Just Cringe, Baby

An Open Letter to Al Davis:

Mr. Davis:

As a longtime fan of the Oakland Raiders, I believe -- no, I have no doubt whatsoever -- that I speak for the majority of the team's fans when I implore to you to quit meddling with the team. It's one thing to be a "hands-on" owner; it's quite another to be actively interfering with people's ability and desire to perform the jobs you hired them for.

You have a long history of undermining people and affecting the team's efficiency. A perfect example of this is Jon Gruden. After Gruden took a stagnant team and turned them into a playoff-caliber squad, you ran him out of town. Since he got his revenge in the Super Bowl the following season, the Raiders have won nineteen games in five full seasons. Put that into perspective: if New England wins next week's Super Bowl, they will have won the same number of games in one season.

I agree that it sucks that Randy Moss suddenly rediscovered his ability to run routes and catch passes the day he left Oakland. I hope he falls on his face next week and the Patriots lose by 30 points; I hope Moss never gets that Super Bowl ring he craves. But he was also never going to be that player with the Raiders. He made that abundantly clear; he's a quitter and a bad teammate. But that also says something about the company culture of the Raiders.

A sports team, to state the obvious, is a business. You cannot run any real business like it's your personal toy. Players and fans alike see that the organizational culture is a diseased joke, built to fail. Your product is defective because your workers, to put it kindly, have no incentive to give a damn. A solid business needs continuity and stability, and a transparent decision process guided by rationality, not imperial fiat. You run the Raiders the way Dick Cheney runs this country -- behind everyone's back, under cover of night, with opaque statements and oblique power plays. How's that been working?

Keeping Rob Ryan as defensive coordinator might preserve some continuity, but if it's Kiffin's decision to get rid of him, you should let him make that decision and stand or fall on the results. So what if the players "like" Ryan? They didn't play or tackle well anyway, constantly folded under pressure, and surrendered six 4th-quarter leads during the season, enough to make the difference between cellar-dweller and wild-card. They don't seem to "like" him well enough to play competently for him. There are as many reasons to dump Ryan as to keep him, and you signed a contract agreeing to let Lane Kiffin make that decision.

Let me put it this way: I had multiple opportunities this season to get box tickets for my family for free, and I declined them. Why? Because I'm embarrassed for the team and the fans, the few people who do an honest day's work on the field, and the fans who work and pay to come see the team. Got that? I don't even want to come see the team for free. It's not worth the time or the gas money. And I was there for the first game back in Oakland in '95; I was there for Reggie White's final game on Christmas Eve 2000. I've been a fan for over 30 years.

So if I'm not going to bother to come watch your team for free, I sure as hell am not giving you any more of my money for tickets or gear until you stop lawn-darting this team that we all have enjoyed over the years. If you really care about the team, really care about the health of your business, then let people do their jobs. The team will never succeed until then; nobody in their right mind would want the job. Really, the only thing that makes sense at this point is that you are intentionally trying to ruin the team.

Regards,
An exasperated fan