Chris Limburg

The Old Dinosaur Still Roars



Posted: Friday, July 24, 2009

by
http://gothicfootball.com

It's tempting to think that most sports problems would go away if only the gazillionaire owners would act more like fans. If they bled team colors like we do, they'd never let beloved free agents walk or threaten to leave town unless they got new stadiums…right?

Well, no. Being a fanatic and an owner means never having to admit you've gone too far. Just ask Al Davis, whose Raiders are one of only a few franchises to continue to go backwards year after year.  What happened to this once proud franchise?

Since losing Super Bowl XXXVII, Oakland has churned through head coaches (four) and QBs (nine) on its way to an embarrassing 24-72 record, wrecking one of the great brands in the history of sports. But admit it: If you got your hands on a pro team, you'd probably run it the way Davis does. Drafting big-name super athletes: Darren McFadden! JaMarcus Russell! Throwing money at key players: $45 million to Nnamdi Asomugha! Publicly savoring every victory, while stewing over defeats for years. That's no exaggeration: After firing Lane Kiffin last fall, Davis talked with reporters about the Raiders' recent history and concluded, the tuck game was the undoing of a lot of things.   He was referring to a game in 2002.  Talk about living in the past.  Maybe that's why we allow the old dinosaur to roam.  Because we let him.

Davis' real problem is one of vintage. Since resettling the Raiders in Oakland in 1995, he's failed to address new-era questions that old-time owners didn't have to worry about. Who controls ticket sales, The Raiders surrendered theirs for years to Alameda County.  Are you maxing out on luxury suites, not even close?  Jerry Jones and Dan Snyder have figured out how to snag dozens of millions in unshared revenues, and they've become the larger-than-life personalities Davis used to be. So, they've had the cash to make up for personnel mistakes. And Davis hasn't.

There is hope: Davis, 80, now has three minority partners with Wall Street backgrounds. So maybe they'll get him to act on the lesson all Raiders fans have learned the hard way: It takes professionalism as well as passion to just win, baby.


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