Todd Christensen on Matt Millen: "One of the luckiest SOBs in the history of the NFL"

http://blogs.mcall.com/groller/ FROM KEITH GROLLER Todd Christensen, the former Raiders' Pro Bowl tight end, was a teammate of Whitehall High's Matt Millen on two Super Bowl champion teams in the 1980s. Christensen is in the Lehigh Valley to work the Colgate-Lehigh game on Saturday at Goodman Stadium for the CBS Sports Network. Christensen said he saw Matt and his wife Pat at a Raiders reunion in Las Vegas on July 4. It was hosted by Al Davis' son, Mark, and held in honor of the late Raiders' owner who died last fall. Davis' birthday was July 4. "It's delightful to get together at something like that, but after a certain period of time you can almost OD on the nostalgia," Christensen said. Christensen, who like Millen went from the football field to the broadcast booth, said of the former Penn State and Lions team president: "He was a terrific player, and a great leader, and a lot of fun. He was someone who could just light up a room with his personality. "And I am not just saying this tongue-in-cheek, but actually with some profound jealousy: Matt was one of the luckiest SOBs in the history of the NFL. He and I got cut by the Raiders in the same year. My career ended and I had to go run my mouth to make a living. Matt gets picked up by the 49ers and gets another Super Bowl ring. Then two years later he's wondering if he wants to play anymore and the Redskins decide to pick him up and it's like 'Oh yeah, I'll go get another Super Bowl ring." Christensen was chuckling as he said all of that, and has great admiration for Millen as an announcer as well. "He's a terrific analyst and outstanding on television as well," Christensen said. "There are a number of guys from those Raiders teams that had careers in television. Not too many of those guys were camera shy. You had some fearless guys who weren't afraid to run their mouths. I don't think [coach] Tom Flores gets enough credit just for babysitting that group. He did a really good job because that thing could have gone south in a lot of different ways. Flores was a terrific coach." Just based on my 10-minute interview with Christensen, he's going to have plenty of interesting things to say during the Colgate-Lehigh game.