Unrest in Raider Nation
Owner Al Davis and coach Jon Gruden have brought Oakland back to the brink of glory. Too bad they can't get along
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Raider Nation has become Balkanized and polarized, its troubles super- sized.
The coach and the owner stand back to back, pistols raised. It's marvelous theater, with Shakespearean elements and clever subplots.
But it might spell the end of the Raiders as we know and love/hate them.
In a nutshell: Coach Jon Gruden, who just finished the fourth season of a five-year contract, has done for the Raiders what Prof. Higgins did for Ms. Doolittle. Now Gruden wants more money, respect and power.
The boss, Al Davis, is miffed at his uppity young coach, resents his sudden fame and grab for money/power. Davis is saying to Gruden, in essence, "You are the Raiders, not vice versa."
This is more than just a coach-owner tiff. This could be fatal for the franchise.
Who's to blame? It's like the public debate over which stamp the Postal Service should issue:
Young Elvis or Old Elvis.
Old Elvis is Davis, Raiders' godfather. He's the NFL's rebel without a pause, creator of the Raider mystique. He still greases his hair back like Grandpa Rock, is deeply involved with the team and speaks in public about as often as the real Elvis.
Young Elvis is Gruden, the first rock-star coach in big-time sports since Pat Riley catwalked the sidelines for the Lakers and Knicks. If someone put out a calendar of hunky coaches, Gruden would be January through June. His players see him as Sgt. Rock, bayonet in teeth, leading them out of the trench.
If you're a Raiders fan, you love both Al and Jon, but you can't, because the San Andreas-size rift between them threatens to destroy Raider Nation.
Gruden will be fine. If he stays with the Raiders, he'll be richer and more powerful. Same if he leaves.
But this could be Al's Last Stand, and the end of the Oakland phase of Raiders history.
Davis is 72. If he loses his hot young coach, he risks alienating many players and fans and sending the Raiders into a massive funk. Does Davis have the heart and strength and wits to start over? Could he discover another brilliant coach and patch up an aging team, while fighting serious legal battles against Oakland and the NFL?
If the team reverts to losing, fan interest and revenue will drop, Davis' pride will take a big hit, and maybe Al will bail. Sell the team or move it.
Gruden, because he has made himself so doggone lovable, has -- in this observer's semihumble opinion -- escaped his share of blame for the current ugly standoff.
Not long after the Raiders were eliminated from the playoffs Saturday in an overtime loss at New England, Gruden's agent announced that there would be no contract negotiations, now or later. Gruden will coach the Raiders next season and then depart.
Excellent strategy. This will force the Raiders to either give Gruden the fat raise and power he demands or let him out of the final year of his contract by "trading" him to Tampa Bay for some draft picks or players.
THE METHOD WAS MADNESS
However! Gruden's agent made the announcement very publicly, instead of sending it directly to Davis' cave via messenger pigeon.
This is alienation of the players' affection. Spiritual abandonment. Gruden's success with the Raiders is based in no small part on his ability to do that Sgt. Rock thing, to be the tough guy the players love and respect and listen to and fight for. Not many coaches pull this off as well as Gruden has.
Gruden announcing (through his mouthpiece) that he's leaving after next season is like a guy having his agent tell the man's wife, "My client loves you like crazy, says you two are sensational together, but he's not getting everything he needs here, so he's going to be the world's greatest husband for one year, then he's leaving you. You may now give my client a big wet kiss!"
Gruden should have kept the battle private. You don't out yourself as a lame duck.
Besides, it was wimpy of Gruden to let his agent deliver the news.
WHO'S THE GREATER RAIDER?
That said, both parties in the battle have valid points, which go something like this:
Davis: I make this nobody the head coach of the world's greatest football organization, assemble him a fine team, and now he takes all the credit and demands more money, when his contract isn't even up. And he finished the season 3-5.
Gruden: I save this guy's sorry team, return his franchise to glory, get us to within one game of the Super Bowl, and he wants the credit, and won't even pay me a fair wage?
Davis: He wants final say on who we draft and sign? Doesn't he know I have built dynasties with my brilliant insights into the human psyche?
Gruden: Right. He wastes a No. 1 pick on Sebastian Janikowski, the Pillsbury party boy? Drafting mutant space aliens might have worked in the '70s, but the Cuckoo's Nest is closed.
Davis: He has taken my feared deep-passing game and turned it into a namby- pamby dink-'n'-dunk offense. And in tight games, he chokes by becoming as conservative as Bob Dole's tailor.
Gruden: He gives me a weak-armed quarterback and ancient wide receivers and wants me to throw bombs? And the carping. What other coach has to put up with Captain Backstab lurking in the stadium's shadows?
And so on. I'm telling you, folks, this enterprise is doomed.
Davis wants a coach who calls him "coach" and lets Al pick out the linoleum pattern for the office.
Gruden wants the respect and absolute authority that top coaches today get.
Ah, the irony. Davis' crowning achievement since he moved the team back to Oakland, the testimony to the Genius' genius, is Gruden. This relationship should work.
But there is absolute power at stake here, and you know what absolute power does.
Timberrrr
Owner Al Davis and coach Jon Gruden have brought Oakland back to the brink of glory. Too bad they can't get along
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Raider Nation has become Balkanized and polarized, its troubles super- sized.
The coach and the owner stand back to back, pistols raised. It's marvelous theater, with Shakespearean elements and clever subplots.
But it might spell the end of the Raiders as we know and love/hate them.
In a nutshell: Coach Jon Gruden, who just finished the fourth season of a five-year contract, has done for the Raiders what Prof. Higgins did for Ms. Doolittle. Now Gruden wants more money, respect and power.
The boss, Al Davis, is miffed at his uppity young coach, resents his sudden fame and grab for money/power. Davis is saying to Gruden, in essence, "You are the Raiders, not vice versa."
This is more than just a coach-owner tiff. This could be fatal for the franchise.
Who's to blame? It's like the public debate over which stamp the Postal Service should issue:
Young Elvis or Old Elvis.
Old Elvis is Davis, Raiders' godfather. He's the NFL's rebel without a pause, creator of the Raider mystique. He still greases his hair back like Grandpa Rock, is deeply involved with the team and speaks in public about as often as the real Elvis.
Young Elvis is Gruden, the first rock-star coach in big-time sports since Pat Riley catwalked the sidelines for the Lakers and Knicks. If someone put out a calendar of hunky coaches, Gruden would be January through June. His players see him as Sgt. Rock, bayonet in teeth, leading them out of the trench.
If you're a Raiders fan, you love both Al and Jon, but you can't, because the San Andreas-size rift between them threatens to destroy Raider Nation.
Gruden will be fine. If he stays with the Raiders, he'll be richer and more powerful. Same if he leaves.
But this could be Al's Last Stand, and the end of the Oakland phase of Raiders history.
Davis is 72. If he loses his hot young coach, he risks alienating many players and fans and sending the Raiders into a massive funk. Does Davis have the heart and strength and wits to start over? Could he discover another brilliant coach and patch up an aging team, while fighting serious legal battles against Oakland and the NFL?
If the team reverts to losing, fan interest and revenue will drop, Davis' pride will take a big hit, and maybe Al will bail. Sell the team or move it.
Gruden, because he has made himself so doggone lovable, has -- in this observer's semihumble opinion -- escaped his share of blame for the current ugly standoff.
Not long after the Raiders were eliminated from the playoffs Saturday in an overtime loss at New England, Gruden's agent announced that there would be no contract negotiations, now or later. Gruden will coach the Raiders next season and then depart.
Excellent strategy. This will force the Raiders to either give Gruden the fat raise and power he demands or let him out of the final year of his contract by "trading" him to Tampa Bay for some draft picks or players.
THE METHOD WAS MADNESS
However! Gruden's agent made the announcement very publicly, instead of sending it directly to Davis' cave via messenger pigeon.
This is alienation of the players' affection. Spiritual abandonment. Gruden's success with the Raiders is based in no small part on his ability to do that Sgt. Rock thing, to be the tough guy the players love and respect and listen to and fight for. Not many coaches pull this off as well as Gruden has.
Gruden announcing (through his mouthpiece) that he's leaving after next season is like a guy having his agent tell the man's wife, "My client loves you like crazy, says you two are sensational together, but he's not getting everything he needs here, so he's going to be the world's greatest husband for one year, then he's leaving you. You may now give my client a big wet kiss!"
Gruden should have kept the battle private. You don't out yourself as a lame duck.
Besides, it was wimpy of Gruden to let his agent deliver the news.
WHO'S THE GREATER RAIDER?
That said, both parties in the battle have valid points, which go something like this:
Davis: I make this nobody the head coach of the world's greatest football organization, assemble him a fine team, and now he takes all the credit and demands more money, when his contract isn't even up. And he finished the season 3-5.
Gruden: I save this guy's sorry team, return his franchise to glory, get us to within one game of the Super Bowl, and he wants the credit, and won't even pay me a fair wage?
Davis: He wants final say on who we draft and sign? Doesn't he know I have built dynasties with my brilliant insights into the human psyche?
Gruden: Right. He wastes a No. 1 pick on Sebastian Janikowski, the Pillsbury party boy? Drafting mutant space aliens might have worked in the '70s, but the Cuckoo's Nest is closed.
Davis: He has taken my feared deep-passing game and turned it into a namby- pamby dink-'n'-dunk offense. And in tight games, he chokes by becoming as conservative as Bob Dole's tailor.
Gruden: He gives me a weak-armed quarterback and ancient wide receivers and wants me to throw bombs? And the carping. What other coach has to put up with Captain Backstab lurking in the stadium's shadows?
And so on. I'm telling you, folks, this enterprise is doomed.
Davis wants a coach who calls him "coach" and lets Al pick out the linoleum pattern for the office.
Gruden wants the respect and absolute authority that top coaches today get.
Ah, the irony. Davis' crowning achievement since he moved the team back to Oakland, the testimony to the Genius' genius, is Gruden. This relationship should work.
But there is absolute power at stake here, and you know what absolute power does.
Timberrrr
