Bob Costas gives Al Davis his props

After The Divine Interception that 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.

 “Over the last 24 hours, even those too young to recall the enormous accomplishments and aura of Al Davis’s Raiders of an earlier era have been made aware of Davis’s unique place in the game’s history: coach, GM, commissioner, owner, perpetual litigant and general pain in the assets to the league he constantly challenged and frequently sued — sometimes with good reason, sometimes out of a reflexive combativeness that seemed to know no bounds.

Al Davis was many things — not all of them admirable. That’s why he was so fascinating, and until recent years, so formidable. For a generation, his Raiders weren’t 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.

Al 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.

He 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.

He 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.

Don Shula once said of his old adversary, “when you call Al Davis devious, he considers it a compliment.” For his part, Davis, who probably revered Machiavelli as much as Madden, often said he’d rather be feared than respected or loved. A true appreciation doesn’t ignore that fact, it recognizes it along with all the contradictions and complexities.

For 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.

He was a rebel, a renegade, a Raider…and we will not see his like again.”

Well said Mr. Costas…well said.

Posted: October 10, 2011 at 10:38 am | by Ryan
Filed under: Sports
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