These days, however, Mr. Davis' influence on the Raiders is, shall we say, a little on the questionable side. Some will tell you he's as valuable to the organization as he's ever been. Others will tell you that the Raiders are doomed to fail as long as he's in control.
One of these people just so happens to be veteran NFL announcer Al Michaels. In an impromptu interview (I use the term loosely) with a TMZ cameraman, Michaels was asked if he thinks the Raiders will ever win a Super Bowl while Davis is still alive.
Michael's response: "No."
To help explain his answer, Michaels did acknowledge the fact that the 82-year-old Davis is both getting up there in years and not in the best of health, the implication being that Davis is not going to be the dictator in Raider-land for much longer anyway.
This is true. Nevertheless, the camera operator kept pressing Michaels, asking him whether or not he agrees that Davis is a genius.
"If you had a team that lost 11 or more games seven consecutive years," replied Michaels, "would you say a genius ran the team?"
Not exactly a nice thing to say, and there are no doubt a lot of Raiders fans out there who are never going to forgive Michaels for saying it.
But you know what? This is also true. Despite all the great things Davis has done for the Raiders throughout his tenure, it suffices to say that 2003-2009 was a rough patch. Make no mistake about it, Mr. Davis was largely responsible for it.
Let's face it. It's just plain hard to establish consistent success when you hire five different head coaches in seven years, waste draft picks on players with fast 40 times, and just gener...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Oakland Raiders
