The Oakland Raiders, mindful of every opportunity to expand their audience, broadcast Sunday's game against the Denver Broncos in Navajo.
Any listener tired of hearing the play-by-play in English could have switched over to KTNN-AM (660), where all the gory details of the Raiders' 31-17 loss were relayed in the Navajo language. L.A. Williams and Ernie Manuelito, who called the action for KTNN, did not have to translate "touchdown Raiders" until the fourth quarter.
By then, much of McAfee Coliseum might have tuned out. If Denver has become the class of the American Football Conference West with a 7-2 record, Oakland's signal has faded completely. The Raiders have dropped to 3-6, and even though they announced a sellout Sunday, chunks of empty seats dotted the upper deck.
PHOTO: AFP
The home team's only victory came in public relations. Not only do the Raiders sell T-shirts in 11 languages -- among them Greek, Tagalog and Mandarin -- but their chief executive, Amy Trask, hailed the arrival of KTNN by announcing, "This presents an exciting opportunity to unite the Raider Nation with the voice of the Navajo Nation."
It is hard to determine if the Navajo contingent will ever want to listen again. Oakland trailed by 23-0 heading into the fourth quarter Sunday, made a mild comeback, then watched Denver cornerback Darrent Williams return an interception 80 yards for a touchdown.
"We stunk up the place today," said Raiders receiver Jerry Porter, who dropped a potential touchdown pass and fell down running a route. Assessing the Raiders' remote playoff chances, Porter said: "We need help across the board. We need the stars to align correctly. We need someone to buy a team and sell all the players."
Raiders quarterback Kerry Collins, who threw three interceptions, was booed intermittently from the beginning of the second quarter through the end of the fourth. Even after Collins found Randy Moss and Doug Gabriel for late touchdowns, he was given little reprieve. Playing quarterback for the Raiders right now cannot feel much different from when Collins was playing quarterback for the Giants two years ago.
"I understand their frustration," Collins said. "They want to win and they are passionate about it. When things go like they did today, it's natural for them to voice their opinions."
Norv Turner, the Raiders' coach, said Collins would play next week at Washington, but he did not give Collins' performance Sunday a strong endorsement. "There are things he could have handled better," Turner said. "And there are things we could have handled better."
The first sign of trouble came before the opening kickoff, when a skydiver came tumbling from the clouds carrying an American flag, only to have the flag drop to the turf. The public address announcer had to explain to the crowd that no disrespect was intended.
The Raiders do not have as large a fan base in the Bay Area as they used to, but it remains enthusiastic to the point of angry. The parking lot was full three hours before game time Sunday. The Black Hole, positioned behind the south goal post, included all the regulars clad in black leather and silver spikes. A sign behind the north end zone read: "Must Win Baby," a variation on the line made famous by the Raiders' owner, Al Davis.
Ten years after Davis moved the Raiders back to Oakland from Los Angeles, the team still does not seem to have found a true direction. They switch quarterbacks and coaches every few years. They bring in marquee receivers -- Moss is the latest -- but do not surround them with enough complementary pieces. Since the Raiders advanced to the 2003 Super Bowl, they have won only two games against AFC West opponents.
"We knew that they were thinking, `If we go 3-6 right here, the season is over,'" Denver defensive end Ebenezer Ekuban said. "We knew we'd get their best shot."
Denver is host to the Jets next Sunday and may soon be mentioned among the conference elite of Indianapolis, Pittsburgh and Cincinnati. Oakland, on the other hand, is in danger of going without a victory in the division for the first time since 1962.
Even when the Raiders are struggling, they are generally feared for their punishing style. This season, however, they might be losing some of their intimidating edge. After the Oakland special-teams players Tim Johnson and Jarrod Cooper upended Denver punter Todd Sauerbrun on Sunday, they lingered around him and generously helped him up.
It was a sweet gesture, but for any Raiders fan listening, it did not make for great radio.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
The Minnesota Timberwolves, with so many promising performances spoiled by late mistakes fresh in their memory bank, sure timed this strong finish well. Jaden McDaniels scored a career playoff-high 30 points and spearheaded Minnesota’s stifling defense on an ailing Luka Doncic, and the Timberwolves beat the Los Angeles Lakers 116-104 to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Friday night. “Jaden never looks tired. He looks like he could play 48 minutes,” said teammate Anthony Edwards, who had 29 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Julius Randle added 22 points for the Wolves, who outscored
Inter’s defense of their Italian Serie A title was hit with a setback on Sunday as they lost 1-0 at home to AS Roma, while Scott McTominay netted a brace as SSC Napoli beat Torino 2-0 to go top of the table. No fixtures were played on Friday or Saturday because of the funeral of Pope Francis in Rome, meaning the full round of Serie A matches took place on Sunday and yesterday. Matias Soule’s first-half strike for Roma knocked Inter off top spot earlier in the day before new Napoli opened up a three-point buffer with victory in Sunday’s
Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa yesterday set a women’s only world record of 2 hours, 15 minutes, 50 seconds as she won the London Marathon, while Kenya’s Sabastian Sawe put a star-studded men’s field to the sword. For 28-year-old Assefa it was ample compensation for finishing runner-up in London and the Paris Olympics last year — especially as bitter Dutch rival, the Ethiopia-born Sifan Hassan, finished third. Assefa dropped Kenya’s Joyciline Jepkosgei as the race, played out in blazing sunshine and with thousands lining the route, entered its business end. She came home almost three minutes clear of the Kenyan. Hassan, who beat her in
RSS