Nnamdi Asomugha Makes It Impossible to Hate the Raiders

It would be easy to hate the Oakland Raiders as a monolith to mismanagement, for zillion-dollar contracts given to Tommy Kelly and JaMarcus Russell, and for the general disconnect between their almost irrationally proud fans and the team that would count the current Bruce Gradkowski-led run to mediocrity as a success. But then you remember that they drafted Nnamdi Asomugha, and it’s impossible not to dish a little credit.

And that’s before you hear about him helping a homeless Los Angeles teen find a college.

Asomugha joins Josh Cribbs in the “excellent player for bad team doing good” category. If there are better combinations of top-flight player and top-rate philanthropist in the NFL, I don’t know them. Feel free to tell those tales in the comments, though. Smiles are always good.

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