Oakland Raiders linebacker Rolando McClain has been sentenced to 180 days in jail for his participation in an assault against Rishard Tapscott, a high school friend of McClain’s and his co-defendant, Jarodiaus Willingham. McClain was convicted of third-degree assault, menacing, reckless endangerment and discharging a firearm in the city limits.

During the altercation, McClain fired a handgun inches from Tapscott’s head as he lay bleeding on the ground.

The assault took place in Decatur, Alabama during week 13 of the NFL season. McClain was back home to attend his grandmother’s funeral.

I wonder, now that McClain has been convicted and Hue Jackson is no longer employed by the Oakland Raiders, does the former head coach still support McClain? I’m guessing not.

Alabama is a funny state. McClain commits a violent act against another with a handgun and gets half a year in jail. Plaxico Burress accidentally shoots himself in the leg in New York and is sentenced to two years in prison.

It should be interesting to see how the NFL reacts to this. McClain committed a violent act with a handgun. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was also looking at a lengthy suspension.

The Oakland Raiders went to Green Bay and played the Packers yesterday. The Raiders lost to the Packers, 46-16. If anything, the game wasn’t as competitive as the final score indicates. The Packers removed quarterback Aaron Rodgers from the game late in the third-quarter and replaced him with back-up Matt Flynn. At halftime, the Packers were up 31-0.

Once again, Palmer was allowed to remain in the game until the final play, padding his stats. He finished the game going 24 of 42 for 245 yards and a touchdown. Other than the four picks, looking at his stats, it doesn’t appear Palmer did so bad. Stats can be deceiving. Nine of his completions came in the fourth-quarter when the game’s final outcome was not in question.

I think it’s safe to say at this point that the trade to bring Palmer to Oakland was a mistake. Not only does he not have what it takes to be a starting quarterback in the NFL, I’m not sure he even has the capacity to be a competent back-up at this stage of her career. For the privilege of having Palmer in a Raiders’ uniform, the Raiders will be without a first-round pick in next year’s entry draft. The way the Raiders are playing since acquiring Palmer from the Cincinnati Bengals, that pick looks like it might be in the top-ten.

Great news! Oakland Raiders head coach Hue Jackson is supporting middle linebacker Rolando McClain. The 2010 first-round pick was arrested last week in his home state of Alabama for allegedly pointing a gun at a former high school basketball teammate’s head. Then, while the former teammate pleaded for his life, McClain fired a round only inches from his ear.

What exactly is Jackson supporting?

I just don’t get it. McClain was back home in Alabama to attend his grandfather’s funeral. Instead of using the time to mourn with his family, he’s out late and night pretending to be a thug.

McClain is an idiot. Did he think he could pull something like this and not get into trouble? Behavior like this illustrates just what is wrong with the Raiders. They draft stupid players who do stupid things. Instead of drafting players based on how fast they run the 40-yard dash, they ought to draft them based on their intelligence.

McClain may be fast.
McClain may be strong
McClain sure isn’t smart.

Oakland Raiders quarterback Jason Campbell was knocked out cold in yesterday’s preseason game with the San Francisco 49ers. Linebacker Ahmad Brooks’ knee made contact with Campbell’s helmet. He will be tested in the next few days to see if he has a concussion.

In retrospect, it could have been worse: He could have been shot.

Preseason is stupid and unnecessary. I wish they would just do away with it. Considering how much money the owners make in preseason, that will never happen. Tickets cost the same in the preseason as they do in the regular season and if you are a season ticket holder, you’re forced to pay for two preseason games along with the eight regular season games. Another benefit to the owners is that they don’t pay the players during the preseason. Contracts in the NFL are based on a 16 game season.

College players don’t need preseason to get ready to play football, so why do the pros?

Coaches will say they need the preseason to decide roster spots. This is a stupid reason, especially considering that contracts in the NFL aren’t guaranteed. Teams can cut and stop paying players anytime.

When a player is injured in preseason, it’s an unnecessary waste. Players like Campbell have a finite number of concussions they can give to this game they love. When they get one in preseason, it means one less they can get before they are forced to retire.

The four and a half month national nightmare is now over. The NFL owners reached an agreement last week and today player representatives from all 32 teams unanimously approved the deal made by the owners. Officially, individual players now have to vote to accept the terms, but that is almost certainly going to happen.

The chances that a majority of NFL players would not vote to accept the new labor deal is approximately zero point zero. The last thing these millionaires want to do is stop making millions of dollars giving each other concussions for the sake of our Sunday entertainment.

I now have to decide whether or not I want to purchase the NFL Sunday Ticket. Now that I’m a real life DirecTv subscriber, I can actually watch my favorite team each week like a regular person. All I have to do is pay $334.95. For that price, not only do I get to watch the Oakland Raiders in HD, I can watch each and every other NFL game too. Not that I would necessarily want to watch any other game.

Like it says in the Bible, it is nice to have options.

I wish they had a package where I could just pick one team and pay something less than $334.95 to watch that one team. Then again, DirecTv’s Sunday Ticket breaks down to be a little less than $21 a game.

That doesn’t seem too bad when you look at it like that.

According to TMZ, former Oakland Raiders quarterback JaMarcus Russell is about to have his Oakland mansion foreclosed on by the bank. He needs to come up with $195,512.05 in the next three months or the mansion will be auctioned off.

Considering that he was able to walk away from the Raiders with at least $31.5 million of Al Davis’ money, one might think that he could come up with the $195,512.05 needed to save his home from the auction block. The thing is, he probably wants to lose the home.

It’s not like he even lives there.

The man is despised in Oakland and for good reason.  He will probably go down in NFL history as the biggest draft bust since players wore leather helmets. My guess is that he wants the bank to foreclose on the mansion. I know I would. He undoubtedly owes far more on the place then what it is worth.  He paid $3 million for the home in 2007 before even signing a contract with the Raiders.

As much as I’d like to imagine JaMarcus Russell being homeless and living under a freeway overpass, I don’t think that is the case here. My guess is that he just wants out of an underwater mortgage.