AFL Raiders

Welcome to my review of the Oakland Raiders web site and 50th anniversary tribute.

I only wish I was as fluent as they are….

See, they have multi-lingual versions of their website!!!

The Raiders maintain a global presence and communicate with the worldwide Raider Nation through the team’s official web properties which feature original and translated content in six different languages – Tagalog, Japanese, German, Chinese, Spanish and English.

The Raiders became and continue to be the first and only NFL team to produce a full-service Spanish-language web site. During the 2004 regular season, the Raiders became the first team to offer original content in German with the launch of Raiders auf Deutsch.

Each site is geared towards those particular cultural interests and topicality!

Very Cool!

They also have a great Kids page which features downloadable pictures for kids to color, various games and contests.

And of course they have a well done history page.

And feature all their 50th anniversary gear at their store…

And have a great Fan Page where you can download pictures, wallpapers, widgets, join a booster club or even start your own.

Kudos to the Raiders !!! and Two Big Thumbs Up!

AFL New York Jets

Next in my review of the AFL 50th anniversary teams is the New York Jets, AKA Titans.

When I went out to the Jets site, I saw the team banner, ticket ad and a picture of Kerry Rhodes.

OK so, yes Rhodes is a great player. Funny, I would not have thought of him as the feature player to put on the banner, but hey, defense wins championships and he is one of the best at what he does.

An article about Leon Washington still a no-show for the team activities. Maybe that is why he does not get top billing…

A to be expected article about training camp starting up and all the hopeful expectations.

Everything else was about the Flight Crew. The Flight Crew of course being the Cheerleaders.

The next big thing was the new stadium and a really cool 3D interactive representation of the yet to be completed stadium. The headline being that the fans deserve a championship stadium. Certainly the prices were championship prices.

Speaking of the fans. The Jets had an interesting page for die hard fans who are away on travel and or at an away city. On this page, you could find all the Jets Friendly Bars and night spots for viewing Jets Games.

Other than that there was nothing.

No big time widgets…

No big time 50th anniversary web page…

No really interesting topicality…
(maybe they should sign MV, after all, the other NY team got TO and all the attention that goes along with him!)

So,
I give 1/2 a thumb for their retro 50th anniversary uniform
and a 1/2 thumb for their lame web site.

Next up Oakland Raiders!

To see all of the AFL Eight 50th Anniversary Teams, click HERE.

To vote for your favorite, check out he top left widget next to the post.

AFL New England Patriots and Elton John…

At first glance, and viewing of the New England Patriots home page, you see a variety of relevant, sports and football related items such as:
– A special event featuring Hall of Famer Andre Tippett
– News and video of training camp and rookies and contract status
– 50th Anniversary
– Team blogs
– Tickets and promotions

All nice and clean and easily clickable.

So, why did I mention Elton John?

Well, if you click on the team blog link, you will find a story about the Billy Joel and Elton John concert recently held in the Boston area.

During his show with Billy Joel at Gillette Stadium Saturday night Elton John dedicated “Tiny Dancer” to Patriots Owner Robert Kraft and his wife Myra. A longtime friend of the Krafts, John (hey, kind of looks funny when you only use his second name!) also called the Patriots his team and said he’d be serving as New England’s honorary captain for its game Oct. 25 against the Bucs in London.

That should get the brits out to the game and give the networks plenty of topicality.

Clicking on the top display bar, or most of the other links, will get you past the initial splash screen web page and into the meat and potatoes of the site.

Here you will find an interesting assortment of 50th anniversary links and plenty of ways to increase fan involvement over the web.

You can download any number assortment of widgets such as:

The Calendar:

or

Patriot News and Blog updates:
if (WIDGETBOX) WIDGETBOX.renderWidget(‘d9a2e5c4-81ce-465f-83b9-8ab366bd603e’);Get the Official Blog of Patriots Football Weekly widget and many other great free widgets at Widgetbox!

The 50th anniversary part of the site is different than any other teams which I have viewed to date.

They do not have a “all time” team page or pick you best player page.

Instead, they have a pick your all time greatest top 10 moments in Patriots History.

One can even leave comments on the selections.

Pretty Cool!

There is also a section on commemorative license plates and if you want a “low” number jersey plate, you can go online and bid for you favorite Patriot number in an auction.

Proceeds go to the Patriots Charity Organization.

So with a good clean web page, relevant material, unique 50th anniversary pages and promotional products and, oh yeah, a decent retro uniform….

Two thumbs up to the New England Patriots.

Next up: The New York Jets!

And you can view all the 50th anniversary team uniforms here and cast you own vote at the top left hand side of the post.

Cheers!

3 of 8 AFL Kansas City Chiefs

I almost like this retro 50th anniversary combination. The colors, almost remind me of the Redskins, so this is cool. But the helmet reminds me too much of a college team design…

So what does the Kansas City Chiefs web site look like?

My first impression was really cool. An nicely done splash screen clickable image as an intro!

Take a look…

Unfortunately, after viewing Da Bills and Broncos web sites, I was left somewhat unimpressed with the rest of the site.

Here is the best of the rest…

At Number 7 (yes 7!) on the featured story list…

Matt Cassel signs contract extension

Other featured stories include ones like these…

Death of longtime Trainer Wayne Rudy

New and Renovated Stadium

Perhaps the suprise low of this site was the online games link(s)….

NFL Rush

This is a TOTALLY KC UNRELATED site which features a bunch of games and a really cool video on Drew Brees and the Saints… (all from the KC site?) go figure…

But if you want to stick with the KC sponsored games…

You can play hangman

or

Scramble

I had to hunt around to find anything related to the 50th anniversary.

I finally found something interesting under the “History” section of the web site.

The foolish club – AFL 8

And a piece on the KC Hall of Fame

And an interest article on the Chiefs Uniform History

No “pick your all time team”

No widgets

But, like the Broncos, you can follow the Chiefs on Twitter…

All 3679 fans.

All in all – 1/2 a thumb up…. ouch!

Next up, the New England Patriots.

2 of 8 – AFL Denver Broncos

Personally, I like the other old style of the “D” better. Then of course there is the image of the Buckn’ Bronco…

But as “retro” goes, the plain brown helmet is as perfect as it gets. I just can not for the life of me associate yellow with the Broncos…

OK, so lets look at the Broncos’ Home Page…
Right of the top, who do you think the Broncos have chosen to be the face of the franchise?

The Cheerleaders!

Yes, the two very top items are an ad for a charity event…
Race with the cheerleaders!

and

Right below it is the Broncos’ Logo and another picture of the cheerleaders in the background.

Seems the Broncos’ couldn’t find someone to be the face of the franchise, so they picked the entire cheerleading squad!

This is what they had to say about the Cheerleaders, (and I quote)
…”The Denver Broncos Cheerleaders are one of the premier teams in the National Football League. The Broncos are proud of the work the team does both on the field and most importantly in the community.”

OK, so further down, in the middle of the page one can find a display area for Top Stories, Photos, and Blogs.

This looks a little bit more “football” promising…

Top stories include:

Chasing the NFL Dream !
Alphonso Smith and his life long pursuit of chasing pro dreams. He hails from the same Belle Glade area which has produced the likes of Arizona’s Anquan Boldin, Pittsburgh’s Santonio Holmes and New England’s Fred Taylor. A place that University of Florida head coach Urban Meyer once called “the fastest place in the entire country.”
What makes this area so special? Well everyone credits the mucky soil and chasing and catching rabbits as the secret to their success.

Don’t believe me, read the article…

Switch Hitter

Darrel Reid is making the switch from DT to LB.

PHOTOS:
Red Rock workouts where the team went to Red Rock ampetheater. A beautiful outdoor ampetheater nestled between two 300 foot rock monoliths. It consists of nearly 70 rows of stairs and benches.

I get tired just looking at the pictures…

So, Regarding the 50th anniversary pages, they have a pretty cool “pick your team” page where, unlike Da Bills, you have a choice of different people for different positions.

They do not have a widget to add to a web page, but they do have a link for Twitter…

So, you can get all the updates on your favorite player and cheerleader!!!

All in all, an authentic looking retro helmet, but I hate the yellow jersey.

Though nice to look at, they need somebody else other than the cheerleaders to be the face of the franchise.

And a good 50th anneversary team page that gives you choices.

One thumbs up !

You can check out all the rest of the AFL 8 retro uniforms here.

And don’t forget to vote for your favorite !

Up next… Kansas City Chiefs.

1 of 8 – AFL Buffalo Bills

Personally, this is one of my favorite “retro” looks.

But, if you go to their official web page, it is far from “retro”.

When you go to their web site you are greeted with a slide show of relevant items of interest. Articles which are relevant to the team, fans and the upcoming season; even the fantasy season…

THE STRETCH RUN:
Managing Marshawn Lynches carries to effectively carry them into the playoffs.

LINE DANCE:
Will Walker be able to handle Trent Edwards ’ blind side this season?

And…

The T.O Show !!! …. Premiers Tonight !!! …. July 20th !!!
Check it out…

Then, looking around for the 50th Anniversary stuff I found the following really cool pages…

Greatest Moments in Bills History !!!

and

Bills All Time Team !!!

Where you can pick your all time favorite players at each position.

They even have a widget you can put up on any web page you may have…

www.channel1media.com/billsvoting/

All in all, a cool uniform retro look, relevancy to their web page, T.O. topicality and hype, cool historical pages…

Two thumbs up for Da Bills !!!

You can check out all the rest of the AFL 8 retro uniforms here.

And don’t forget to vote for your favorite !

Up next… Denver.