Cheating Is Encouraged

Straight from the mouths of the legends of the Silver and Black, Cheating Is Encouraged recapitulates the many infamous stories from the last team to play “outlaw” football.

Regardless of whether you loved or hated them, the Oakland Raiders of the 1970s were an amusing cast of outlaws, misfits, and anomalies that made up one of the greatest pro football teams of their era. The Raiders’ roster consisted of a collection of mavericks and rebels, some with behavioral issues, such as John “Tooz” Matuszak and Lyle Alzado, as well as castoffs like the aging George Blanda and the sandlot player Otis Sistrunk, who were passed over or disregarded by other NFL teams. To say that this group of outlaws had “attitude” would be a gross understatement. They were the Oakland Raiders, the Silver and Black, and Al Davis’s dream of “Just win, baby.”

Gridiron characters (such as the Snake, Foo, the Assassin, the Hit Man, Dr. Death, and many others) chronicle the notorious on- and off-the-field exploits, away-game adventures, and the party-hard attitudes that are reflected in the team’s intimidating and glorified mix of renegades. Cheating Is Encouraged defines an era that can only be considered the last days of “real football played by real men.”

Mike Siani is a retired football player most famously known for being on the 1977 Oakland Raiders Super Bowl team. An All-American at Villanova, he was voted the all-time greatest athlete in the school’s history. Cheating is Encouraged is his first book, and Siani resides in Palm Springs, California.

Kristine Setting Clark was the long-time feature writer for the San Francisco 49ers and the Dallas Cowboys for Gameday Magazine. She has authored many books on football, including Undefeated, Untied, and Uninvited; Controlled Violence (with Sam Huff); Nothing Comes Easy (with Y. A. Tittle); and many others. She resides in Stockton, California.