AL DAVIS....1929-2011.....Owner/General Manager OAKLAND RAIDERS...1-TIME AFL CHAMPION....3-TIME NFL WORLD CHAMPION.....the Commitment to EXCELLENCE

The last few years all you would here about the Oakland RAIDERS was that there Owner/General Manager AL DAVIS was Over the Hill. The skeptics would also say the GAME has passed him. Others.....Look at the SILVER & BLACK.....Al doesn't know what he is doing.

But before you talk about MR. DAVIS and his shortcomings in the last couple of years. DID YOU KNOW WHAT AL DAVIS did for the NFL? DID you know what AL DAVIS could have done with the AFL? The ORIGINAL part of the OWNERS that went against the GRAIN....didn't conform to anyone idea.....always LEADING never FOLLOWING......that was AL DAVIS.

AL left us SATURDAY at the AGE of 82 but what he left is a LEGACY that will forever be told not only in RAIDER NATION but to all of Professional Football. The ICONIC one, AL DAVIS, your talking over 50 years of Professional Football.

And you want to know why there is the NFL.......because AL and his group of OWNERS in the AFL decided to join the NFL. DAVIS spearheaded that group along with BUD ADAMS of the HOUSTON OILERS and Ralph WILSON of the Buffalo BILLS.

The VERTICAL GAME in Pro FOOTBALL.......AL DAVIS was the Architect of that. He was once AFL Commissioner.....and his RAIDERS won the AFL TITLE in '67.

Then came the RAIDERS joining the NFL and if it not had been for the 70's DOLPHINS (Larry CSONKA, Bob GRIESE, Mercury MORRIS), COLTS (Johnny UNITAS, Raymond BERRY, Lydell MITCHELL), and of course the STEEL CURTAIN (MEAN Joe GREEN, Jack LAMBERT, Jack HAM, Dwight WHITE)...the RAIDERS would have owned the decade in the 70's.

For those of you that remember.....the RAIDERS lost in the '75-'76 Game in Pittsburgh on the Immaculate Reception by FRANCO as the LATE STEELERS Announcer and TERRIBLE TOWEL Creator Myron COPE was reportedly coming down on the Elevator thinking the GAME was over....COPE missed the reception.

The RAIDERS the next season got pay back as they beat the STEELERS in OAKLAND in '76-'77. Those 70's RAIDERS had Top Notch talent and these PLAYERS.....Some are in CANTON Ohio in the FOOTBALL Hall Of FAME:

LB Ted HENDRICKS
LT Gene UPSHAW
LG Art SHELL
TE Dave CASPER
QB Ken the SNAKE STABLER
FB Mark Van EGHAN

DE John MUTUZAK
DE Otis SISTRUNK
CB Willie BROWN
SS Jack TATUM
WR Fred BILETNIKOFF
WR Cliff BRANCH

Are you kidding me......the REAL SILVER & BLACK.....the COMMITMENT to EXCELLENCE. Other Players of Note:

CB Lester HAYES
CB Mark HAYNES
RB Marcus ALLEN
DE Lyle ALZADO
DT Howie LONG
QB Jim PLUNKETT
RB Kenny KING
FS Van McELROY
LB Matt MILLEN
TE Todd CHRISTIANSEN

You could fill up a MITCHELL and NESS Nostalgia Store with all those GREAT RAIDERS PLAYERS.

And has AL DAVIS got underneath the skin of other NFL Owners, PLAYERS, and MEDIA you betcha. He has plenty of run-ins with former players and has showed his control on a few big names...like....Trading the SNAKE......the one I could never understand...the Benching of Great USC RB Marcus ALLEN.......AL being AL.....and AL doing what AL wants to do because he could.

The SILVER & BLACK under the direction of AL DAVIS......and the COMMITMENT to EXCELLENCE:

AFL Commissioner
OWNER
Head Coach
General Manager

RAIDERS CHAMPIONSHIPS
1967 AFL Championship

SUPER BOWL Championships
1976 XI
1980 XV
1983 XVIII

AFC Championships

1976
1980
1983
2002......lost to TAMPA BAY and ex-Raiders Coach Jon GRUDEN at the MURPH in DIEGO

And I was surely thinking the RAIDERS in the 80's were going to reel off a few more but didn't.

Top COACHES under the Watchful EYE of AL DAVIS

John MADDEN...yes that MADDEN...the one who hates to FLY on a AIRPLANE and the VIDEO GAME
Tom FLORES
Art SHELL
Jon GRUDEN

The BLUEDUDE has always been a believer of this.....In order to be SUCCESSFUl...One must FAIL and probably Multiple Times. But the GREAT Ones keep persavering and don't STOP at nothing. They are VISIONARY, they are LEADERS, and they are ONE OF ONE. Yeah the RAIDERS lost their Beloved OWNER. But the NFL lost an ORIGINAL Piece to that HUGE Puzzle called the NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE.

RIP ALLEN DAVIS.........1929-2011.......and GOOD LUCK to the RAIDERS Family and RAIDERS NATION moving forward. You just have to have what AL preached.....the COMMITMENT to EXCELLENCE.......the SILVER & BLACK