Al Davis dead at age 82

[FootballDad]

Al Davis passed away earlier today. Here is the story:

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ap-obit-davis

 

[Drunkjewishfan]

He is one of the original caste clowns of the era. I won't say good riddance but he won't be missed in this house.

 

[Highlander]

No doubt he became the embodiment of the thug-loving Caste system long before the end of his days, but looking back at his teams from the 70's with players like Fred Biletnekoff, Dave Casper, Mark van Eeghen, Kenny Stabler, John Matuszak, Ted Hendricks, Pat Toomay, Ray Guy and other less notable White players playing together at the same time, this team and organization I once loved to hate on back then I would be rooting for today.

 

[white is right]

In recent years Davis has resembled Mr. Burns physically, but at one time he wasn't viewed as a senile old man. His love for speed probably set back his franchise for the last 20 years(less their short renaissance in the early 2000's), but at one time his teams were the most innovative when it came to signing malcontents and fast football players. Here are some classic interviews with Davis before he became a parody of Monty Burns...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRSvWweIwkI&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PL393197EFCB93AE52 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SV6DbL2KCBM&feature=related

 

[Don Wassall]

The Raiders of the '60s and '70s always featured great White players on both sides of the ball, but when Davis went Caste he did so in a determined, relentless way. He also hired the first black head coach in modern times (clueless Art Shell) and the first hispanic coach (Tom Flores).

 

[The Hock]

I used to be a big Raiders fan. Pride and Poise. Just Win Baby. All those characters (black and white) they had over the years. Lyle Alzado. John Matuzsak. Ted "The Stork" Hendricks. Ken "The Snake" Stable. Some geek sportswriter went down to Ken's hometown to do a story on him, and someone planted cocaine in the caste geek's car. That became the story, and you could just see the reporter shaking and crying as he wrote about his experience (I'm not condoning, just enjoying). Lester Hayes with all that stick-um just..stuck all over his hands. That running back Hubbard who had a country western band whose best known song was a little ditty about Howard Cosell called "Legend in His Own Mind." Just some of the things I remember about the Raiders back when I cared.

And hovering over it all of course was Al Davis. Say what you will about him but he did buck the system, so he favored players who did the same. So along with winning there were always colorful back stories. But at some point he decided to leave off using white players much, and from then on the Raiders seemed to lose their mojo. They still had the reputation for having "talented" players, but their play became more and more lazy and retarded, albeit with a good forty time. All that "speed" but so ineffectual compared to their glory days.

It got to where I couldn't watch them any more. There they would be, behind and punting again, and the camera would pan to Al up in his glass box, looking tired and old and probably out of touch with reality. Sad and ironic that he left just when the Raiders are off to a good start. Maybe it's best for him that way, that Al won't be around to see another probable slow unravelling of a season. You just have the feeling that, as Tom Iron says, "sooner of later they'll louse up."

Maybe somewhere down in you-know-where, the Devil is getting an earful on how to run the place.

 

[sport historian]

I saw the Raiders play on TV when Al Davis was the coach on the sidelines during 1963-65. Although he liked to be thought of as a rebel or different, Davis always had about the same black-white ratio on the Raiders as everybody else, then and now.

I've mentioned this before, but Davis used to like a certain type of white player. These were "street kids" from the northeast. Phil Villapiano, Mike Siani, Lyle Alzado, and Howie Long come to mine offhand. Davis went out of his way to draft or trade for white players with this background.

 

[Realgeorge]

Davis was one of the great megalomaniacs of American Sport. A true thug and sociapath. The Raiders are merely an extension of La Raza and the American prison system

 

[white is right]

I saw the Raiders play on TV when Al Davis was the coach on the sidelines during 1963-65. Although he liked to be thought of as a rebel or different, Davis always had about the same black-white ratio on the Raiders as everybody else, then and now.

I've mentioned this before, but Davis used to like a certain type of white player. These were "street kids" from the northeast. Phil Villapiano, Mike Siani, Lyle Alzado, and Howie Long come to mine offhand. Davis went out of his way to draft or trade for white players with this background.

Davis loved borderline dirty players too. He wanted guys that made offensive players fear going over the middle. I would throw in Davidson and the Tooz, also Jack Tatum and Otis Sistrunk were viewed as dirty.

 

[white is right]

Here is an interesting piece about Davis. It mentions his love for speed and the players background or reputation was never held against him....http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-t...an-remembering-oakland-raiders-owner-al-davis

 

[Vince_C]

Al Davis WAS the Raiders !

A New York Jew with a very strange biography & history. (google his biography)
At his "peak," one of the brightest minds, not only in football, but modern sports history.
A walking contradiction. And I don't understand his tendency to promote non-European players & coaches. But I know he was obsessed with the single minded pursuit of winning.
He always acted in what "he believed at the time" was the best coarse of action, for the good of HIS ORGANIZATION.
He was a true Maverick.
All the time "thinking outside of the box."

I must admit, he is one of my heroes.