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

Too soon? The guy's been dead since 98 at least.

 

Good God, what a devastating week....Davis, Steve Jobs and Fred Shuttlesworth. Three mavericks who helped redefine their respective causes, and all three shaped the world as we now know it. Irreplaceable souls.....

 

Yes, sorry, should have noted that in the original post.

 

Born in consecutive years, too (Davis in '29, Steinbrenner in '30).

 

In a related story, Nick Saban was born on Halloween.

I always thought of Al Davis in the same way I viewed George Wallace (though to a far lesser extent) --- that he lived so long because God was punishing him by keeping him alive. (I say that very much tongue-in-cheek, but Davis did screw over a lot of people).

 

David Harris's fine book The League has loads of info on Davis and how he came to run the Raiduhs.

 

To say Al Davis was one of a kind, doesn't do it justice.

Al Davis was everything good and bad about the NFL and sports. My generation only remembers him as the owner and de facto Godfather of the Black Hole and the culure of the Raiders in the 80's and 90's. Davis was a coaching savant who had a huge hand in the AFL merging with the NFL, and he challenged the autonomy, conventional wisdom, and rules of the NFL with his showdown his Pete Rozelle.

Al Davis was one of a kind, but an "one of a kind" that will never see the likes of again.

 

How many owners benefitted from his actions against the NFL. Think about where the NFL was in 1978 and where it is now.

 

So who will coach, err, own the Raiders now?

 

The only voice of the Raiders that matters, Bill King, said it best: "Holy Toledo!"

First of all, thanks to SportsJournalists.com Nation for breaking this so I could spend part of the morning wrestling with our website from home. Second, wow. Davis may have done more to force the AFL-NFL merger in his brief term as AFL commissioner than anyone else. Wonder how different the NFL would have been seen today if he, and not Pete Rozelle, was appointed commissioner after the merger. Also wonder how much litigation vs. the NFL was motiviated by the fact that he wasn't named commissioner.

 

I'll be interested to see what guys like Madden, Biletnikoff, Willie Brown and (particularly) Ken Stabler have to say over the next few days. That will speak volumes.

Also, I'm sure Lane Kiffin will be given ample opportunity to put his foot in his mouth. Trojans have a bye this week (they play at Cal Thursday), so someone will have track him down.

 

And of course ... Abe Vigoda ... well, you know.


RIP Al. Heaven needed another coach (er, owner).