Derek Carr’s Two Touchdown Passes

I looked up the American Top 40 playlist for the weekend.  The Top 10 songs on August 19, 1978 were “An Everlasting Love,” “Magnet and Steel,” “Copacabana,” “Love Will Find a Way,” “Boogie Oogie Oogie,” “Hot Blooded,” “Miss You,” “Last Dance,” “Grease,” and “Three Times a Lady.”  I went to work for a five-hour shift.  I was given a pair of glasses to view the eclipse.  I left after my shift and browsed through the record store, where I bought a Criterion Collection Blu-ray copy of “The 400 Blows.”  I walked over to the BART station, where I caught the train to the Coliseum.  The gate that was marked on my ticket as my entrance was closed, so I had to walked to a different place.  I looked through the team store briefly before taking my seat.  Some of the same characters from previous years were back, although the father and son who sat to my left weren’t there for this game.  We weren’t getting the other football games on the video screen.  I saw that the Rams were wearing blue and white jerseys that were almost like the days of Roman Gabriel and Deacon Jones.  I watched the Raiders cheerleaders, and I recognized only a few from last year.  One of the men who lit the torch started off as a ball boy back in 1968 and hasn’t missed a home game since then.  I had to wonder whether he’s going to move to Las Vegas.  The Raiders’ defense was introduced.  I couldn’t see Marshawn Lynch during the national anthem, although I saw the photographers near the bench.  Jared Goff looked like a better quarterback than he was last year, and Derek Carr was also very good but for one play.  Carr’s first touchdown pass was to Lee Smith.  Carr completed seven of nine passes, although one of those incomplete passes led to a Rams touchdown.  Lynch carried the ball only two times for ten yards.  Carr threw a second touchdown pass to Michael Crabtree, although Crabtree worked to get to the end zone.  The Rams kicked a late field goal to end the first half ahead, 17-14.  We saw a young girl trying to answer trivia questions about the Raiders and Rams.  The questions were hard, so I wondered if they wanted to give away the prize.  Some kids took the field during halftime, playing for teams like the Junior Raiders, the Falcons, and the Broncos.  The third quarter was not too thrilling, as both teams punted three times, and there was no scoring.  Connor Cook threw a touchdown pass to Johnny Holton late in the game to put the Raiders ahead, 21-17, but the Rams came back, helped out by a holding penalty, going ahead with 1:11 left on the clock.  That was the final score.  At one point, we were shown highlights from December 18, 1982, with Jim Plunkett, Cliff Branch, and Marcus Allen making the plays in a 37-31 win.  It was rather hard to believe that it was 35 years ago.  I heard Lincoln Kennedy say on the radio that he liked the infield dirt on the field because it gave the opposing players trouble.  I saw only one fan wearing a shirt that said anything about Las Vegas.  I thought that the attendance was pretty good for a meaningless game with the depressing news about the future of the team, although there were empty seats in the third deck.  It was a bit cold as I left the stadium.  I listened to the radio announcers, and the consensus was that the Raiders’ offense should have a good season, but the defense needs work.  Tom Flores had difficult saying Marshawn’s name.  I heard the end of Chris Townsend’s show, with the last caller angry about the Las Vegas move.  Townsend said that Mark Davis was being a team player with the agreement to play in Mexico City, which helped him get the votes for approval for the move.  Townsend also said that things would get uglier as the time of the move approaches.  I heard about the death of Dick Gregory.  Some of the people who died on August 20 include Kim Stanley (2001), Gene Upshaw (2008), Phyllis Diller (2012), Elmore Leonard (2013), and Melody Patterson (2015).  Today is a birthday for Amy Adams (43), Al Roker (63), Robert Plant (69), Connie Chung (71), and Don King (86).