Raiders: Committed To Dysfunction

The Oakland Raiders use to be a team committed to excellence. They use to be the class of not only the AFC but the NFL. The Raiders use to be relevant in pro football. Did you pick up on the key phrase in all of that? Use to be.

The reason can be summed up into two words: Al Davis. The man is a Hall of Famer and been huge in pro football but now is single handily destroying his own franchise. One that he  helped lead to twelve division titles and three Super Bowls.

Since Tom Flores left at the end of the 1987 season, Davis has hired and fired 9 different head coaches including Art Shell twice. Some like Joe Bugel and Art Shell (his second tenure) only last one season and don't forget Mike Shanahan and Lane Kiffin only lasted a season and a half.

The Raiders have only managed four division titles and only one Super Bowl appearance in that time. They are 150-174 (.470) in the regular season and have not made the playoffs or even been .500 since getting pounded in the Super Bowl in 2002. Their best record in 5-11 under Norv Turner in 2004.

Horrible choices in free agency and pathetic drafts have the Raiders stuck in a downward spiral that shows no signs of ending. You throw in the fact that Davis can pick a head coach that likes (or can control) adds too the demise.

The press conference held after Kiffin's firing just shows how bush league the Raiders have become. Sitting at a desk with a K-Mart style desk lamp and an 3rd grade teacher overhead projector Al Davis rambled on like a lunatic. He called JaMarcus Russell a great player. How is that when he has not even played a full season. He has only one win in five career starts. Not exactly how I spell greatness.

Even Warren Sapp come on Showtime's "Inside the NFL" and said Davis was the problem. "[Davis] is the common equation, you take him out, put him at home watching film or whatever he is doing -- you have a functioning football organization. But once he comes over the top, he goes and starts moving it around." Sapp even warns players to stay way from Oakland. "Nobody tells you how bad it is, ... any person that calls me on the telephone, [I tell them] do not go anywhere near Oakland." He even said that football has passed Davis by. "Al Davis knows football -- it's just '60s and '70s football. That's what it is. He's thinking that Cliff Branch is outside and [Jim] Plunkett is dropping back and you can throw it 80 yards down the field -- deep ball, deep ball, deep ball." Sapp also revealed something that came at no shock that Davis even had a hand in calling plays at times. "I remember the first two weeks I was there, we played a preseason game. Somebody came up one time and said, 'We're going deep right here, dog.' I said, how do you know? He said, 'The phone just rang.'"

One of Al's guy's just came to the press and bashed him. Said Kiffin was treated unfairly and put all the blame on the owner. That says it all for me.

The Raiders for decades have used slogans like "Pride and Poise," "Commitment to Excellence," and "Just Win, Baby". While unless Davis leaves the organization they should change those to "Disgrace and Dsyfunction", "Commitment to Failure", and "Just Lose, Baby".