\u00a0“Over the last 24 hours, even those too young to recall the enormous accomplishments and aura of Al Davis\u2019s Raiders of an earlier era have been made aware of Davis\u2019s unique place in the game\u2019s history: coach, GM, commissioner, owner, perpetual litigant and general pain in the assets to the league he constantly challenged and frequently sued \u2014 sometimes with good reason, sometimes out of a reflexive combativeness that seemed to know no bounds.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\nAl Davis was many things \u2014 not all of them admirable. That\u2019s why he was so fascinating, and until recent years, so formidable. For a generation, his Raiders weren\u2019t just committed to excellence, they consistently achieved it and in distinctive fashion as Davis created a sanctuary for misfits and miscreants and let them flourish in an us-versus-the-world atmosphere tinged with cloak-and-dagger paranoia. That approach created the Raider mystique, and then in later years, undermined it.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\nAl Davis was born in Massachusetts, grew up in Brooklyn, graduated from Syracuse yet somehow spoke with a vaguely southern drawl, part of what you might call an unusual personal style. He was a progressive, who broke ground with the hiring of Hispanic and African-American coaches, and a high-ranking female executive. But he was also petty, allowing personal vendettas to undercut, and then drive away significant figures like Marcus Allen and Mike Shanahan, while his once great franchise slipped into disarray.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\nHe was compassionate and generous, and sought no public recognition for his many acts of kindness. If he liked you, he was also great company, but if you got on his bad side, for whatever reason, watch out.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\nHe was simultaneously a visionary who influenced the game on and off the field, and a throwback, who hung on much too long, perhaps because as he himself acknowledged, he had no real life outside of his family and football.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\nDon Shula once said of his old adversary, \u201cwhen you call Al Davis devious, he considers it a compliment.\u201d For his part, Davis, who probably revered Machiavelli as much as Madden, often said he\u2019d rather be feared than respected or loved. A true appreciation doesn\u2019t ignore that fact, it recognizes it along with all the contradictions and complexities.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\nFor better and for worse and everything in between, Al Davis was an American original. He deserves to be long remembered, not because he was a model, but because he mattered.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\nHe was a rebel, a renegade, a Raider\u2026and we will not see his like again.”<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\nWell said Mr. Costas…well said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
After The Divine Interception\u00a0that gave the Oakland Raiders a 25-20 win over the Houston Texans, Bob Costas gave the late Al Davis his props during the halftime of Sunday Night Football. Here is the transcript. \u00a0“Over the last 24 hours, even those too young to recall the enormous accomplishments and aura of Al Davis\u2019s Raiders […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sfsi_plus_gutenberg_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_show_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_type":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_alignemt":"","sfsi_plus_gutenburg_max_per_row":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[158,163,41,162,164,77,24,42],"class_list":["post-728","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports","tag-aldavis","tag-bobcostas","tag-al-davis","tag-bob-costas","tag-football-night-in-america","tag-nbc","tag-nfl","tag-raiders"],"yoast_head":"\n
Bob Costas gives Al Davis his props ⋆ The Flow Check<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ryanmcbain.com\/flowcheck\/bob-costas-gives-al-davis-his-props\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bob Costas gives Al Davis his props ⋆ The Flow Check\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"After The Divine Interception\u00a0that gave the Oakland Raiders a 25-20 win over the Houston Texans, Bob Costas gave the late Al Davis his props during the halftime of Sunday Night Football. 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