Nice Try, Sports Illustrated

This is getting a bit creepy. The author of the bogus Sports Illustrated piece about Eddie DeBartolo and Carmen Policy raiding the Raiders is back…with a bizarre “open letter” to Denise DeBartolo York! At this rate, Eddie might need to consider a restraining order.

The letter begs Denise to “give your brother back his football team.” See, I told you this was getting creepy. I wouldn’t concern myself with this missive except for the following excerpt:

Back to Eddie for a moment: You may have seen my story in last week's SI -- or perhaps you've read some of the reaction pieces, many of them irresponsibly reported, in which a quote from your brother expressing his desire to get back into the NFL, and even pondering the idea of buying the Raiders and moving them to L.A., is somehow proven to be "wrong."

My initial thought: Denise reads Raider Take? Cool. Thanks for Jerry Rice.

As for our author, it sounds like he doth protest too much. Neither Raider Take nor the others said that Eddie’s wild NFL fantasies were proven wrong (a fantasy, by definition, cannot be proven wrong). We said that reporting these fantasies as viable was wrong. We said that minimizing Amy Trask’s rebuttal was wrong (as reported in the San Francisco Chronicle: “Sports Illustrated, in all fairness, did contact Raiders CEO Amy Trask for comment. Unfortunately, Trask says, the magazine omitted much of what she had to say in response.” In all fairness, of course). We said that invoking Al Davis’s physical health to support a false premise was wrong.

Let’s review the relevant portion of the original piece:

DeBartolo, 59, says buying the Buccaneers would be his first choice. (He looked into purchasing them three years ago but was rebuffed by owner Malcolm Glazer.) But he and Policy -- they had a falling out shortly before DeBartolo left the 49ers but have repaired their relationship -- have contemplated other teams, including the Saints, and their interest in the Raiders is piqued by whispers that Davis, 76, is ill. He has been using a walker because of a leg ailment and did not show up at February's scouting combine or a recent minicamp. "For Al Davis to miss the combine, that's unusual," DeBartolo said.

The Raiders, for their part, say that everything is status quo. "Al Davis is as vital and vibrant as ever," says CEO Amy Trask. "The closest Eddie and Carmen will come to taking a look at the Raiders will be watching them on TV." Still, however Oakland plays out, it will take someone like DeBartolo to make things work in L.A…

However Oakland plays out? She just told you nothing is playing out. In other words, more credibility is given to the insupportable idea of convicted criminal Eddie DeBartolo preying on an allegedly feeble Al Davis than CEO Amy Trask confirming that it’s a bunch of bunk.

Finally, there's Carmen Policy himself, stating to the Oakland Tribune: "There's no chance of it happening, and we never really talked seriously about it."

If there’s no chance of it happening and they never talked seriously about it, then why treat it seriously in the pages of Sports Illustrated? Or, if you contend that Carmen is now lying, then save your ire for him, not us, and remember not to use liars and crooks as sources for future stories.

And most of all, remember that when you take irresponsible swipes at the Raider Nation, don't be surprised when the Raider Nation hits back.
P.S. Thanks to Mad Stork 83 for tipping Raider Take off to the "open letter."