Safe to say, it can't be fun to be a member of the Oakland Raiders front office today.
Then again, the way it has gone the last few years, being in the Raiders front office yesterday or tomorrow, isn't going to be much better. Their biggest free agent acquisition of the offseason-----not to mention their highest priced one-----is in the news and for all the wrong reasons. Unfortunately, this has been become way too common for Javon Walker. Let us count the steps.....make that missteps from Denver to Oakland to Las Vegas.
December 31, 2007: The day after the Broncos finish the regular season, Walker addresses reporters and in a rambling discourse tells them he doesn't see a future for himself in Denver.
January 8, 2008: Walker goes on a local radio show in Denver for 20 minutes and while he won't totally retract his comments, he attributed them to frustration. He said he wasn't sure what his future was with the Broncos. Something tells me the Broncos were pretty sure about his future with them. He even attempted to portray himself as a team player by insinuating that he helped Brandon Marshall catch 102 passes. Huh?
March 4, 2008: Walker, who played his way out of Green Bay and Denver, in the opinion of many, signs a $55 million contract with the Raiders. Nothing like getting rewarded for being a good team guy, right?
June 5, 2008: After signing that deal, his new head coach in Oakland, Lane Kiffin, says Walker looked a "little heavy." No better way to prove to your critics that this tenure in Oakland will be different than his tour of duty with the Packers and the Broncos.
June 8, 2008: Walker tells Bill Williamson of ESPN.com and formerly of The Denver Post that he will refer to the Broncos as "that team." Hard feelings, anybody?
June 16, 2008: Walker is found unconscious outside of the Summer Bay Resorts in Las Vegas. He was apparently the victim of a robbery. He suffered an orbital eye fracture. He was robbed of $3,000 in cash and $100,000 in jewelry.
June 17, 2008: Walker tells the website thedirty.com, this version of events of the robbery. "I was just back at my room and at about 5:30 in the morning I got a knock at the door. I opened it and three guys with guns were there. They cracked me in the head a few times, knocking me unconscious. Then they robbed me of everything I had; my watch, my money, my clothes, everything. Somehow they got me in a car and dropped me off in the street. That's what happened."
June 24, 2008: Does any of that sound difficult to fathom? You are apparently not alone and the Las Vegas Police Department says it has the evidence to prove it. They say Walker voluntarily got into the vehicle of a 30-year old man, Arfat Fadel, that he did not know.
Why would he do that?
Why would he do any of the stuff he does?
-"z"
