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Al Davis vs. the NFL (30 for 30 recap)


major

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Another fascinating 30 for 30. Look forward to hearing your take but some tidbits I’m still pondering after watching it (*and I lived through it all): 

(1) found myself pulling for Al while watching it (2) felt sorry for Pete Rozell by end of it (3) had Al not done this, a lot of cities and their residents/fans would have been spared a lot of pain (Cleveland, Oakland, Baltimore, St Louis, Irwindale CA, Houston, LA, etc...)  (4) Oakland and Al should have worked something out (*in reality they will always be the Oakland Raiders) (5) Raiders had some players back in the late 70’s that seemed to instill fear in everyone they played - replay the Lynn Swann comment for proof (6) NFL was more fun back in the late 70’s and throughout the 80’s (7) so thankful OUR BILLS never relocated 

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Major, it’s too bad no one posted it was going to be on, but I’ll keep a lookout for a replay.  Did they mention Ralph loaning Al $50,000 I believe to keep the team afloat back in the early 60’s?  I remember seeing other interviews how Ralph wanted to keep the foolish 8 afloat which is the reasoning he loaned Al the $.  This again was from interviews I saw over decade ago, so one of the old timers might have more info., but I realize the focus was probably on Al, and why he did what he did to get the Raiders going.

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7 minutes ago, machine gun kelly said:

Major, it’s too bad no one posted it was going to be on, but I’ll keep a lookout for a replay.  Did they mention Ralph loaning Al $50,000 I believe to keep the team afloat back in the early 60’s?  I remember seeing other interviews how Ralph wanted to keep the foolish 8 afloat which is the reasoning he loaned Al the $.  This again was from interviews I saw over decade ago, so one of the old timers might have more info., but I realize the focus was probably on Al, and why he did what he did to get the Raiders going.

Sadly they didn’t mention the Ralph loan to Al 

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Amazing episode. I had no idea about the history. Al Davis was a superstar. Players loved him. 


But I also think Rozelle did the best he could as commish to stop teams from going rogue and moving cities willynilly. I too sympathized with his position. 
man’s having to hand over the Lombardi trophy to Al the year the fight started?  Wow. 

Love how Rozelle would just light up a butt on the podium in the middle of a conference. Ah when smoking was normal!

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6 hours ago, machine gun kelly said:

Major, it’s too bad no one posted it was going to be on, but I’ll keep a lookout for a replay.  Did they mention Ralph loaning Al $50,000 I believe to keep the team afloat back in the early 60’s?  I remember seeing other interviews how Ralph wanted to keep the foolish 8 afloat which is the reasoning he loaned Al the $.  This again was from interviews I saw over decade ago, so one of the old timers might have more info., but I realize the focus was probably on Al, and why he did what he did to get the Raiders going.

 

 

It is available on streaming ESPN/ESPN+.

https://www.espn.com/watch/catalog/21765073-400b-4fb4-a63f-b3813a1c9bf3

 

I do not have ESPN despite having "Sports Package" to get NFLN so I could watch Bills game late in season last year.

This shows you how messed up Verizon FIOS is in this area. Only reason I still have it is because when "Sports Tier" was added I also got H&I (Heroes and Icons) and there are repeat syndication shows my wife and I watch.

 

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4 hours ago, BringMetheHeadofLeonLett said:

Those 70's Raiders were friggin' fantastic.  I'd love to see how many minutes everyone's favorite GOAT/whiner boy would have lasted against them.  My guess would be less than 30.   

I would love to see a 30 for 30 that focused on the Raiders football team of the 70s itself or maybe even a Raiders-Steelers in the 70s rivalry episode/series.  That would be awesome!

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8 hours ago, major said:

Another fascinating 30 for 30. Look forward to hearing your take but some tidbits I’m still pondering after watching it (*and I lived through it all): 

(1) found myself pulling for Al while watching it (2) felt sorry for Pete Rozell by end of it (3) had Al not done this, a lot of cities and their residents/fans would have been spared a lot of pain (Cleveland, Oakland, Baltimore, St Louis, Irwindale CA, Houston, LA, etc...)  (4) Oakland and Al should have worked something out (*in reality they will always be the Oakland Raiders) (5) Raiders had some players back in the late 70’s that seemed to instill fear in everyone they played - replay the Lynn Swann comment for proof (6) NFL was more fun back in the late 70’s and throughout the 80’s (7) so thankful OUR BILLS never relocated 

Nice review, I’ll have to check it out. I

always wished I could have experienced 70’s and 80’s NFL football. I can only remember back to the 90’s, but even then it was definitely more fun. It seems like the entire world was more fun in the 70’s and 80’s from what I gather though. 

Edited by SirAndrew
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2 minutes ago, SirAndrew said:

Nice review, I’ll have to check it out. I

always wished I could have experienced 70’s and 80’s NFL football. I can only remember back to the 90’s, but even then it was definitely more fun. It seems like the entire world was more fun in the 70’s and 80’s from what I gather though. 

If you have twitter be sure to follow Super 70s Sports!

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I gotta watch that.  Love the 70's Raiders

 

As a postscript to the contention between Davis and the NFL, I don't think it's a coincidence that many years later the NFL didn't change the tuck rule until after Al Davis died. Pats/Raiders was 2001, Davis died in 2011, Tuck rule was scrapped in 2013

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7 minutes ago, BillsPride12 said:

If you have twitter be sure to follow Super 70s Sports!

Super 70s Sports is the only reason I have a Twitter account.

 

I haven't seen the 30 for 30 yet, but I remember well the rivalry between Davis and Rozelle...franchises leaving cities over stadium disputes is one of the saddest part of sports.  I know if the Bills ever left Buffalo, the NFL would be dead to me.

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1 minute ago, Ned Flanders said:

I haven't seen the 30 for 30 yet, but I remember well the rivalry between Davis and Rozelle...franchises leaving cities over stadium disputes is one of the saddest part of sports.  I know if the Bills ever left Buffalo, the NFL would be dead to me.

 

I agree.  I watched part of some of the other playoff games but considering not watching Superbowl.  Too much fluff for what you get. 

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I haven't watched yet but did dvr it. Was listening to Maddog yesterday and he was talking about it and when I tuned in he was pointing out errors. One was that the show had Rozelle and Davis making nice at Rozelles retirement, never happened, Maddog said they never looked at each other. Second he said the reason they went to LA had nothing to do with the stadium or the city. It was because he was expecting the NFL to switch to a pay per view TV format and he'd strike it rich due to the size of the LA market. I think another was mentioned but I can't remember. He also talked about how he can't believe how much they whine about the immaculate reception and supposed clipping.

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40 minutes ago, CA OC Bills Fan said:

I haven't watched yet but did dvr it. Was listening to Maddog yesterday and he was talking about it and when I tuned in he was pointing out errors. One was that the show had Rozelle and Davis making nice at Rozelles retirement, never happened, Maddog said they never looked at each other. Second he said the reason they went to LA had nothing to do with the stadium or the city. It was because he was expecting the NFL to switch to a pay per view TV format and he'd strike it rich due to the size of the LA market. I think another was mentioned but I can't remember. He also talked about how he can't believe how much they whine about the immaculate reception and supposed clipping.

 

While watching it I was wondering if they were going to make a point of them embracing when Rozelle announced he was retiring, because I distinctively recall that being talking about back in 1989 that people were very surprised that they embraced and the emotion of it.  So while Maddog stated it didn't ever happen, at the time many others reported it did happen.

 

Two things stuck me watching it Rozelle smoked like a chimney.  At the time there certainly wasn't all the live coverage of press conferences etc, that there are today, but don't recall seeing him smoking publicly.  Never saw him standing up there stating: "With the 17th pick in the 1983 draft...." with a cigarette in his hand or having to wipe the ashes off the Super Bowl trophy.  After watching this surprised that didn't happen.

 

There was one very quick glimpse they showed of what appeared to be Mark Davis maybe back when he was around 20 years old or so, not too surprisingly he had the same identical haircut then as now!  Some things never change!

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1 hour ago, major said:

Is Jerry Jones the new Al Davis? I found Al likable back in the day. I’ve never found Jerry likable. Jerry, like Al in his later years, has driven his team into the ground (*much to my enjoyment)

 

Yeah interesting that All was liked, but Jerry always hated.  Only difference I can see is Al didn't seem to come on that strong in the early days, maybe because the AFL as a whole wasn't that big.  And when Al did come on strong in the later AFL years it was to fight the established NFL and became somewhat of a hero for that.  There was something mystique too about the "Silver and Black"

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1 hour ago, Limeaid said:

Al Davis was a maverick; Jerry Jones was and is the lead for "we need to make the most we can and if a team can not make as much as they could (as much as me) drop a load of buffalo crap on them.

Another thing Al Davis was that Jerry Jones never was or will be, is a bonafide football man. Davis had an intimate understanding of every facet of the game. 

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