Joey Brownlee - It's not the players; it's the coaches

My sister, who can’t tell the difference between a football and baseball, knew the moment Lane Kiffin was fired, we’d begin to look more like the Raiders of 2006 than the competitive team we’ve been over the duration of Kiffin’s coaching duty.

The Raiders BK (before Kiffin) couldn’t give the Texas Tech Red Raiders a good game. And four games AK (after Kiffin) they can’t give the Toronto Argonauts a run for their money.

In short, Kiffin has what every person desires to attain: “IT”.Whatever “IT” is, he has it. All the great ones do and it showed in the 20 or so months he was here.

Kiffin knew the weaknesses of this team and stayed away from them like the plague. He passed the ball when the opportunity presented itself and used the running game –the strength- to the fullest. When you have Darren McFadden, Michael Bush and Justin Fargas, why not run the ball and wear down defenses.

It doesn’t make sense to pass the ball 30+ times a game when the offensive line couldn’t pass protect if their life depended on it; much less for a franchise QB. His best wide receiver is his tight end, Zach Miller.

Seventh round pick Chaz Schilens, can become another Marcus Colston (also a seventh round pick) but he needs to get the ball more. That won’t happen, however, because the ball distributor gets more pressure than middle school teenagers and a tap at a keg party COMBINED.

I thought a fresh start in the zone-blocking scheme would benefit left tackle, Kwame Harris. The former first-round pick play has proved me wrong. Ricky Clark told me back in February he and Deangelo Hall were overrated and would vacillate in Oakland.

He was wrong. They’ve been a disaster. They shouldn’t be in pro football, much less the NFL, the way they fall to show up on game day.

And I don’t think Tom Cable merits blame for this atrocity. I’d blame him for not standing up for what he believes in and placating to each and every desire of the owner.

The few times Russell has had time to throw, he’s proved to be inaccurate with the football. At times, it looks like he couldn’t hit the ocean standing on the beach.

Al Davis doesn’t care, wants him to throw more because “he’s a great player.” Those are his words, not mine.

The thing I most admired about Lane Kiffin, from a fans perspective, was he was his own man and wanted to do things his way (which was working) and wasn’t intimidated by Davis when, Bugel, Callahan, Turner and Shell were.

Kiffin changed the mentality of the locker room and got the players to play inspired football; something he predecessors (besides Jon Gruden) failed to do.

He was developing Russell, grooming the offense and using what worked. It was all part of the plan, a plan terminated because of Davis’ jealousy of Lane.

Aside from one season (five total), Rob Ryan has done a horrible job of imitating a defensive coordinator and should be kick-out of the acting futurity for life. It’s good a thing he hasn’t been fired, then we’d really be screwed.

Had Kiffin been giving the liberty to run the show –draft and signed the free agents of his choice- the Raiders would be a first-place team looking to do serious damage in the postseason.

Now all the ESPN TV shows are changing their opinion on whether is was the right move to fire Kiffin. After these last for games, where the offensive put up a total of 29 points (7.25 per game) and were held to -2 yards in the first-half vs. Atlanta, didn’t record a first down until the third quarter and totaled 77 yards…enough said.

Alex Miranda - Here we go again.

It was the Democrats! It was the Republicans! She said he said, they said he did. Who’s to blame for the $700 billion not going into use? Both sides of the party had people vote against it.

But it seems people from both sides of the party are blaming each other for the rejected plan.

What happens know? I keep waiting for it to start raining blood and the coming of the Prince of Darkness. WOO EEHH UMMM!

They keep comparing this situation to the Great Depression. But the Great Depression had people taking swan dives of the dang Chrysler Building in New York.

I’m so broke I can’t sleep at night. Everything I own is on credit, even my education. I feel like I’m being robbed of my college experience.

I’m in college; I should be worried about STDs and getting laid. I should be worried about trying new and exiting things, like drugs or even the weird drunken nights in a Circus Circus Las Vegas hotel room. Where my guy friend and I are too drunk to remember if we did stuff together. But it’s apparent cause we’re both naked, cuddling.

Insomnia over the credit crisis has led me to sleep walk and write POV’s such as this one. I wake in a cold sweat from a dream where I’m talking in front of an audience and I’m naked. So I run and try to buy clothes with my credit cards. But I end up not being able to because of the crisis, and have to walk all day naked.

Don’t get me wrong. I like being nude, but the point is these dreams and nightmares are beginning to take a toll on me. I’m getting to the point I feel so stressed out I’m breaking out in hives.

I’ve tried replacing thoughts of the whole nation running in chaos with pictures of little puppies and unicorns. But it doesn’t work. Even repeating the scene from that one movie where you can see Angelina Jolie in – I’m getting off topic.

The only thing that helps me get through it is imagining me driving to Washington, D.C., and bitch slapping each politician in Congress.

Point is I feel we’re going down a rabbit hole. I fear I’ll turn on the TV one of these days, and see people jumping out buildings running from financial burdens.

Out off all the countries that hate us, I fear ours the most. Because it’s our own country that has betrayed us the most.

Karen Swain - Cell phone etiquette

The communication culture has exploded in America. We are bombarded by commercials trying to sell us the newest gadget. We have iPhones and blackberries that can text, send e-mail, surf the Internet, blah, blah, and blah. I can’t deny that I have a love-hate relationship with my cell phone.

Am I the only one that finds these technological toys annoying as all hell at times? These days you couldn’t escape cell phones if you tried. You can be on the toilet, minding your own business, when you’re interrupted with and you hear the person-in-the-next-stall’s conversation. As much as we all love our cell phones, can’t we admit that there’s a time and a place for them?

I often wonder if this technology has grown faster than the etiquette surrounding the culture. In this modern day, is it considered rude to carry on a cell phone conversation at a restaurant? Anyone working retail can relate to the frustration one feels when someone in line can’t hang up on their conversation for 20 seconds and acknowledge the cashier as a person.

It seems as though our society is growing less personal, and technological innovation is taking over. Most of my friends have cell phones and their popularity is undeniable. We buy them, throw our money down this bottomless pit, and loose our manners at the same time.

It is not uncommon to see a 12-year-old boy or girl with their very own cell phone. Shit, call me old fashioned, but in my day it was walkie-talkies. If I had even asked for a cell phone at that age my parents would have literally laughed in my face.

American culture has embraced cell phones and marketed them to be items of necessity rather than luxury items. Everyone has them, we must need them, and not simply want them.

What I want to someday be a trend is cell phone etiquette and courtesy. Think about your surroundings before you chat non-stop with your friend over the phone. Be considerate of those around you and for goodness sake, don’t talk on your phone in a bathroom stall at Chabot!

Although I haven’t had an Office Space moment as of yet, where I smash my cell phone into little pieces and kill the damn thing; I’ve day dreamed about it.

Alex Miranda - I-generation of consumers

America has become sofa units, string green stripe patterns on my bed sheets, hip shirts with smart witty quotes, and techni-colored techno-crap, complete with matching sets of Ikea odds and ends.

I say, never be complete.

We want to pay the $300 because we’re all trying to compensate for what we don’t have. That touch screen, Wi-Fi ready, iPod, I got, I want, generation we live in makes us believe we need thee iPods as a status symbol or maybe something to fill the void.

I look around everyday at the world around me and see the strongest and smartest people who've ever lived. I see all this potential, and I see squandering. An entire generation pumping gas at $5 a gallon, grinning, taking it, and asking for more.

“Thank you sir may I have another,” say modern day economical masochists.

Waiting tables, being slaves. Accepting what is given to us. Settling on taking second best. Settling on possessions over life.

Advertising media has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy the perfect body. The truth is we like pretending we’re superstars when in fact we’re not. I see people slowly realizing we’re being lied to, and we’re pissed.

We're the middle Brady Bunch girl; no purpose or place, just a nice little transition.

We pay. We fight wars. We run this country. We are the gears. We put money in banks so banks can lend it out and gain interests. We serve you food, we milk the cows, we build the white houses and monuments that people inhabit. We are apple pie.

If we stop, if we let go. The gears would stop working.

I bet I could turn one penny into the sum amount of $30. I can see how this turning water into a venti double decaf latte could sound like it’s a bit to good to be true, but hear me out.

Put 98 cents into your checking account. Make sure 98 cents is the only amount of money in your account. Then take a ride down to Target, or any other fine establishment, and buy a 99-cent coke. Ninety-eight minus 99 equals negative one, meaning you owe the bank a penny. If you don’t deposit a penny or a check for thee amount of one cent before midnight that day you will be charged the overdraft fee of $30.

A 3,000 percent interest rate of what you owe the bank for a penny. Washington Mutual, my bank, isn’t the only bank doing this. By far Washington Mutual is generous compared to other banks that charge you for everyday you’re overdrawn.

But If I refuse to pay I become an example that banks work for me. I put my money in them. If I had no money to put in there have no money to lend out. Meaning they don’t make a profit.

I’ve had to put ketchup on saltine crackers and use them as a major food source. I’ve ordered a soup at Denny’s with an order of extra crackers and collected condiment packets from major fast food chains.

I recently read Fight Club. In the book they blow up credit companies to reset them to zero. They take the establishment and flatten it out. Because it’s when you’ve lost your house and your living off ketchup and crackers that you can do anything you want.