The Raiders Select A Sensation, Or A Distraction?

Hi, all!

How is everyone? Did you watch yesterday's 1st Round of the NFL Draft?

We can discuss later how the Chicago Bears made the 49ers' neophyte rookie GM look like a Hall Of Fame negotiator. For now, here are some thoughts on the Raiders' pick: Gareon Conley of Ohio State University.

Gareon Conley of Ohio State University, selected in the first round of the 2017 NFL Draft by the Oakland Raiders.

An extremely talented player, Conley has 1st Round skills. He also has baggage, and it's not clear if the Raiders, a team with a lot of distracting things surrounding them already, can deal with even more distractions that a high-profile rookie brings into the building. This is not to say the allegations are true; rather, the Raiders have a lot on their plate right now with:

•  the move to Las Vegas, 
• dealing with a home crowd season ticket base that has not given assurances it will support the Raiders during the 2-3 year lame-duck period, and 
• the players being questioned by reporters constantly about how relocation will affect them and their families. 

Someone coming on board bringing his own "extra" for constant scrutiny and post-game questions, that probably isn't a good thing for the Raiders to have to add onto their list.

Secondly, there seems to be this soft spot for defensive-back players who are in risk of falling out of the first round due to their personal situations. DJ Hayden was one whose near-death injury in college gave teams pause to select him, yet the Raiders did anyway.

Hayden rarely played up to his draft position in his years with the team.

"Rescuing" players may sometimes be a bad idea. Some folks say it's not a risk, as they tout the investigative skill of professional NFL Security personnel to find out hidden things about players. But these are also the same professional security people who couldn't find the Ray Rice Elevator Video...something the TMZ television show was able to find quite easily.

Anyway, here is an opinion of the NFL draft (this far) from the Sporting News:

Today, the 2nd Round of the NFL Draft begins. Let us see how other needs of the Raiders are addressed.

Yours,
Afro

We're On A Road Trip...To Plan The Road Trip! - Road Trip Rally Party Blog!

Hi, all!

Nakita and I are in Miami, Florida! Enjoying the sunny skies, the great food, the cool people, we're here to do some first-hand evaluation of the recommendations for vendors and activities for our upcoming Road Trip Rally in November.

 We flew in yesterday, and our Raider Nation friend Tone', who lives in Hollywood, took us around the Hollywood Strip, and to the Hollywood Beach last night to check out the some prospects that she knows personally. We did a few hours of walking and popping into the venues, and it's interesting to note: for a Wednesday night, that entire strip was ALIVE!

 Live music, dancing, the business owners all around were definitely having a good night. Tone' said that when the weekend comes, the whole space will be a sea of humanity out having fun!

 Our first meeting today is with the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau. A few months ago, the nice folks there gave us a list of recommended venues to host our event. We'll meet with them to see what our possibilities are.

 Anyway, here are pictures and videos of what we did last night. We'll check out the South Beach recommendations later this afternoon. And you can best believe, the two of us will go all-in to do follow-up visits EVERY NIGHT this weekend!

btw, I'm a whiz at Connect Four! Let's play! 😊  

Yours,
           Afro

TV Networks Deciding If Raiders Will Be Vegas' Home Team - The Road Trip Rally Party Blog!

Hello, Readers!

 The NFL designates a geographic area surrounding a team's home as the Primary Market for that team. This means that, for example, the Denver Broncos will have its games broadcast in the Denver TV market with no opposing game being broadcast in competition for viewers.

NFL Teams are assigned to cities (markets) beyond a team's own home city.

 You won't find the Broncos game on the city's CBS station while simultaneously there is a Cowboys game being shown on the Fox station. The Broncos get that all to themselves.

 Then there is what the NFL calls the Secondary Market. This means that, say in another city in another state, the market there is also designated as belonging to the Broncos. Those folks would be unable to watch the Cowboys on Fox because the Broncos are considered to be "their team" as if they all lived in Denver, too.

 With that in mind, the NFL has not decided if Las Vegas will be considered a Secondary Market for the Raiders. As of this linked Five-ThirtyEight.com story that uses the 2015 season to demonstrate the NFL's rule on this, it was the Dallas Cowboys who were shown most to Las Vegas viewers, followed by the New York Giants.

  Will the new folks in Las Vegas be allowed to start building an attachment to the Raiders? Will the NFL, or the Cowboys, insist that the Vegas market should keep showing other NFL teams until the Raiders actually move there? Well, here's what the NFL has to say about it as of now.

  What do you think? Should Oakland Raiders games start showing up in Las Vegas? Should Cowboys games in Vegas be done away with so that there's no TV competition against the Raiders' broadcasts?

  Thanks,
               Afro

Schedule Makers Treated Them Like A Dog?!! The Road Trip Rally Party Blog!

Hello, all!

There's been a great deal of scrutiny directed toward the 2017 NFL Schedule. ESPN wrote about it, and it's definitely causing some discussion. Some things that are brought up:

• The NFL was really smarting over the poor play of many teams featured on big night games
• The NFL is now showcasing teams that were good in 2016, going all-in with them 
• Two teams that are perennial losers, Jacksonville and Cleveland, get no national games at all, not even Thursday Night Football.

Eleven games with only 6 of the opponents having a winning record. Then comes five consecutive games vs powerhouses.

 And your Oakland Raiders? Well, the league believes that they are worthy to be showcased nation-wide this year for an astounding FIVE GAMES! Sunday Night Football (3 times), Monday Night Football on Christmas Day, and Thursday Night Football. 

 There have been many years in recent history where the Raiders did not get a single nation-wide game. But now, the NFL is with the Raiders. The tide has turned, definitely!

  Another gift to the Tennessee Titans' ownership, as well. With Raider Nation making Nashville a favorite destination (and buying-up otherwise unwanted tickets to Titans games), the NFL schedulers put that game in Nashville for the 3rd-consecutive year. 

  Raider Nation, take a bow! No doubt, you are a shot-in-the-arm to help cure the ticket sales problems of that team! The hotels and restaurants in Nashville, and the taxpayers who may be saddled with that stadium's construction debt in the face of unwanted PSL's collecting dust on the shelves, they all say in advance, "Thank you, Raider Nation!!"  :-) 

 Anyway, the NFL's schedule makers have decided that the Raiders should bunch up all their tough opponents together. Check out the graphic; there will be a length of games, if the opponents' 2016 prowess holds up, that will present quite a challenge to the Raiders. Hopefully, the Raiders will show these perennial playoff teams that they, too, belong in that elite status and have every intention to stay there.

 Our Road Trip Rally Party will be at the Raiders vs Dolphins game, the 9th game of the season. A bye week follows, and then this big five consecutive-game stretch of powerful opponents. We will have an enjoyable time in Miami at the Rally, recharged and re-energized to cheer on the Raiders when play resumes. 

 As you all know, we had considered going to Philadelphia for our 2017 Road Trip Rally Party. The schedule shows that this game is on Christmas Day, a big holiday certainly. We've done a Rally during the Thanksgiving weekend back in 2014, and there's no doubt all of you could make a "Raider Nation Christmas in Philly" work out really well. But for this year, we're onward to Miami!

(we will certainly call the Philadelphia Convention Bureau to thank them for all the work they done on our behalf)

Finally, we should mention: the opponents, with the exception of 2 AFC teams who finished their division standings in the same position as the Raiders did, are all pre-selected years in advance. There was no conspiracy with this schedule...
 "other than perhaps moving the Patriots game away from Oakland so that Tom Brady will not have to risk false starts and bad snaps and other personal mishaps caused by the intensity that only the Raider Nation can bring down on his head but Tom Brady got rescued from having to face all of that because his owner gets his way even when it hurts the integrity of this game like asking one of the Raiders to drop a pass on purpose"  (but I digress) ...to pile onto the Raiders' schedule with all these teams who had winning records in 2016. It just works out that way sometimes that the other divisions are playing really good when the rotation happens to bring them your way.

Anyway, please be sure to read the ESPN article linked above. And thanks so much for your time here right now!

Yours,

Afro

There's A Reason You're "Agog", says the Road Trip Rally Party Blog!

Hello to all our "Blogees!"

There is excitement in the air! Not just excitement...there's ANTICIPATION! There's HAPPINESS! There's, there's, there's...well, I got a feelin' like I've never-ever-ever felt before, whoa-whoa...I get revealing, yeah!

(now watch me dance!)

Ok, the reason for all this positive vibe going on, you ask? Well, the NFL has released its 2017 Schedule at last! We now know the specific dates that the Oakland Raiders will be on the road, and we can say with certainty what you all have been eagerly waiting to hear: 

Our Road Trip Rally Party in Miami will be held on SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 5TH!!

Yes, a late-Fall season game in beautiful, sunny Miami, Florida. But wait: did you know that we will be able to enjoy the sunny weather there for the entire game day before kickoff? Did you know that this game will be a nationally-televised SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL GAME ON NBC!! 

Not only will our Road Trip Rally Party event be in town, we will be there for the exclusive, every-television-in-America-tuned-in Showcase Game Of The NFL! Sunday Night on NBC is not just a football game. Rather, games here are presented to America as the BEST that the NFL offers! It is an honor for a team to be selected to play on Sunday Night Football. The Oakland Raiders should feel proud!

...and even more proud!! Because the Oakland Raiders will be on Sunday Night Football a total of three times in 2017! America will get to see all that the Raiders are becoming, their continued rise into the ranks of the NFL elite. Combined with an ESPN Monday Night Football game on Christmas Day to take on the Philadelphia Eagles, and a Thursday Night Football game vs the division-rival Kansas City Chiefs, the Raiders will be on national television a total of FIVE TIMES!

This is a lonnnng way from the Jamarcus Russell days, baby!  

Join us in our next blog as we discuss a bit about the opposing teams on the schedule, and the toll, if any, that having most of the national games being played in the respective opponent's stadium will have on the Raiders' players.  But in the meantime, let's all take time to revel in the fact that the beaches of Miami await the Raider Nation!  We're going to have a big 4-day weekend for our Road Trip Rally Party there in Miami, so please be sure to join our Contact List for updates and information on our own Schedule of Events for that game! It.Is.Gonna.Be.FUN!!! 

'til next time, my friends! 

Yours,

Afro

Behold! The 2017 Schedule of the Oakland Raiders!

The Stadium Leaders Say, "Let's Deal With This Fog." Here's Today's Road Trip Rally Party Blog!

Hello,

  There's lots going on with the Las Vegas Raiders (will one ever get used to saying that?) this week. On Thursday, April 21st, the Las Vegas Stadium Authority will meet with the Raiders' executive brass to begin hammering out all the details required to get the new stadium going.

  The vote of the NFL owners that took place, that vote simply said, "Yes, Mark Davis, you can move your team." NOW comes the hard part: convincing the city & state leaders what a fair arrangement for all the details will be.

  A short article. Please feel free to read and become..."enlightened."

     Thanks,

                  Afro

Let's Get This Ball Rolling!

Yes, Yes, Yes!

 I found a word, "dawg" that rhymes with, "blog!"

 The Road Trip Rally Party has ventured out into new territory! We actually have a BLOG!

  "blog" - noun, abr web + log; an online space for subscribers and interested readers to view written thoughts, videos, and other musings of an individual or group.

   We want to make sure that our Road Trip Rally Members stay informed with the latest details surrounding our upcoming Miami Road Trip. We will have details posted here, as well as a means for you readers to respond. We welcome all opinions!

   Come join our mailing list! We will have a monthly newsletter beginning in May 2017. Join now to receive a free entry to win a great, fully-licensed, really cool Raiders item! If you've been to our road trips, you know we don't give away cheap prizes...get on in and maybe you can WIN!
(your contact info kept confidential, of course. info is not sold, traded, nor given away to anyone)

   Our Road Trip Rally Party has taken us to many different cities. We've met so many wonderful people, many of whom had never been to a "live" Oakland Raiders game ever. Our goal has always been to bring the Raider Nation Experience to people, to have them see what it's like on a weekend of a Raiders' home game.

   There's always a pre-game big bash at the main Raiders sports bar, "Ricky's Sports Theater", in San Leandro, CA...just south of Oakland. Ricky's was once voted the #2 Sports Bar in America by Sports Illustrated Magazine (it really was the No.1 sports bar, but a Boston bar won the title instead due to the recent championship of its local, and utterly nameless NFL team), and Ricky's is the renowned headquarters of all things Raider Nation. ESPN, Fox Sports, CBS, NBC, Sirius Satellite Radio, local TV stations, they all know where to come to tap into the local fanbase of all the sports teams.

   And fans of other teams, are they welcome at Ricky's? Hey, it's like a Terry Bradshaw/Tony Romo/John Elway/DaBears convention in there! A United Nations of NFLdom!

DETROIT 2015

LONDON U.K. 2014

INDIANAPOLIS 2013

NEW ORLEANS 2016

  We want that same Ricky's Saturday night excitement to show at each of our Road Trip Rally Party events. That is why we have a Saturday Night Rally when we are on the road. Music, food, prizes, everyone decked out in Raiders gear & costumes...that is what we want EVERYONE to experience!

   We have something really nice planned for Miami. We have to see about the local city ordinances and the like, but we want everybody to know that we will make the supreme effort, the strongest push, to make this 2017 Miami road trip into something that you will be glad to be a part of!

   See you soon. And spread the word! Don't leave your friends in a fog, tell 'em about our blog!

    (the rhymes just freestyle...after awhile)

        Yours every day,
                                   Nakita and Ken