Conspiracy theory for today

And now the latest episode from what is rapidly becoming America's least favorite soap opera, AB Goes West, Sort Of ...

In our latest episode, new Raiders wide receiver Antonio Brown finally showed up again for practice after essentially holding out because he didn't like the way his new helmet fit.

This after the Raiders' GM Mike Mayock finally got fed up and said (essentially), "Quit jacking around and get your ass in here. It's time to go to work."

So everything is A-OK now on AB Goes West, Sort Of. He's gone back to work. Jon Gruden is happy. Ashley's boyfriend, in a coma since the accident, didn't wake up with amnesia after all.

Except ...

Except the Blob, which loves to picnic on the fabled Grass Knoll, has a theory about all this.

The Blob's theory is the kerfuffle over AB's helmet wasn't really about the helmet.

The helmet, the Blob believes, was a smokescreen. The problem with AB is at the other end of his body, and he/the Raiders are trying to keep it quiet.

The Blob thinks AB's feet still aren't tip-top, so to speak.

Oh, sure, he went off and got them worked on after sustaining severe frostbite during a cryogenic treatment in France. But that doesn't mean they're completely healed. And the Blob is wondering, given NFL teams' tendency to be, shall we say, less than forthcoming about injuries, if perhaps AB's feet are still an issue.

This is not a suspicion unique to the Blob, mind you. Plenty of other sports-talk yappers have suggested the same thing. After all, how AB's got his feet frostbitten to begin with was kind of embarrassing: He forgot to put on protective footwear before the cryogenic treatment.

So the Raiders now have a shiny, expensive new toy that might or might no be damaged goods. And you can understand why they might want to keep that quiet, too, given how much they shelled out for the guy.

Look. I don't know much, but I do know once you've had an extremity badly frostbitten, it tends to become a chronic issue. It becomes far more susceptible to the cold. I once knew a Korean War vet who got his feet severely frostbitten up on the Chosin Reservoir. Every time the weather turned cold, big lumps would pop up on the soles of his feet.

His souvenir from Frozen Chosin, he used to tell me.

So, anyway, I'm looking at the Raiders' schedule, and I see they're in New York in late November, and in Kansas City on Dec. 1, and in Denver on Dec. 29. Those places tend to get cold that time of year. And so ...

And so, I'm wondering how AB's feet are going to feel on those dates. And I'm wondering if the Raiders -- who, before he's even played a down, have clearly already had their fill of AB drama -- are wondering the same thing.

Or so it looks from the Grassy Knoll.