Al Davis returns from Mars, addresses media
Raiders owner Al Davis is out there. If you have any doubt about that, then go back and check footage of his news conference announcing the dismissal of coach Lane Kiffin.
Deadspin’s AJ Daulerio had this reaction to the spectacle:
“Wow. For those who just witnessed Al Davis’ bizarre press conference accusing former head coach Lane Kiffin of ‘lying’ and ‘propaganda’ among other things, I can’t tell if I have more respect for Al Davis or am just dumbfounded by the brazenness of it all. Davis has revealed a letter (which he’s put on overhead projector for the press corps) that he wrote to Kiffin prior to the Kansas City game outlining the former coach’s faults and his bumbling personnel moves. He essentially calls Kiffin a baby for blaming the team’s losing record on ownership and for throwing defensive coordinator Rob Ryan under the bus.”
Somebody named Tom Cable now has the unhappy task of running the team. Davis is refusing to pay the remainder of Kiffin’s three-year, $6 million contract, so Lane will take his case to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.
Cable became Oakland’s sixth coach in seven years. Here is how San Francisco Chronicle columnist Ray Ratto assessed the turnover:
“Davis guessed horribly badly with Kiffin, no matter which side of that particular spit-fest you take. Davis was wrong on Art Shell, and Norv Turner, and Bill Callahan. He was right on Jon Gruden, but personalities clearly got in the way. He was then wrong on Joe Bugel and Mike White. He was wrong when he fired Shell the first time, by his own admission, and he was wrong on Mike Shanahan. The last time he was right on a coach was Tom Flores, at least based on the results, and he fired him when the record went south.”
MYSTERIES OF THE UNIVERSE
Questions to ponder while wondering what took Tony Mandarich so long to own up to his steroid abuse:
- Now that Marc Bulger has been named the starting quarterback for the rest of the season, will he seem a little happier to be a Ram?
- Why would the Cubs pitch to Manny Ramirez even once during their playoff series?
- Now that the Brewers finally got back to postseason play, can they last more than a week?
RICKY WILLIAMS IS AN HONEST MAN
The oft-suspended Dolphins running back told the Miami Herald that he was tempted to smoke some pot during Miami’s bye week. All that free time, nothing much to do . . .
“So there was definitely an urge,” he said. “But I just thought about what I have to lose, and it was easy. The urge didn’t last very long.”
Ricky is one positive drug test away from never playing in the NFL again.
QUIPS ‘R US
Here is what some of America’s leading sports pundits have been writing:
Jerry Greene, Orlando Sentinel: “Who dreads the Tampa Bay Rays in the World Series more — Fox TV or Las Vegas? A Rays- Milwaukee Brewers Series would destroy Fox, while Vegas was offering 75-1 back in March on the Rays winning the American League pennant and 150-1 on winning the Series.”
Mark Kriegel, FoxSports.com: “Seriously, not to take anything from Brett Favre’s great day, but those guys in the Wrangler commercial play tougher defense than the Cardinals’ secondary.”
Thomas Bonk, Los Angeles Times: “Steve Smith of the Carolina Panthers has an interesting new TV ad in which he catches a scoring pass and leaps into the stands, where he starts eating a fan’s Bojangles’ chicken. Good thing the ad isn’t for Valvoline.”
Greg Cote, Miami Herald: “In soccer, accusations that a player was using witchcraft during a match in eastern Congo sparked a riot. Accusations proved true when the player turned himself into a rhinoceros and rampaged for 44 goals.”
Will Leitch, Deadspin: “The Lions went ahead and practiced yesterday, their first runthrough without Matt Millen as GM. Wouldn’t it have been kind of awesome if, suddenly, all the players were five times more talented? Or if they could, like, fly? If the Lions go 13-0 the rest of the way, it will be the greatest sports story of all time. Maybe it’ll be a ragtag bunch of scallywags who somehow claw their way to victory in amusing ways. Perhaps they’ll sign a kicking mule.”
MEGAPHONE
“It was something I wasn’t proud of to be associated with and I was embarrassed for him, to tell you the truth.”
Former Raiders coach Lane Kiffin, on Davis’ news conference.
Al Davis? Is he still alive? Hey Al, it ain’t 1966, and George Blanda isn’t Q-backing/kicking your field goals anymore. What other league could tolerate the incompetence of your Al Davis’, Bill Bidwills, and Georgia F/John Shaws, and not only survive, but actually MAKE millions? If only I could win that Powerball about 5 times in a row, then I’d have about half of what I need to buy an NFL franchise.
Why do people think that surgery is the automatic end-all, be-all, for all that ails you? Something’s wrong with an athlete…Just get surgery and everything will be hunky-dory. Surgery is not the answer to every injury. Unless you’re a doctor who deals with the type of condition Carpenter is suffering from, why do you think you know what the best option is? Nothing like Internet know-it-alls.
Bulger is still part of the problem. the guy has zero emotion. And I’m not talking about the last two weeks. I’m talking about his body language on the field and on the sideline when he is starting. He can throw a touchdown pass (although there’s limited evidence of this recently) or an interception that goes the other way for a touchdown and you’d never know the difference. He may be a very nice and a good quarterback but he is not a leader. This team needs a leader on the field. On the offense, like it or not, that has to be the qb. maybe Haslett can help him get there. But probably not. $10M a year… doesn’t he know that this is entertainment? Show some excitement. Show some enthusiasm. Show some disgust. Please show anything but milquetoast. maybe people would watch. maybe other players would feed off that a bit.
Thanks for the opinion Stuck_In_Chicago. There’s nothing better than a tool from another town questioning the wisdom of the people that know the Cards organization the best - the fans - and their history of bad medical decisions. But hey, you know so much that you can’t figure out how to get out of Chicago…LOL. I bet your a Cubs fan too. You haven’t figured out they don’t win yet, either? ROFL