By NICK SLOAN
Whether you like it or not, sports can have a daily impact on our lives.
I say this as someone who has backed off the idea of being a diehard fan. I try to see the positives in losses. I'm a patient fan. Two straight 100-loss seasons for my beloved Kansas City Royals haven't bugged me one bit, though admittedly the 2015 World Series title makes that easier.
The exception was the Oakland Raiders trading linebacker Khalil Mack to the Chicago Bears for draft picks. I even know exactly where I was when I found --- in the middle of a set of dumbbell curls when the news hit my phone.
Mack had made three straight pro bowls and averaged over 10 sacks a season during his Oakland Raiders career. He was blossoming into someone who wasn't just the best player on defense, but could be the best all around player in the NFL.
(Taking off the blinders, your choices are either Patrick Mahomes, Aaron Donald, Russell Wilson or Mack in some order)
I get why you have to trade players. I get the idea of not throwing money around like candy. It's impossible to sign everyone and value is something you may not see until you give it patience to grow into something great.
The Mack move is one that can never be defended and the Raiders cannot win it no matter how hard the team spins it or how the picks turnout. I like Josh Jacobs. He could very well be the NFL Rookie of the Year in 2019.
But he's not Khalil Mack and unless your name is Aaron Donald, no other NFL defender is in the ballpark.
You do not trade a generational talent. You don't trade someone who had 15 sacks in a season by the age of 24. You don't trade someone who, on any play, can force a fumble or drop back in coverage and make an interception.
You don't trade someone who made history and became the first NFL player in league history to be named an Associated Press All-Pro at two separate positions in the same season.
You trade Scottie Pippen. You don't trade Michael Jordan --- and that's what Mack could have been for the Raiders.
(And on a personal note, Mack is the ONLY draft pick the Raiders or any of my teams have been in my lifetime that I got behind fully. I fell in love with his game watching him play at Buffalo and watching highlight clips of him. I had jumped on his bandwagon the October before the Raiders drafted him and when they did, I was ecstatic.
It's the first time something worked out perfectly. Well, until they traded him.)
On Sunday, Mack leads a potentially historic Chicago Bears defense into London to take on his former team.
It's the game I've been dreading as a fan since Sept. 1, 2018 --- the date they traded him. It's like seeing an ex-girlfriend with a richer, more in shape guy. Mack is on a team that's a quarterback away from being a Super Bowl lock in the NFC. His Bears have went 15-5 since the trade, while his former team has went 6-14 in the process.
While the Raiders would need more than just one player to be a Super Bowl threat, they had the franchise guy on the team. And don't listen to the history revisionists. He wanted to be a Raider for life. He was the perfect Raider - nasty and scary.
And he's gone. On Sunday, I fully expect the Raider Nation to be reminded of that.
Win or loss, I do think the Raiders are going in the right direction. While a few notable picks aren't working out right now, there's a lot of young talent on this team that is making an impact on an improving franchise that just won a crucial road game in Indianapolis.
Sunday's game won't matter much, particularly in a season that's about growing as a team, finding out about its franchise quarterback and recovering after the embarrassing Antonio Brown situation.
It's also the last season in Oakland before the Raiders hit the Vegas Strip in 2020.
But Sunday will serve as a reminder of what could have been, at least in one notable case. Khalil Mack could have been the guy for the Raiders for 15 years. He could have been the top jersey seller in the league. He could have been the guy who anchored a defense that could have grown into what the Bears have now after a few more drafts. Mahomes/Mack could have been a great rivalry ala Brett Favre/Warren Sapp and John Elway/Derrick Thomas years ago.
Like the James Harden trade, the Raiders didn't have to do this.
They did. And on Sunday, the reckoning is coming.
