Al Davis, owner of the Raiders, has died

[feller469]

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/7074380/oakland-raiders-owner-al-davis-dies-82-cause-unknown

Growing up a Raiders fan, Al Davis was the king. "Just win, baby." "the other team's quarterback must go down, and go down hard."

Three Super Bowl championships in (I believe) five appearances.

R.I.P. Al.

Thanks.

 

[Basedow]

Goddamn, RIP. The game did pass him by in his later years, but I think like Jordan playing with the Wizards, that part of his career will be a foot-note in history. He'll be remembered for assembling the baddest fuckin' dynasty in the NFL.

 

[Straight Shooter]

First Steve Jobs, now Al Davis. I don't know how much more I can take:crying:

 

[BCT]

The NFL lost a legend today, love him or hate him Al Davis was classic

RIP

 

[grower_boy]

Rest in piece. His contributions to professional football will never be forgotten.

 

[zeeblofowl_1969]

And the Raiders fans rejoice.

 

[Jagger69]

RIP, Darth Raider. A giant in the world of pro football without question.

 

[bahodeme]

Truly a sad day in NFL land.

 

[STDiva]

WTF?? This sucks.

Lots of Raider fans must have mixed emotions right now.

 

[Bearded_Menace]

Wow! You know, even though he was old and you knew he would be dead any day now, he was such a presence in the NFL that his death is still a bit hard to believe. True football pioneer. I am too young to remember the AFL days, but from what I have seen and read, most of that was the doing of Al Davis.

 

[Red-hot]

"Just Win Baby" Love him or hate him, he was one of a kind and knew what he wanted. RIP Al Davis.

 

[John_8581]

Al Davis was a great owner. Similiar to George Steinbrenner in baseball... with that "all out passion" for winning. For hiring and firing his coaches (like George) John Madden, Tom Flores, Art Shell, Mike Shanahan, Jon Gruden, and Lane Kiffin. For being a renegade in the league by bringing lawsuits and challenging the NFL. Suing them in Los Angeles then suiing the City of Oakland as well, after they returned back there, for not selling the games out. And lastly, bringing in some of the castoffs and misfits of the NFL and putting them on his team: Ken Stabler, Mark Van Eeghen, Fred Biletnikoff, Cliff Branch, Dave Casper, Gene Upshaw, Art Shell, Otis Sistrunk, Ted Hendricks, Lyle Alzado, John Matuszak, Mike Haynes, Phil Villapiano, Willie Brown, Lester Hayes, Jack Tatum and Ray Guy. He will be missed.

 

[alexpnz]

Watch out for....."Da Reyyyyyyyyydaaaaaaas" now!!
They'll be on a mission in memory of Al's ol' ass!

RIP Al, you were a Maverick!
(NOT a Dallas one either, slapnuts!!)

 

[Little Red Wagon Repairman]

RIP from an old Raider fan.

 

[Facetious]

Al Davis was a great owner. Similiar to George Steinbrenner in baseball... with that "all out passion" for winning. For hiring and firing his coaches (like George) John Madden, Tom Flores, Art Shell, Mike Shanahan, Jon Gruden, and Lane Kiffin. For being a renegade in the league by bringing lawsuits and challenging the NFL. Suing them in Los Angeles then suiing the City of Oakland as well, after they returned back there, for not selling the games out. And lastly, bringing in some of the castoffs and misfits of the NFL and putting them on his team: Ken Stabler, Mark Van Eeghen, Fred Biletnikoff, Cliff Branch, Dave Casper, Gene Upshaw, Art Shell, Otis Sistrunk, Ted Hendricks, Lyle Alzado, John Matuszak, Mike Haynes, Phil Villapiano, Willie Brown, Lester Hayes, Jack Tatum and Ray Guy. He will be missed.

Good stuff, I don't know if there has been another team owner who has had as much involvement in the game of football as Al has, the man had a grip on all of the things necessary in order to win.
''Just Win, Baby!, or get mocked, ridiculed and chastised by one of the most influential personalities in the game of football was just one of the tools in his chest ... if that's not a motivating force I don't know what is!

Had the Raiders retired many more jerseys under Al, we might have a three digit placement on jerseys today... ha ha ha!

From 1-13 to 10-4 in one season!...
Al Davis defined in 2 1/2 minutes :thumbsup:

RIP ol buddy, the game won't be the same without you glaring down on the field of play behind those nickel plate framed glasses. :1orglaugh

Xtra-50 greatest Raiders players

 

[El Perro Mayor]

Nice comeback against the 3-1 Texans today, a fitting way to honor Al.

 

[raynman68]

As if it wasn't boring enough, the NFL just got that much more boring with Al Davis gone.

 

[PlasmaTwa2]

Didn't everyone just hate this guy like... a week ago?

 

[Bearded_Menace]

Didn't everyone just hate this guy like... a week ago?

You sir are about 80% correct with this little factoid. In fact, he has been a permanent fixture on Forbes' list of most disliked people in sports. Incidentally, this year's list has him at the top.
http://boston.cbslocal.com/2011/02/01/toucher-rich-top-ten-most-hated-people-in-sports/

Al was hated by a lot of people, but loved by the Raider Nation and most people who ever played for him. Personally, I was never really sure why he was disliked so much considering that he is arguably the most important person in the history of the NFL. I am just gonna take a shot in the dark and say it was his bravado. This guy had many lairs to his persona. On the one hand he would probably beat you over the head with a crowbar if you crossed him, but turn right around and pay for your medical bills. He was a very polarizing individual, and you will find that Americans love polarizing individuals even if we hate them.

 

[D-rock]

Didn't everyone just hate this guy like... a week ago?

One of the biggest things that has to be kept in mind is that Davis was around football for a long time. A lot of the dislike was because of his handling of his team recently in his old age where the Raiders were constantly one of the worst teams in the NFL and the game passed him by, he didn’t adapt, and he refused to keep from stick his nose into the teams functioning when shouldn't have by that point. Still he has decades of performance where he was really good to great in the past for a long time, and had and attitude that a lot of people like (and disliked) that was backed up by his team for a long time.

We're not talking about somebody like Matt Millen who was a complete idiot in running a football team and had no redeeming qualities while running it, or somebody like Jerry Jones who's egotistical and who's success was always due to people smarter and better able to handle the running of a team than he is able to do while he just sat back and signed the checks, or somebody like Steinbrenner with the Yankees that is practically just able to buy his teams success over the years, or a malcontent on a team that also practically a thug and gets into trouble with the law a lot.

Davis was once in the past even good at personally picking players that turned out to be good. That can't be said for any owner I can think of still owning a team at this moment. Add on to that the work he did for the AFL before the merger and he deserves a lot of credit for what he did.

If he was always just a lousy owner that hurt his team all the time he had it I could see people not giving him the breaks they are now.