Al Davis? Definitely the best show in years

The fall has finally arrived, bringing with it new seasons of all our favorite shows. My… The fall has finally arrived, bringing with it new seasons of all our favorite shows. My personal favorite has already started its remarkable 38th season. I’m speaking of none other than Al Davis and the Oakland Raiders. I can’t help but watch every year as Davis, the 79-year-old owner of the franchise, who seems to continue his descent into dementia, all while controlling a professional football team. It’s great! It’s all I’ve been paying attention to recently, and these past few weeks have brought on great entertainment-like debates, the WNBA playoffs and the MLB playoffs (by the way, did you know ‘Frank TV’ starts Oct. 21? What? He does impressions of George W. Bush and Al Pacino? Oh, how hilarious, please tell me he has a Christopher Walken impression, too). On Sept. 30, four games into the season, Davis officially fired head coach Lane Kiffin, ending months of speculation that the first-time head coach would be let go. The Raiders were 1-3 on the season and 5-15 overall under Kiffin. Like any good show, Davis was able to stretch out the inevitable with months of ‘will he/won’t he’ speculation and still make it compelling. It was reported in January by ESPN’s Chris Mortensen that Davis wrote a letter (because he’s so old) to Kiffin, telling him that he will not have control over which coaches he can keep or fire and which players the Raiders acquire through the draft and free agency. This was after news leaked that Kiffin hoped to get rid of defensive coordinator Rob Ryan but was told he couldn’t. It was also reported that Davis wrote up a letter of resignation for Kiffin, who clearly didn’t see the good will in this act and refused to sign it. The Raiders still claim this never happened, and Kiffin refuses to comment on the claims. But would Chris Mortensen lie to us? Doubtful. Multiple times during summer workouts and preseason Kiffin criticized Davis through the media. He claimed Davis was in charge of everything from director of player personnel to occasional defensive coordinator and that the two were most certainly feuding. Kiffin also criticized the front office for spending money on players that didn’t deserve it, such as wide receiver Javon Walker and defensive lineman Tommy Kelly. Kiffin also said during training camp that the team needed to cut players who were hurt or not performing and find more competitive guys, but it wasn’t his choice. The Raiders lost to the Broncos, 41-14, in their first game of the season. Afterward, Kiffin said that Ryan and Davis are in charge of the defense for games, and he has no part in it. Warren Sapp, well-known star dancer and cheeseburger aficionado, came out and said Davis never gave Kiffin a fair shot to run the team. Sapp played with the Raiders for four years, and is now an analyst on ‘Inside the NFL,’ the show in which he made the comments. Sapp said if Davis would stay home, the Raiders would be a functional organization. He also said Davis even called plays from the owner’s box while he was in Oakland. Before the firing, Davis wrote another letter to Kiffin (presumably because he’s not aware of e-mail and he lost his Carrier pigeon), telling the coach that if he violated his contract, he would be fired. The letter aired out a lot of the issues the two had. It was like counseling, except with only one willing party and without any confidentiality. And it was also probably a very one-sided account of what happened. Think of it like a confessional on a reality show put into letter-form. ‘I do realize that you did not want us to draft JaMarcus Russell,’ said Davis in his letter of the team’s No. 1 overall pick in the 2007 NFL Draft. ‘He is a great player. Get over it and coach this team on the field, that is what you were hired to do. We can win with this team!’ Although it might read like it, the letter was not written in crayon. It was shown at the press conference to announce Kiffin’s firing using an overhead projector. Seriously. An overhead projector. Rumor has it that the next Raiders home game is going to be Lane Kiffin voodoo doll night, followed by Lane Kiffin dartboard night a few weeks later. In that same press conference, Davis repeatedly said Kiffin was a ‘flat-out liar,’ and he disgraced the organization. Mind you, the Raiders have lost 11 games five straight seasons, which ties the NFL record held by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, so disgracing that even further is quite a feat. Davis is clearly the greatest villain on TV today: a real life Mr. Burns, if you will. Would you honestly be surprised if Davis tried to block out the sun? Kiffin was the Raiders’ fifth coach in the last six years, all of whom were fired. He was replaced by Tom Cable, the team’s offensive line coach. We’ll most likely have to wait a few more weeks to see just how Cable is let go from his position, but it will happen. Davis surely has set the bar high with his Kiffin performance, but I have no doubts he can top that. There’s really only way to see just how he ends up firing Cable. Just watch, baby. ‘mdash; Are you a Raiders fan in disgust? If so, contact Adam at aml54@pitt.edu.