I’ve said it before, and it bears repeating. Short of a Bobby Knight tantrum or an American League pitcher trying to hit a curveball, an Al Davis press conference might be the most entertaining event in sports. Any notions that Tuesday’s session at Raiders headquarters would be blander than usual (not counting the portion where Lane Kiffin was speaking, of course) were immediately dispelled by Davis. The first words out of his mouth were aimed at a young man sitting… Read More »

Steve Sarkisian, the 32-year-old USC assistant who remains the frontrunner for the Raiders’ less-than-coveted head coaching vacancy, was back in Alameda for a second interview with team owner Al Davis on Wednesday. The question is whether Sarkisian and Davis will begin hammering out a contract this time. Most fans – and without a doubt, every writer assigned to the case – would be thrilled to wrap up this search soon. There is still talk at team headquarters about wanting to… Read More »

Long after firing Art Shell as Raiders coach in 1995, team owner Al Davis called it his biggest mistake as guardian of the franchise. But less than a year after giving him a second chance, Davis has again dismissed Shell. The two men met on Thursday in the wake of a disastrous season. And after initially deciding to make an announcement today, Davis responded to a whirlwind of rumors by putting the issue to rest that night. The Raiders distributed… Read More »

If you had entered the Raiders’ post-game locker room in the spare underbelly of the Meadowlands on Sunday, it’s possible you would have briefly mistaken the Raiders for a winning team. At the least, you probably wouldn’t have guessed these were players stuck in a nine-game losing streak. Hip-hop blared from a boom box in a corner inhabited by the defensive linemen, a scene-setter usually reserved for the winning locker room. And with the exception of free safety Stuart Schweigert,… Read More »