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Some NFL teams are trying to figure out how to improve, whom to draft, how to somehow compete with the New England Patriots.

Not the Oakland Raiders. They’re still stuck without a place to play seven of their right home games next season. This is what they’ve become.

Bound for Las Vegas in 2020, the Raiders already have a home game in London in 2019. They’re in litigation with Oakland, not welcome in San Francisco and running out of options.

Or are they? The Arizona Daily Star reports that Tucson and Birmingham (Alabama, not Great Britain) may put together a package that will turn the Raiders into vagabonds. Imagine playing home games in two countries, practicing on the West Coast and then traveling for every game.

The Raiders and the NFL have fought court battles for 40 years as the team moved from Oakland to Los Angeles and then back. NFL owners, once scandalized by the mere idea of Vegas and gambling, love getting a new billion-dollar ballpark in 2020. So what’s a little embarrassment regarding a homeless franchise?

Oakland’s stadium is unsuitable for the NFL, shared as it is with baseball’s Oakland Athletics (who also want a new building). So, however, is hopscotching the globe. It’s not good for the Raiders or their opponents.

Money breeds nuttiness and greed. That’s a perfect combination for your weekend in Vegas, but a sad pairing for a marquee franchise that sold what remains of its soul and can’t find its way home.

 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman