Al Davis is like Ahab except for the fact that Moby-Dick hasn't bitten his leg off yet

on 10 7, 2009

The Oakland Raiders have been hijacked by perhaps the craziest person in sports.  Attempting to rebuild your team implies that you have an actual plan in place, and a methodology for accomplishing it.  With Al Davis as your head honcho though, a discernable direction is impossible to find.  By all rights Davis should be in a home eating applesauce and watching The Price is Right, not running a business worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

His plan to draft the fastest, most athletic player every year has turned the Raiders into a mere sideshow.   In addition he has just hired a coach (Tom Cable) that seems to think he’s coaching a battalion of UFC fighters, not football players.  Every family is dysfunctional, but how many families let their senile 80 year old Grandpa make all the financial decisions.  Davis was born the year America fell into the great depression (1929), and it seems he’s taking a page out of that era, and applying it to his football team.

Davis’ latest neurotic behavior includes trying to ban former MVP Raider quarterback Rich Gannon (who now announces for CBS) from working one of the teams’ games.   Apparently Gannon had made less than glowing comments about the Raider’s organization, imagine that.  Davis is a paranoid, angry, confused old man.   He’s like Ahab chasing his white whale, only; we all knew what Ahab was after, what Davis wants is unknown to all, perhaps even to himself.

His rambling press conferences, his personnel decisions, the fact that he has the same amount of outfits as Doug Funny, it all points to outright insanity.

It appears to outside observers that Davis controls all aspects of this team, even on the field decisions.   No other owner (outside of Daniel Snyder Jerry Jones) would be so arrogant as to think they have the requisite football knowledge to override the head coach.

Davis’ latest pet project is perhaps his most damaging undertaking yet.  Jamarcus Russell desperately needs to be benched.  He is the worst starting quarterback in the league, by a fair margin.  This is his third year, he’s no rookie, and yet he seems to have regressed since entering the league.

Russell’s quarterback rating is 33rd in the league; in case you were wondering there are only 32 teams in the NFL.  That rating is 39.8, Jake Delhomme’s (the next lowest) rating is 14 points higher.  Russell’s completion percentage is a hard to fathom 41.3%.  The next lowest percentage belongs to Marc Bulger at 51%.  In addition Russell has thrown 4 interceptions, just one touchdown, and has been sacked 6 times.

Russell is perhaps historically far behind the rest of the league, and yet Davis persists in playing him.  Davis went so far as to release Jeff Garcia (three time pro bowler) who may have his best years behind him, but could outperform Russell blindfolded.

Davis this year again surprised draft experts by selecting Darius Heyward-Bey well ahead of his projected slot, instead of trading down to select him and thus pay out less salary in the process.  According to reports Heyward-Bey is freakishly fast, but mentally overwhelmed by the game.  Sound familiar.

The same seems to be true for Darren McFadden and of course Russell.  In the last three years alone Davis has undermined any progress his team could make by undercutting his coaches’ authority, drafting head-case players, and making rash personnel decisions (hello Tommy Kelly).

Plato said, “A tyrant is always stirring up some war or other, in order that the people may require a leader.”  It seems as though Davis has been stirring up wars constantly with this notion in mind.  Unfortunately the real war appears to be in his mind. As long as Davis is chasing his white whale, The Raiders will be at the bottom of the sea.

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