Taking My Talents Back to Baily's Sports and Stuff...And My Thoughts on Al Davis vs the NFL

I've recently gotten captivated by the practice of journaling - generally on my own thoughts that I notice and how I feel at various moments. This has been a transformative practice in my personal life in enabling me to be more honest with myself (which is really hard!) - whether that be about discomfort I feel, what conditions provide a state of flow, or anything in between.

The ability to document my life on paper - and go back and read what resonated with me at a particular point in time - has been a similarly great practice for me. Recently, the excitement of playoff football and midseason basketball has led to me pursuing a similar practice in my personal journal - airing out thoughts on sports ranging from stats I've tried to memorize to my (often unwanted) psychological analysis on a given athlete / situation. I love the process of putting pen to paper, and plan to continue this in my personal life. 

But when it comes to sports, I had the thought that maybe there's no better place for me to air out thoughts than this blog. This blog was my home as an elementary and middle schooler. As a more introverted little kid, this blog was my happy place. I even dabbled a bit in college when I wanted to capture my excitement around these beautiful games. 

I have no clue what I'll want to write about here, and I imagine it will fluctuate wildly with no rhyme or reason. I'm captivated by numbers and stats, and may write some posts on those themes. I had an amazing trip to the City of Brotherly Love last month to watch the home team get Shanahanded a 23-point defeat...and eventually a Wild Card berth rather than the top seed...by the wagon that is the San Francisco 49ers. Maybe I'll write posts about past / future gameday experiences. 

Right now, I'm intrigued by the Al Davis vs the NFL 30 for 30 that I watched this morning. My thoughts are below:

The 2000 baby in me is biased toward thinking of the Raiders as a "poverty franchise" - one that hasn't won a playoff game since before my little brother was born. My memories of watching the Raiders compete in January consist of two forgettable Wild Card games - Cincinnati snapping its 31-year-postseason drought over Las Vegas and Brock Osweiler outdueling Connor Cook.

But the weird part of me that fiends for NFL (and AFL) history knows that the autumn wind is a Raider - and that the franchise is a massive component of the league's collective DNA. Basically from the inception, it's been the Davis family at the forefront of the franchise. I couldn't help but feel the fascination of Al Davis, one of the most hell-bent executors and winners in a league chock full of them. Snoop Dogg came to the conclusion that he said it best - just win, baby, win.

And win Davis did. In just over 20 years after taking over as head coach in 1963, he:

• Transformed them from an 0-13 laughingstock copying the University of Pacific's uniforms to a silver and black military-esque machine - modeled after the Army Black Knights he idolized as a child. Oakland went 8-5-1 in 1965
• Was named AFL commissioner and leveraged aggressive tactics - shelling out money to some of the NFL's best - to get the AFL-NFL merger approved in 1966
• Reclaimed a partial - and eventually a majority - stake in the Raiders, taking them to the Super Bowl once and AFL Championship Game twice in three straight seasons from 1967-1969
• Hired the fabled John Madden - who continued the franchise's on-field success into the 1970s
• The silver and black finally won gold in 1976...and again in 1980 (as a Wild Card team)...and again in 1983. They won all 3 games by 17+ points
• Moved the franchise to Los Angeles...more on this

Davis was a doer who was concerned with one team only - his own. His ideals clashed with the legendary Pete Rozelle, whom I've learned a bit about through listening to the NFL episode of the Acquired podcast (a 4-hour listen that may require a strangely-wired brain like my own to stomach, but well worth it). 

Rozelle was a PR genius and a tremendous diplomat who had a bit of gestalt (and a bit of luck) in him. He knew the importance of a league-first strategy, television, and political relationships (which played a massive role in getting TV contracts and the NFL-AFL merger approved). Rozelle was an excellent commissioner.

But the thorn in his side that eventually accelerated his resignation was Davis - and Davis' desire to move the Raiders to the mass media market of LA. Davis hadn't made it his mission to win over the approval of the NFL owners. Thus, he came up far short of the 3/4 majority he needed to win approval of moving the team. So he sued - which led to a messy 2-year court case that even opened up more lawsuits within it when the Chargers owner at the time, Gene Klein, suffered a heart attack immediately after testifying and almost died.

Davis eventually got to move the Raiders, and he won a Super Bowl in Oakland during the process and in Los Angeles soon after the process. But even from an objective standpoint, it's hard to say if he really won. What followed was further disputes with the city of Los Angeles. He wanted to renovate the Coliseum, and the city wouldn't do it. So he considered moving the team to Orlando, then to Sacramento. He eventually settled on Oakland, but that never proved to be enough when his son moved the team to its current Vegas home four years ago. Who knows where they'll go next.

I recently read The Power of Now, and am now reading A New Earth, by Eckhart Tolle. Both heavily analyze the concept of the ego, or the false self that creates a sense of self-importance through status-driven actions like wanting. I'm quite new to the concepts of the book and am far from having the most informed opinion, but it provides an interesting lens to think about Al and Pete here.

Al won a lot. He never stopped wanting to win, but objectively, he stopped winning. The Raiders got into a vicious litigious cycle and only escaped when they went back to Oakland - where the results weren't pretty on the field. The Raiders did make it to the big game in 2002, but Davis' last 28 years brought him zero championships.

In the documentary, he was asked for his take on death. His response was interesting.

I can control most things, but I can't seem to control death.

His whole life was about control, and seeking external avenues to gain more. First controlling the Raiders' on-field operations, then controlling the AFL, then owning part of the Raiders, then owning all of it, and then relentlessly seeking ways to improve the team by diving into various locations for 15+ years. But eventually, there hit a limit. I'd be curious to know what the last 15 years of Davis' life were like without the external validation of winning football games and championships, faced with the inevitable reality of life.

As for Rozelle, the saga took a hit on him too. He mentioned enjoying the job less in his final 13 years than in his first 16 - and on the surface, it showed. He looked sickly when resigning in 1989, and passed 7 years later at the age of 70. He also won frequently as NFL commissioner, taking the league from a budding flower to an entertainment titan - and by far the most popular sport in America. 

But the Davis saga was interesting from Rozelle's perspective. In the long run, it actually turned out to be fantastic for the NFL. It led the league where it was meant to go in the form of teams pursuing large media markets and building state-of-the-art stadiums to significantly enhance the fan experience. 

Rozelle's argument centered on the musical chairs around the country that would ensue if Davis won the lawsuit. Logically, he had a point. But I wonder if there was more to it for him - the desire to reinforce his own ego by beating his archrival, even though his rival's victory ended up providing a great outcome for his baby - the league. The external circumstances - including losing the lawsuit - that he continued to fight for seemed to take the fun out of the job for him.

Again, I could be very wrong on all of this. But the interpersonal dynamics of the feud are quite interesting here. Both seemed to have been drained of vital energy by a somewhat pointless battle - and what each initially wanted - for Davis to move to LA, and for Rozelle to keep Davis from moving to LA - arguably proved to be / would have proven to be a suboptimal objective outcome for what each really cared about - the success of the Raiders for Davis, and the success of the league for Rozelle. That was a mouthful...but it makes sense in my head.

If anyone's reading (I'm not sure anyone is)...feel free to email me at bailydeeter@gmail.com with thoughts or questions! I've been sports blogging for 15 years (sort of) now, but this is a unique type of post that I may continue to experiment with. 

Also...Cowboys, Lions, Bills (barely), and Bucs these next 2 days. Niners over the Chiefs (replacing the Browns, that +4500 Browns / 49ers Super Bowl bet didn't pan out) in Super Bowl 58, with me there to witness (and maybe blog).