NAPA, Calif - You want to know what's worse than being a loser? It's being irrelevant.

It's reaching a point when nobody cares what you do, when there's no griping or moaning, when people talk of you, if they talk of you, in the past tense, as if you didn't exist any longer.

As if you had become the Oakland Raiders.

They had been so good for so long, the Raiders, with a brilliant maverick of a boss, Al Davis, who true to Sinatra's lyrics, did things his own way.

He stocked his team with free thinkers and highly paid warriors who were as tough as they had to be and as frivolous as they wanted to be. And they won.

But the world, the NFL part of it, changed, and his critics said Al failed to change with it. They said he wanted to play 1970s football in the 2000s. The real problem, however, wasn't style, it was substance.

The Raiders, the team of Hall of Famers Gene Upshaw, Bob Brown, Art Shell, Willie Brown, Dave Casper, Ted Hendricks, Jim Otto and others, became a team of nobodies.

A team of quarterback roulette and offensive line disappointment, a team of "Who let that guy get open?'' and a team of "How much do you think JaMarcus Russell is going to weigh this week?''

And finally, even those crazies in the south stands of the Oakland Coliseum, who labeled their territory "The Black Hole,'' well, slipped into a black hole. Or in truth just stopped showing up.

Sort of like the Raiders offense.

But after the Raiders losing no fewer than 11 games a season for the last seven seasons, there's a feeling the situation is about to change.

Maybe it was just the sunshine up here in the wine country, where the team trains in the summer, some 50 miles north of Oakland. Or maybe it was the big decisions about the biggest position on any team, quarterback.

The Raiders know who theirs is. Finally. The guy they got in a trade from the Washington Redskins last April, Jason Campbell. He may not be another Peyton Manning or Drew Brees, but that can be accepted as long as he isn't another JaMarcus Russell.

JaMarcus was the savior who was the failure. The very first pick in the 2007 draft, from LSU, Russell arrived with a very large salary (a $31 million guarantee), a very high opinion of his own skills and, unfortunately, a very bad tendency to gain pounds.

When Oakland brought in Campbell, who had his own problems with the Redskins -- but none of them was getting out of shape -- it was an indication Russell would be departing, which, in a short while he was, ignominiously waived.

Subsequently, when Raiders coach Tom Cable on Wednesday named Campbell the starter, not even waiting for camp officially to begin, it was both surprising and consequential.

In effect, Cable was telling the players, and everyone else, "This is Jason Campbell's team.''

So, when practice got underway Thursday, there was Campbell calling plays, finding receivers and demonstrating leadership. That he may not have much of an offensive line is an issue which will be set aside for the future. Why ruin an upbeat story?

"He went out and did what he was supposed to do,'' said Cable of Campbell. Yes, it's Jason's sixth year in the NFL, but as a rookie from Auburn he never got in a game.

"We're hungry and passionate for that kind of leadership,'' Cable continued. "I don't know if it's as big a task as maybe it is some other times in guys' careers in some other places. He's been welcomed, and he's kind of taken that welcome and run with it.''

Or gave the ball to his backs, who ran with it. Jason basically threw or handed off. And held on to the ball, something Russell often couldn't do when smacked around by the opposition.

"He managed the football,'' Cable said. "That's one of the goals for us, to be a better turnover-takeaway team (the Raiders had 13 more turnovers than takeaways in 2009). And it starts with the quarterback.''

Campbell isn't the only addition. There's the No. 1 draft pick, Rolando McClain, the rookie linebacker who led Alabama to the BCS Championship. There are Quentin Groves and Kamerion Wimbley, two more linebackers acquired in trades.

"I feel like a Raider,'' Campbell said after the morning workout. "Raider Nation is out there. They want to win.''

So does running back Michael Bush, in his third season with Oakland, who conceded, "We've been losing since I got here.'' And, need it be pointed out, a lot longer than that.

"It seems to be totally different this year,'' said Bush. "Guys came in shape. They seemed excited to be around each other.''

Which may lead to the public once more becoming excited by the Oakland Raiders.