Rumination Nation or: Everyone hates Al Davis

By Os Davis  |   Tuesday, May 06, 2008  |  Comments( 32 )

Oakland Raiders
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Now begins the true lull in the National Football League schedule, with critics virtually pouring forth to assess drafts and rookie minicamps for a good couple of months. For the Oakland Raiders, the brunt of the squall of dissatisfaction and/or ire is Al Davis; now that the apparently exaggeratedly giddy draft optimism about Darren McFadden has thinned, those wanting to take shots are finding the Raider owner an easy target.

Raiders devotee Patrick Patterson attempts to be as diplomatic as possible in his “Optimism in short supply for the Raider Nation,” describing Davis’ “free agent spending spree” but that “there are still so-called citizens of the Raider Nation who are publicly hoping that Davis dies.” (Patterson doesn’t mean Os “Hole” Davis there, does he?)

We’ll leave Patterson to the “mercy” of Raider Nation; in the meantime, you've gotta love the guy’s use of Langston Hughes’ “A Dream Deferred” in a Raiders piece. “Does it dry up / Like a raisin in the sun? / Or fester like a sore / And then run?” Ouch. Maybe Hughes meant “run” as in “run the ball with McFadden.”

From the Horse’s Mouth Department, here’s a couple of lines from guys who would know:

“Al Davis is in charge, but Al Davis don't wake up until we're halfway through practice ... He's on different hours. Al Davis is on Al Davis time."

“I don’t see the reason why the Raiders needed to draft a running back ... We had like a stable full of running backs that are capable, that ran for a hundred yards, every one of them, and we went and drafted a guy that – he’s a great runner, don’t get me wrong – but I don’t really think Lane Kiffin wanted to take a running back in the first round, let’s just put it like that ... [Kiffin] doesn’t really have a chance because somebody else is in control all the time.”

The former is a bit of dialogue from Warren Sapp; the latter is from Dominic Rhodes. While Raider backers can take heart in Sapp’s affirmation that Davis in fact has all his marbles and in the sour grapes nature of the quotemakers’ motivation, this insight would seem to indicate that, well, ouch.

Really, Raider Nation: Jokes, kidding and cute derisive nicknames aside, shouldn’t Al Davis settle up with Lane Kiffin and let you all know what’s going on?

But I digress.

Finally, the unkindest online cut of all came from one Nino Lipovac. Though Lipovac’s piece is so-so in the extreme, the headline comparison is deadly: Opines Lipovac, “Al Davis and Hillary Clinton: They Don’t Know When to Leave.” Release the virtual hounds, Raider Nation!

Now that’s one seriously low blow. I’d take offense if my name were bandied about in the same sentence as that of some out-of-touch dictator type in charge of a losing, sinking enterprise. And Ms. Clinton must not like the comparison, either.

Thicken that collective skin, Raider Nation. This could be one long summer.

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About Os Davis

Os Davis has taken a twisted route to get to RealFootball365.com in his nearly 17 years in professional writing, working in any number of capacities in the sportswriting, news reporting and film criticism worlds. In print media, Os has served as editor at a few publications, including Albuquerque's...
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CommentsComments: 32  |  Sign Up  View all comments
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No.1
RaiderSensation		02:34 AM
05/06/2008
The only thing you had right was Os "Hole" Davis. You can bash the Raiders, you can talk smack about the Raiders, you can make...
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No.2
The Shape		06:02 AM
05/06/2008
When McFadden is running the rock down Hillary Clinton's throat who will be laughing then. Al Davis is going to do what he wants...
No.3
rayray		08:38 AM
05/06/2008
Fargas has little value on the open market and that's why we were able to keep him so cheap. Kiffin said it last year that...
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