ESPN Make-A-Wish: Jailen Cooper “Raiders Forever”

There are not too many times when surfing the world wide web you come across videos that will choke you up a bit, however this morning I viewed a story about a 10 year old boy from North Carolina who's dream was to meet the Oakland Raiders.

That video can be seen here:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hs8wEu36NZE

It's a very sad story with a happy ending, and while watching the video you couldn't help but to feel some emotions for the boy, for only being 10 years old and being so brave, I found this video to be great not only because it shows my favorite team in good light but just how the production was done and who it was done by, ESPN.

For many years, ESPN has been well known as Raider haters. It's fact that ESPN didn't have to choose this story, there are thousands of sick kids around the nation who have dreams of meeting their favorite sports teams, why they chose Oakland? Who knows.

What I do know is that in the video the Oakland Raiders are shown as a first class organization, you get to see the three Super Bowl trophies, an in depth tour of the Oakland Raiders headquarters in Alameda, and some nice video of players at the mini camp.

For hardcore fans of the Oakland Raiders, you get to see how the 2010 Raiders team is bonding and coming together without JaMarcus Russell anywhere on site.

What I also found amazing is how this 10 year old boy from North Carolina loves the Oakland Raiders. It just goes to show you how far the Raider Nation reaches around the world.

I myself live in the Bay Area and attend all Raiders home games, so when I see stories like this, of fans around the nation having love for Oakland, it's nice.

For this boy, whose name is Jailen Cooper, to not bandwagon and say he likes the Patroits, Saints, or Colts but to get on national TV and rep for the Sliver and Black made me feel good.

For so many years ESPN has hated o...