Commitment to Egg-cellence

What in the world has happened to the Oakland Raiders? One time THE most feared team in the NFL and the winningest franchise of the major sports, the Raiders are now a joke. No matter how you felt about the Raiders, you respected their fierce competitiveness and their powerful presence.

Even as a Dallas Cowboys fan, I always rooted for the men in the silver and black in the Super Bowl. I loved watching Stabler, Biletnikoff, Tatum, Atkinson, and later Marcus Allen and Ronnie Lott terrorize their opposition. They were mean, nasty, and could always find a way to win.

So, what's their problem? Simple...two words--Al Davis. The maverick's time has come and gone. He was the face that changed the game and brought respectability to a fledgling American Football League and gave the new AFC legitimacy as a superpower team that perennially challenged for the League's World Championship. Davis was disliked and feared by his fellow owners and always danced to his own tune. "A Commitment to Excellence" wasn't just the Raiders' credo, but it was a way of life for Davis and his beloved team.

Contrast that fiery past to the shell of a team the Raiders are today. Davis should have stepped down years ago. His judgment is suspect and he has turned the Raiders head coaching position into a job few, if any, want. His ego continues to impede his decision-making. The team has become secondary to Davis' self-serving attitude and that's a travesty to the honor and storied history of one of the greatest franchises in all of sport.

If I were a die-hard Raiders fan I wouldn't pay the price of admission to watch what Al Davis has done. It might just be time for the NFL to intervene, much the way Major League Baseball did with Reds' owner Marge Schott, and politely ask Davis to either pass the torch or sell the team.

As a lover of football, I hate seeing any great team go through the mass destruction the Raiders has suffered. One can only hope Davis will do the right thing and put the needs of his team and the league ahead of his own.

That's my football rant for the day.


TFR