Blogdom's Best: Oakland Raiders

It might not — yet — have the online fanaticism and cachet of baseball, but the NFL and its fans are starting to catch up in the world of team-devoted blogs. To this end, Deadspin salutes these modem-addled souls and proudly presents Blogdom's Best, given to the most outstanding blog for each NFL team. There are fewer than there are for baseball, but they're out there, if you look. If you would like to nominate a blog (yours, even) for selection, just let us know at [email protected]. Today: The Oakland Raiders.

OK, now here's a blogging community. Oakland Raiders blogs are everywhere, seemingly falling from the sky. And they all own that dark, bad-boy Raider image, with names such as Darth Raider ... The 66th Mob ... Fear the Silver and Black ... Raiders Kick Ass ... Raiders Till Death ... Rolleen's Raiderette Page ... er, sorry about that last one.

Raiders fans are iconoclasts, cut from old, moldy cloth — the kind of people they used to hire to guard the stage during outdoor Rolling Stones concerts. Born with chips on their shoulders and unwilling to remove them for anyone, even the cops, they still gather in sports bars such as the famous Rickey's in San Leandro and banty about terms like "The Vertical Game" (the Raiders haven't had one since Kenny Stabler retired), "Just Win, Baby" (Super Bowl XXXVII: Tampa Bay 48, Oakland 21) and "Hey, who threw that rock?" Remember the episode where the Simpsons escape from Alcatraz, and Lisa suggests swimming to San Francisco? Homer replies: "I'm not made of money. We'll swim to Oakland!" That about sums it up. OK, the Raiders aren't great, despite their recent Randy Moss windfall. And their city still has precious little there, there. And don't under any circumstances, mention that whole moving to L.A. thing (never happened, nope). But damn, their blogs are good. It was very difficult paring the choices down to three, but here they are. We'll show them to you, Raiders fans, if you promise not to hurt us. 3. Silver and Black Attack. Has always been one of our favorite blogs. It's been down for a couple of days though, just like the Raiders. 2. Raider Take, You've gotta love a blog where the first post of the morning rips the local columnist, then three items down there's a tribute to a Raiders fan who succumbed to "a stray bullet." We love you, Raider Take. 1. The Raider Zone. Everything for the descriminating Raiders fan — news, updates, features, the works. Crush a beer can on your head and come on in. (Wednesday: Baltimore Ravens)