Santa Barbara Raider Fans Fantasy Football League

  Win Some, Lose More   There's an episode of the classic sitcom  I Love Lucy  from 1952 where, after being scolded by their husbands about their excessive spending, Ethel and Lucy get jobs at the local candy factory to maintain their independence by retaining their consumerist power. As we know, what ensues is one of the classic slapstick moments of the show, where the candy "boss" orders Ethel and Lucy to not let a chocolate on the line go by unwrapped or they will lose their jobs. As the belt moves faster and faster, Ethel and Lucy are forced to pull chocolates off the line, stashing them in their clothing and, ultimately, stuffing them in their mouths in order to keep their paychecks to freedom. "I think we're fighting a losing game" says Lucy to Ethel, and, as usual Lucille, you're more right than we mostly know. The bittersweet irony here, as I see it, is that in order to maintain the only power they (think they) have—consumerism—Lucy and Ethel are...

  Yes, Fifteen... ...I double-checked. And I suppose we could count the longevity of this here league to a sort of madness—even plain old haplessness—but from my perspective, such indefatigable dedication is a fault for which we should all be proud. For that, I thank you and welcome everyone back for the fifteenth running of the SBRFFFL—a league that, at this point, has only one Raider fan left that actually lives in Santa Barbara proper. Yet again, thanks Dad. But the father '15' of the Raiders franchise was none other than Tom Flores, who in 1960 was not only the AFL Raiders' first QB, but the first Latino starting QB  ever  in professional football. As a player, Flores' marquee season was 1966 as he made the Pro Bowl by throwing for 2,638 yards and 24 TDs in 14 games. Of course, most of us remember Flores as one of the greatest Head Coaches of the Silver and Black, winning—first—Super Bowl XI as an assistant to John Madden—and then bringing championships to both Oakl...