![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Oct. 15th, 2011
Steve Jobs* wasn't the only northern Californian legend to die last week. The other one was the owner / managing general partner / general manager / former head coach / etc of the Oakland Raiders, Al Davis.
Actually, Al Davis didn't need a job title other than 'Raider'. He _was_ the Oakland Raiders and the Oakland Raiders existed as a reflection of his beliefs. Davis joined the team as head coach and general manager in 1963 at the age of 33. He was the youngest person in the history of professional football to hold both positions. But then the Raiders were the worst team in an amateurish, upstart league - the American Football League, set up as weak 'competition' against the established National Football League. In the two seasons before his appointment, the Raiders won three games and lost 25.
In one year, Davis turned the team round to a won 10, lost 4 season.
Three years later he became AFL commissioner. Then the NFL broke a gentleman's agreement between the two leagues not to sign each others' players. The AFL owners saw this as a threat. Davis saw it as an opportunity. Rather than retaliate by attempting to poach players off NFL teams, Davis convinced the AFL owners to poach a) star quarterbacks and b) any players from the Los Angeles Rams. Davis's hardball tactics were instrumental in bringing about the merger of the two leagues.
Davis returned to the Raiders (by now with a partnership) and conspired to acquire total control over the team. He hired the coaches. He hired the players. And in the 70s and 80s, the Raiders were the most successful professional team in American sport. Presiding over a successful franchise didn't make Al Davis popular. Neither did suing the NFL several times and winning pretty much every time, most famously over the right to move the team to Los Angeles.
It's taken me a week to get around to writing this post because it's difficult to sum up a career lasting almost half a century with one team. There have been just as many tributes paid to Davis as there have been to Jobs. Some stressed his loyalty to his players. Many mentioned his success over the decades with the Raiders and their Super Bowl wins. Others highlighted his determination to look past race and gender while his fellow owners were less obviously enthusiastic on such issues. Something that helped Davis turn the Raiders around in the early days was that they sent scouts to the still segregated southern Black universities. Who hired the league's first minority head coach? Al (Tom Flores, who took the Raiders to two of their Super Bowl wins). Who hired the modern league's first black head coach? Al (Art Shell). Who hired the league's first (and so far only) female CEO? Al (Amy Trask).
There are lots of quotes out there on Twitter and blogs and in newspapers about Al Davis. Sports Illustrated said that he "belongs on the NFL's Mount Rushmore".
Still out of all the quotes I've seen about Al Davis, I think there are four that best sum him up. The first three are phrases he coined himself as the mantra for how his Raiders should play and how the organisation should be run:
"Pride and poise"
"Commitment to Excellence"
and of course...
"Just win baby"
The fourth is from the late George Carlin, the famously acerbic comedian and social commentator.
"In football, I root for the Oakland Raiders because they hire castoffs, outlaws, malcontents, and fuck -ups, they have lots of penalties, fights, and paybacks, and because Al Davis told the rest of the pig NFL owners to go get fucked... Someday, the Raiders will be strong again, and they will dip the ball in shit and shove it down the throats of the wholesome, white, heartland teams that pray together and don't deliver late hits"
I think Al probably saw that quote (Al saw everything). And I think he probably liked it.
* On a related note, is anyone else a little surprised at just how much hero worship has been laid on Steve Jobs by the left-wing press? He was a mega-rich capitalist who was famously anti-union, took inspiration from Ayn Rand (according to Steve Wozniak at any rate) and had his products made in far east sweatshops. Yet the Guardian and the BBC love him. I don't get it.
Actually, Al Davis didn't need a job title other than 'Raider'. He _was_ the Oakland Raiders and the Oakland Raiders existed as a reflection of his beliefs. Davis joined the team as head coach and general manager in 1963 at the age of 33. He was the youngest person in the history of professional football to hold both positions. But then the Raiders were the worst team in an amateurish, upstart league - the American Football League, set up as weak 'competition' against the established National Football League. In the two seasons before his appointment, the Raiders won three games and lost 25.
In one year, Davis turned the team round to a won 10, lost 4 season.
Three years later he became AFL commissioner. Then the NFL broke a gentleman's agreement between the two leagues not to sign each others' players. The AFL owners saw this as a threat. Davis saw it as an opportunity. Rather than retaliate by attempting to poach players off NFL teams, Davis convinced the AFL owners to poach a) star quarterbacks and b) any players from the Los Angeles Rams. Davis's hardball tactics were instrumental in bringing about the merger of the two leagues.
Davis returned to the Raiders (by now with a partnership) and conspired to acquire total control over the team. He hired the coaches. He hired the players. And in the 70s and 80s, the Raiders were the most successful professional team in American sport. Presiding over a successful franchise didn't make Al Davis popular. Neither did suing the NFL several times and winning pretty much every time, most famously over the right to move the team to Los Angeles.
It's taken me a week to get around to writing this post because it's difficult to sum up a career lasting almost half a century with one team. There have been just as many tributes paid to Davis as there have been to Jobs. Some stressed his loyalty to his players. Many mentioned his success over the decades with the Raiders and their Super Bowl wins. Others highlighted his determination to look past race and gender while his fellow owners were less obviously enthusiastic on such issues. Something that helped Davis turn the Raiders around in the early days was that they sent scouts to the still segregated southern Black universities. Who hired the league's first minority head coach? Al (Tom Flores, who took the Raiders to two of their Super Bowl wins). Who hired the modern league's first black head coach? Al (Art Shell). Who hired the league's first (and so far only) female CEO? Al (Amy Trask).
There are lots of quotes out there on Twitter and blogs and in newspapers about Al Davis. Sports Illustrated said that he "belongs on the NFL's Mount Rushmore".
Still out of all the quotes I've seen about Al Davis, I think there are four that best sum him up. The first three are phrases he coined himself as the mantra for how his Raiders should play and how the organisation should be run:
"Pride and poise"
"Commitment to Excellence"
and of course...
"Just win baby"
The fourth is from the late George Carlin, the famously acerbic comedian and social commentator.
"In football, I root for the Oakland Raiders because they hire castoffs, outlaws, malcontents, and fuck -ups, they have lots of penalties, fights, and paybacks, and because Al Davis told the rest of the pig NFL owners to go get fucked... Someday, the Raiders will be strong again, and they will dip the ball in shit and shove it down the throats of the wholesome, white, heartland teams that pray together and don't deliver late hits"
I think Al probably saw that quote (Al saw everything). And I think he probably liked it.
* On a related note, is anyone else a little surprised at just how much hero worship has been laid on Steve Jobs by the left-wing press? He was a mega-rich capitalist who was famously anti-union, took inspiration from Ayn Rand (according to Steve Wozniak at any rate) and had his products made in far east sweatshops. Yet the Guardian and the BBC love him. I don't get it.