The Sad Reality of the Oakland Raiders

The Raiders will always be Al's Raiders.  In fact, that should be their name.  The Al Davis Raiders.  Not the Los Angeles Raiders or the Oakland Raiders, the Al Davis Raiders.  This man was once a forced to be reckoned with. 

A man that was responsible for some very iconic events in the game of American Football.  The merger, hiring of the first African-American head coach and suing the NFL.  Yes, that's right, suing the NFL. 

Al Davis has gone from phenom businessman, negotiator and investor to the laughing stock of the NFL and sadly in the process he has taken the team with him.  Under any other circumstance this would be okay but when you have hundreds of thousands of fans that invest their heart, soul and hard earned coin into his team, it creates an unstable relationship at best. 

You see, that's what the fan base of this once great organization needs to understand.  The team we support, regardless of coaches hired, draft picks made or front office personnel hired, will never return to the likes of the championship caliber and professionally ran teams that we had in the '70s and '80s. 

The reason?  Al has lost it.  Coaches have zero control when it comes down to it.  The office staff is comprised of employees in the mold of brain washed John Herrerra's and Amy Trask.  The players that get drafted play here for the sake of a shot of being a NFL Player but to get any player of substance in here? 

They are brought in kicking and screaming like a little brat throwing a tantrum in a store because he can't have a toy.  It is that bad and anyone thinking anything different needs to wake up and smell the Davis. 

Until Al Davis is gone, either voluntary or otherwise, death or retirement, this team will never change for the better.  I hope, pray, and dream of a day when we can wake up on Sunday and know that whomever we are playing, we have a shot, our team is coached well, our owner loves the team, caters to it and the fans, and the winning ways that have evaded us for so long are returned. 

As I have always said, "Win lose or tie, I'll be a Raider Fan till I die," but man oh man.  That dying part seems to be coming a little faster with the stress ole Al has created for us die hards.