I guess something has been going around with a few of the teams that has let them in on the fact that the season has in fact been active for a number of weeks. I won’t say which teams have placed calls to us but the standings should give you a pretty good idea,” said NFL spokesperson Michelle Candle. “We are initiating and investigation both into how these teams were not informed that season had in fact begun and into who might have been playing with their calendars. I can’t comment as to what kind of action we are considering but obviously our calendar system is subject to tampering, something we are going to have to address.”
Candle acknowledged that the majority of teams are free to choose their own calendars but league officials make regular visits to ensure that they are using the correct year, something of particular concern with the economic slowdown.
“It’s definitely unusual but it isn’t the first time teams have been subject to this kind 
of calendar manipulation. Reportedly, the Detroit Lions didn’t realize that they had been using a year old calendar until mid-December last year and by that time it was too late. They were showing up late, totally unprepared for games which is what prompted the league to start inspections,” said Scrape TV Sports analyst Mark Marvins. “Obviously the league has some major issues they are going to have to deal with. Tampa Bay, St Louis, Kansas City, they all seem to have been affected by this fraud. Obviously it is a widespread and very clever group of people conducting these operations and it needs to be stamped out for the good of the league.”
Both the Lions and the Buffalo Bills reported that they were under no mistaken assumption about the start of the season and that their calendars are up to date. Both teams acknowledged that they just suck.
Alexi Orton, Sports Correspondent
NEWS > SPORTS > OAKLAND RAIDERS FINALLY INFORMED THAT THE SEASON HAS STARTED
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