News You Can't Use: Sports Illustrated

In his latest hit piece on the Oakland Raiders, our favorite Sports Illustrated writer—the one who penned the widely panned “story” about Eddie DeBartolo and Carmen Policy potentially buying the Raiders—ranks Mr. Davis 25th in his evaluation of NFL owners, down in the dregs with the likes of the Bidwills and Yorks. Guess who ranks 22 slots higher? Daniel "Money for Nothing" Snyder of the Redskins. Talk about intellectual gymnastics. Take this guy's pen away before he hurts himself.

Here’s the relevant excerpt:

"Raiders chief executive Amy Trask says her boss, who turns 77 on the Fourth of July, "is as vital and vibrant as ever." Unfortunately, his franchise is in ICU, with dubious talent and a miserable stadium situation made worse over the years by lawsuits, Davis' aversion to marketing (because, after all, they're the Raiders, and everybody loves them) and an initial miscalculation of a once-rabid fan base's collective fervor. The good news is that Davis cares about nothing besides the Raiders; the myth, however, is that he wants to win at all costs. That fallacy was exposed when Marcus Allen mysteriously disappeared on third downs and in goal-line situations in the early '90s, and it suffered another blow when Davis decided not to try to extend Jon Gruden's contract after the coach led the team to the AFC Championship Game in his third season."

Of course, our author neglects to mention that the Raiders went to the Super Bowl in the season immediately following Gruden’s eventual departure. He neglects to mention this because it disturbs his worldview. You see, Mr. Davis is an all-powerful meddler when things are going bad for the Raiders, but a mere pawn of Jon Gruden when things are going well, and Bill Callahan’s team was actually Jon Gruden’s team, even though the great Jon Gruden was on the other sideline during that Super Bowl, coaching his team, not Tony Dungy’s team. You got that?

Check out Raider Raza’s compendium of praise for Mr. Davis—does this sound like one of the worst owners in the NFL to you? Mr. Davis helped pioneer the AFL-NFL merger, assembled some of the greatest football teams in NFL history, racked up three Lombardi trophies, blazed executive trails in both race and gender, was elected to the Hall of Fame and won the AFC West three times in this decade. Yet he is one of the worst owners in the NFL? Don't tell me that the past doesn't matter—you're the one who brought Marcus Allen, and thus the past, into this discussion.

It’s particularly ironic that, while dissing Hall of Famer and law-abiding citizen Al Davis, our author writes love letters to convicted criminal and NFL pariah Eddie DeBartolo.

And what’s this about an aversion to marketing? Once the Raiders got control of their own ticketing operations this year, they began marketing the hell out of season tickets. They’ve gone so far as to assign a personal service representative to each season ticket holder. Click here to read comments from myself and others about the success of this new ticket marketing approach.

Additionally, the Oakland Raiders consistently rank in the top five in NFL team merchandise sales. How can you achieve such a distinction without, at some level, being a savvy marketer?

And that, Raiders fans, is news you can’t use.

P.S. Thanks to Mad Stork 83 for tipping us off to this piece.