Mr. Davis

With Al Davis for life as we have it, today's Mark Kriegel column on the "lion in winter" is a must read. Loving and hating Al Davis is fundamental to being a Raider fan. The portrait Kriegel paints is brutal and awe inspiring.

"And now, as the owners adjourn from their morning meetings here at the St. Regis resort, the man himself comes into view.

Almost half a century later, the pompadour has been decimated, a matted wisp in its place. Davis' eyes are red-rimmed and damp. His hands are purplish and papery with age. But never — ever — has Al Davis looked more defiant, even heroic, than he does right now, pushing a walker across the marble floor.

Guarding the boss's rear flank is Raiders strength coach Chris Pearson, while a burlier man — could be a pro bouncer — leads the way. If the other owners don't warrant protection, that's only because they're pishers by comparison. Bob Kraft is flitting about in a lavender sweater. Jerry Jones is holding court in golf shirt and blazer. Everybody's dressed for an afternoon at the club. But Davis is in full Raider regalia: new white Adidas, a black and silver jumpsuit that proclaims his franchise to be "THE TEAM OF THE DECADES." Though he'll turn 80 on July 4, the bejeweled bracelet on his left wrist — "AL" set in diamonds on a black stone — suggests a founding father of bling. Then again, Davis was always ahead of his time."

I love the image of Kraft, with a dozen Walt Colemans in his back pocket, as the anti-Al. And true to form, Al eventually gets in his Hall of Fame plug, though today Cliff Branch is emphasized along with Jim Plunkett. I suspect Lester's name would come up in the full transcript.

Cable Between the Lines

Interesting to read through the full transcript of Cable at the owners' meetings that Jerry posted the other day. Obviously, the JaMarcus stuff is a bit concerning, but I'll fall in line with our resident apologist and brush that aside for now as useful motivation for a 23-year-old who wears really fabulous furs.

First, he didn't seem particularly excited to talk about Javon Walker at all.

"Q: What have you decided to do with Javon Walker?

Cable: Oh, he’s still there.

Q: He’ll be on the team?

Cable: Yeah."

He goes on to chat a bit about his health, but it appears that Cable has a bit of a "show me" attitude and has not gone crazy expecting Javon to return to some glorious form.

Second, I'm glad to see Cable immediately named the "monster" as selfishness. But without doing an extensive search of Raider coach interviews over the past six years, I do have a sense of deja vu. Perhaps Cable is finally addressing it in a head-on fashion, but it seems that selfishness is an old problem that sticks around no matter how many Jerry Porters or Philip Buchanons you remove from the team. Kind of like penalties. Let's hope Cable has the power to change the culture.

Third, check out Cable's leader roll call:

"I know the core of the team. I know the Morrisons and the Howards and the Gerard Warrens and the Nnamdi Asomughas, the Hiram Eugenes, the Chris Johnsons, the Cooper Carlisles, the Justin Fargas, the Darren McFaddens, the Zach Millers, the Robert Gallerys."

I'm kind of surprised to see Gerard Warren named right after the LBs. Hiram Eugene? Sure, one can read into this one way too much, but it is interesting to read which guys are top of mind. Contrast this with Nnamdi's list of guys who care after the laughing locker room incident of 2008: "(Derrick) Burgess, Gibril (Wilson), who came from a different team . . . Tommy Kelly." The only overlap is Nnamdi himself.

And finally, good to see the love continue with Mr. Davis:

"Q: What’s it like working for Al Davis?

Cable: Awesome. Just awesome. I know all the stories, I’ve heard them. But I’ve been in there two years now, as an assistant and the interim head coach and head coach. The guy is amazing. He’s very set in his way. He is probably most responsible for the NFL being where it is. And he’s proud of that. I think that people take that confidence and that
belief in what he has that he has been able to accomplish and like to argue what that is. But to me it’s just been his wisdom and a partnership. What he told me when he hired me is We can only do it if we do it together…..I need for you to do this, this and this. What do you need from me? People say here’s this guy who dresses the same all the time and he is arrogant and this and that. That’s the perception, but that’s not who he really is. He’s a guy who loves his football team, is passionate about it. He’s a guy who has an unbelievable amount of knowledge. He’s a guy who if you allow . . . can teach you more than you ever thought possible."

What will be awesome is if Cable is saying similar things after the 2009 season.

Happy Thanksgiving and "Throwbacks"

Ray Ratto is just being funny, and he does a good job, when he says the Raiders should rock their "Oakland Señores" look on opening night against the Chargers for the AFL 50th anniversary celebration. Besides, everyone knows the Raiders wear throwbacks every time out, since 1963.

But check it out.

The first game of this AFL double header is the Patriots vs. the Bills. And according to Reiss's Pieces (clever name, douche), the Pats are wearing replicas of their 1963 uniforms.

Yeah, so fine, apparently they advanced to the AFL title game that year (who knew Walt Coleman has been a ref that long?). But I still think it's an interesting coincidence that the Raiders are also wearing their 1963 uniforms, as they have pretty much since Al Davis took over the team.

Also, the Raiders are playing at Dallas on Thanksgiving Day. My favorite Holiday just got better.

Insulting Bilboard Watch

Still there.

Bill Williamson is a Big, Fat Hater

On Friday, Bill Williamson ranked the NFL quarterbacks, 1-33.

"What?" you ask? There are only 32 teams?

Not only that, but he has JaMarcus ranked at 30, ahead of Derek Anderson, Kyle Orton, and Shaun Hill (49ers should be even more pissed than me).

But that's not what bothers me. Everyone knows I'm a JaMarcus apologist, and I will continue to be one until he's drummed out of the league. But that's not was has me so upset.

Not even the fact that he has Jay Cutler in the top ten, even though Jerry MacDonald broke down why Cutler's overrated just the other day. Besides, if I'm a JaMarcus apologist, then Bill Williamson's whatever the sports world's equivalent of David Gregory dancing with Karl Rove (just subsititue Pat Bowlen for old Turd Blossom).

What really pisses me off is that he has two players, Matthew Stafford at #20, and Mark Sanchez at #22, who have not even been drafted yet.

That's just dumb.

Nnamdi Profiled in USA Today

There's a fantastic profile of Nnamdi Asomugha today, written by Jim Corbett, that says everything you need to know about why he's the CLOAK's permanent Man Crush.

Dan will pleased to know that in addition to kindling a bromance with Bill Clinton, Nmamdi learned a lot of his shutdown skills by digging into the Raiders film library to watch Lester Hayes.

Anyway, it's an inspiring story, and everyone who calls himself or herself a Raiders fan should read it.

Bracketology

The crew (Fred, Kristy, Unk, me) takes a break from whale watching (no, we aren't watching the Women's Final Four - hey!) to catch up on our brackets.

Of the gang here in Hawaii, Fred and Linda have the lead in the early going, tied for 14th place out of 51 brackets in the Lester Hayes NCAA pool. That's tied with Johnny and way way way ahead of Dobolina (Brad Webster), who submitted two brackets, each of which is tied for 48th place. If you added Dobolina's brackets together, he would be tied for 38th place.

My two losses are Cal and Butler. Kristy made the smart move of picking LSU in honor of our franchise QB. I picked Purdue to go a long way in remembrance of Stu Schweigert. Probably better to say it's for our latest Hall of Famer, Rod Woodson.