Has The Game Passed by Al Davis

Big Al is making the headlines again with this years draft picks. His selection process makes one wonder has the game passed him by?

Big all used to be known for his business savvy, just ask Irving California. I can assure Irving will not be erecting any monuments erected to Al and the Raiders unless of course you count pasting Davis's picture at the bottom of city urinals an honor. The former mayor from that time period in the 70's will go down in infamy as a chuckle head and that is being kind.

For those of you that are too young or don't remember, The Oakland Raiders for a period of time were the L.A. Raiders. This is their second stint in Oakland.

At the time Al Davis and the Raider were looking south for a new home the mayor of Irving made a bid to get the Raiders to relocate to his city. He convinced the city to float over a million dollar bond, alot of money back then and alot of money for a city the size of Irving.

Al accepted the money as good faith money but promised there were no guarantees the Raiders would become the Irvine Raiders. The deal got enough publicity that the mayor was a guest on the Johnny Carson show and Davis did a phone interview with both the mayor and Johnny, my recollections of the interview are my source for this part of the blog.

Needless to say Al took the city of Irvine for a cool million and the Raiders played in L.A.

These last few years with Al at the helm of the Raiders, people wonder, did he play in one too many games without a helmet and can he walk and chew gum at the same time.

Each year finds the Raiders becoming less and less of a team. Davis is known for drafting and or trading for talent then making them sit on the bench to show everyone who is he boss.

Now the Raiders drafting for 2009 is the # 1 head scratcher with their #7 pick of Darrius Heyward-Bey. This is not to say Heyward-Bey is not a quality player, being and Idaho spud peeler I don't know much about the young man and have never seen him play. He may end up being the the best player in his class, only time will tell.

Given there are questions about his hands and his route running skills the Raiders could have traded down for him and gotten a few later draft picks too boot.

Whether you like Al Davis and the Raiders or not, times have changed, they were once thought to be shrewd football people and have some Super Bowl trophies to prove it. Now they are the last stop for over the hill players and are the bottom of the league. The sole responsibility for the Raider decline rests in the hands of Al Davis, it appears the game has passed him by and that Al would better serve his beloved Raiders by retiring.