Al Davis: July 4, 1929 - October 8, 2011

ESPN.com has a one-sentence blurb on it atop their waterfall/stack.

 

Bad week for Bay Area visionaries.

 

RIP.

 

That JaMarcus Russell selection really did kill him...

 

before you ask . . . yes, too soon.

 

Can't say I'm shocked this thread title doesn't say "RIP" . . .

Former football genius, more recently a hateful prick who looked like he was kept alive only by the evil will of his dark demonic heart. OK, that's not true . . . he was always a hateful prick; witness how he gained ownership of the team.

But he was a giant of the game, at all times.

RIP.

 

I didn't realize he was born on July 4 ... Odd coincidence that two iconic sports franchise owners were born on that date.

 

Just heard on the radio. And as a long-time Raider fan originally from the East Bay, I'm sad. Kind of surprised considering how I felt when he ripped the team from Oakland in the 80s, but bygones being bygones and such.
Don't know if a team, an organization, was more crafted in the image of an owner more (even apparently to the end - remember when the Raiders never used to even announce who they cut during training camp or that their office directory doesn't spell out the duties of most of their staff?).
Still I'm sad - because Al Davis was the Raiders and the Raiders are Al Davis. He was a football legend and the league wouldn't be as colorful without the man behind the silver and black.
It's odd - in the last week I heard one radio interview with a Raider receiver who said he'd never met Davis and then I figure Hue Jackson's guarantee the Raiders would win the division might have been more than just popping off - it might have been a final salute, or promise to the boss.
Farewell Al Davis. Just win baby.

 

Like it or not, the son of a bitch did things his way: Good, bad, or indifferent.

 

Steinbrenner?