"Just win, baby!" ... 30 for 30 tonight on Al Davis vs. the NFL
Love him or hate him, Al Davis was one of the most important people in football the latter half of the 20th century. He was a scout, an assistant, a head coach, a GM, and ultimately an owner, and he was a vanguard for forward-thinking hiring practices on the field and in the front office.Tonight's feature focuses on his legendary clashes with Pete Rozelle, the courts, various municipalities, and assorted antagonists.
9pm EST, ESPN
February 4th, 2021 at 9:01 PM ^
They are using “deep fakes” whoa
February 4th, 2021 at 9:13 PM ^
Is this new? I feel like there is a special on this guy every other year. I get it, he was a bit different, but I suppose I don't understand the fascination with him. Maybe I'll check out some of it here in a bit and see if it changes my mind.
February 4th, 2021 at 9:34 PM ^
Honest question: how old are you?
February 5th, 2021 at 9:57 AM ^
To be ignorant is ok. To stay ignorant is a shame.
February 4th, 2021 at 10:43 PM ^
Late Period Al Davis has a lot to answer for.
February 5th, 2021 at 11:06 AM ^
STUD!
BTW, what does the mom of that look like?
February 5th, 2021 at 1:07 PM ^
How does he have a moose knuckle?
February 4th, 2021 at 9:54 PM ^
I love that poem and the accompanying nfl films song.
February 4th, 2021 at 10:04 PM ^
This hasn't been my favorite 30 for 30 but its still fascinating television.
February 4th, 2021 at 10:06 PM ^
There was a bonus clip of Harbaugh getting sacked as Bears QB at the very start.
February 4th, 2021 at 10:25 PM ^
February 4th, 2021 at 10:31 PM ^
Thought my buddy & I had been to the last Raiders game at Oakland Alameda in 2018, but then they came back another year. That atmosphere was amazing, and it's just a shame that the Raiders would honestly be anywhere but Oakland. They should have been required to leave the Raiders in Oakland, change the mascot to Jokers or something more appropriate for Vegas and the current state of the franchise.
February 4th, 2021 at 10:50 PM ^
The raiders should have been the only team to move back to LA. Hell, they’ve been gone for 25+ years and they are still LA’s team.
However, if they couldn’t do Oakland or LA, Las Vegas made the most sense by far.
February 4th, 2021 at 10:51 PM ^
As a character study, that was pretty freaking awesome. On balance, I thought Davis was the much more sympathetic figure, but you can't help but wonder if the league wouldn't have been better off had they never been allowed to leave Oakland. (I'm still pissed at Bidwill for moving the Cardinals.)
And I've got to see if I can find one of those Irwindale Raiders shirts.
February 4th, 2021 at 10:52 PM ^
All I ever experienced was the final years of Al Davis (so basically the Callahan era until his Death), where he was a whack job and fired everyone just about every year and was the running joke of football.
While I knew he was once a much better and more competent football suit, it’s good to see a documentary like this.
February 4th, 2021 at 10:59 PM ^
Al Davis is the poster child for why it’s important to have an uncomfortable conversation when it’s time for someone to ride off into the sunset. He WAS great, but then he got old and crazy and it seemed like no-one was willing to tell him it was time to go. I grew up a HUGE Raiders fan and then JaMarcus Russel happened and I realized I just couldn’t do it anymore. Finding out Kiffin wanted to draft Megatron in the first round and Brees(I meant to write Drew Stanton here but got all ranty) in the second but was shut down by Davis just destroyed me.
February 4th, 2021 at 11:59 PM ^
I’m reading these and haven’t watched the documentary. Brees was drafted in 2001 and Megatron (you mean Calvin Johnson, right?) was drafted in 2008.
February 5th, 2021 at 7:56 AM ^
I am an idiot and thought Drew first and then fucked up the last name. Stanton, it was Drew Stanton I was thinking of.
February 5th, 2021 at 12:22 PM ^
I mean, I get those two Drews confused all the time.
February 5th, 2021 at 9:03 AM ^
"it seemed like no-one was willing to tell him it was time to go"
Well, he was an owner. Was the NFL going to force him out for drafting JaMarcus Russel?
February 5th, 2021 at 9:24 AM ^
Mark Davis was a fireable offense...
February 5th, 2021 at 9:33 AM ^
People in the organization, other owners. This isn't about the NFL this is about the people around him somehow getting across to him that he was destroying his legacy.
February 4th, 2021 at 11:21 PM ^
Watched this (and many other 30 for 30s) during quarantine. Wish I had saved my Raiders Starter coat from back in the day...
February 5th, 2021 at 10:56 AM ^
One point of interest from those teams that tangentially relates to us is the 1976 season that was coached by John Madden. John switched the defense to a 3-4 after significant injuries to various linemen. They finished the season 13-1 beating the 2 win Super Bowl Steelers at the time and then defeated the Vikings for their first Super Bowl victory.
February 5th, 2021 at 1:20 PM ^
I became a football fan growing up in the 60s principally because the AFL games were so much fun to watch. Hadl, Lamonica, Namath, Dawson, Alworth, Biletnikof, et al. were so much more interesting than the Lions and the 60s and 70s Raiders were my favorites. Al Davis and Raiders did their own thing and didn't give a shit what the NFL or the other owners thought. It was an embarrassing end to the genius that was Al Davis.