1st & 4 Most

Uncle Al
Picture courtesy of the Oakland Raiders

There are first for everything, but there is truly only one Al Davis! Raida's baby! First is Big Al, then the other three that make up my four most appreciated sports memories of the past week.

Al "was" a football genius in his hay day. His head is so hard now, that someone shot him in the forehead, and it ricocheted off. Couple of band-aids later, and Al is putting the Jedi Mind Trick on John Fox. But it appeared that Coach Jackson did his own play calling with no interference. Speaking of which...

One of the few pics Coach Jackson has not smiled in.
Picture courtesy of the Oakland Raiders

Coaching firsts:
Coach Fox departed from Carolina to take on the job at Denver. In his debut as the Broncos general, Coach Fox and the Denver Broncos, would match up with conference rivals on Monday night for their first game of the season. They took on rookie head coach Hue Jackson and the Oakland Raiders. Here's the game in a 30 second, tell your co-workers, before the foreman gets back to shop, review:

D MAC Raiders Opening Day Rushing Record
Picture Courtesy of the Oakland Raiders

In The Record Books:
The Broncos struck first with creating a turnover, that led to an early field goal. Then the Raiders struck back with a punt block, and advanced the ball down the field from their 40 something, on 8 plays that was capped off by a Campbell to Reece pass for a touchdown. Then another turnover a fumble gave the Raiders prime field position. The Broncos, however, held on D, and the Raiders had to settle for a field goal. OK you can go to the box score on www.espn.com for all the stats, but here's the good stuff, McFadden looked good, and broke a season opening rushing record for the Raiders with 150 yards. Sebastian Janikowski tied the NFL record for longest field goal, with a sixty three yarder. And Coach Hue Jackson won his first game as a head coach. This guy is always smiling too! Except in the picture that I used of him above the one in this paragraph.

Sebastian Janikowski 63 yd NFL Record
Photo courtesy of the Oakland Raiders

Tom Brady threw for a Monday Night Record, and if I am not mistaken tied the record for an opening day passing yardage record, with 517 in the air.

Brady Record Breaker courtesy of Monday Night Football

Firsts Again:
Back to the college rankings. Coach Everett Withers has won his opener and second game of the season as the University of North Carolina Tar Heels new skipper. He has some work ahead of him, but I think the Heels with Coach Withers will fair just fine.

Coach Withers guiding Bryn Renner
Photo courtesy of the Univ. of North Carolina at Chapel Thrill

Then back to my beloved sport of Cycling! Daniele Bennati won his first stage at the Vuelta, and in all honesty, if he had ridden a bit tougher and not given way to another cyclist (Team Lampre rider Alessandro Petacchi) trying to psych, and edge him out, then he should have won the last two stages. Not to take anything away from Peter Sagan, a three stage winner with the last stage win. However, I feel that if Bennati had stayed on his horse, and not been timid, he could have won. I know it's a lot easier said than done, I wasn't the one traveling at 30 mph per hour with a wire and foam cage for a helmet, and lycra for second skin on my tush. Plus those metal barriers can be detrimental to the human body as well. So Bravo on the first stage win, and on the multiple podium finishes for Bennati! Stay strong learn from this, and hopefully I can witness several more sprint victories of this awesome rider on a Trek in the years to come!

Leopard Trek Rider Daniele Bennati first stage victory of his career
Photo courtesy of Steephill