Remembering Al Davis

I have to say this right from the start: I never liked Al Davis.  He was a polarizing figure and you either loved him or you hated him.  Since I was too young to get fully involved in the great Steelers-Raiders rivalry of the 70s, I held onto that hate to make up for lost time.  From there, Davis made it easy for me, moving the Raiders from Oakland to LA as it suited him, having feuds with the NFL commissioner, and making head-scratching football decision after head-scratching football decision in his twilight years.

I never liked him, but I always respected him.  I was aware of the fact that he was a leader and a pioneer.  I knew that he should be -- but usually wasn't -- mentioned in the same breath as other owner royalty with the Rooneys, the Maras, and the Hunts.  For the past 15 years or so, though, he was viewed as a crazy, irrational old man that acted impulsively and usually only in his best interests.  He was a charicture in sunglasses and ugly track suits that watched over his crooked, failing empire from the owner's box.

I've taken my fair share of cheap shots at him over the years because he made it so easy and I was lazy.  I wanted to extract every last pound of flesh from my imagined rival as I could before it was too late.  Now it's too late and I'm sorry.

Davis took a fledgling AFL and a young Raider team and dragged it to prominence with him, through balls and ambition.  The last decade of ineptitude in Oakland has made it easy to forget all the great players that have worn the Silver and Black.  With savvy business decisions and more savvy football decisions, he presided over one of the most successful franchises in NFL history.  When the 1970 merger came along, he was leading the charge to expand football in America.  He was there alongside the Hunts, Rooneys, and Maras during the labor issues of the 80s and early 90s, trying to ensure a future for the League he helped build while watching out for the best interests of the team he loved so dearly.

Yes, he sued the commissioner.  Yes, he had contentious relationships with both Pete Rozelle and Paul Taglibue.  Yes, he screwed over Los Angeles and Oakland in different ways with questionable leases.  Yes, he abstained from the last Collective Bargaining Agreement vote.  It could be that his brain realized that his body was betraying him and he didn't want to make such an important decision in his condition.  We'll probably never know.  But, the fact remains that he was instrumental in making the NFL what it is today.  The fact remains that the young league probably couldn't have made it as far as it has and become as successful as it has without him.

That is how I think Al Davis should be remembered: As a pioneer and a personality.  As a successful businessman and a thoroughly engaged owner of one of the league's most successful franchises.  And, now that he has passed, I think that's how he will be remembered.  I think Davis is on a short list of people whose death helped restore their legacy.  That list, in my mind, includes: Elvis, Michael Jackson, Richard Nixon, and Al Davis.

Jackson wasn't all child molester jokes and eccentric shopping sprees, he was an amazingly gifted musician and entertainer.  Same with Elvis, but substitute drug-fueled insanity.  Nixon wasn't just Watergate and Kent State.  Davis wasn't just track suits and lawsuits.  All of these men were talented, influential, and controversial and they changed their world significantly.

I heard the news this morning when I got an e-mail notification from the Wall Street Journal.  It said, "Raiders Owner Al Davis, Football Pioneer, Dies."  That's how it should be.

When I texted my brother to tell him the news, he texted back, "Just when the Raiders were turning around."  But, as the back of the Raiders media guide says, "The greatness of the Raiders will continue in its future."