Al Davis: Personnel Genius

by JohnHannahRules on Sep 10, 2009 4:40 PM EDT Comment 14 comments

Just out of idle curiosity (and I do mean "idle"), I wandered over to Silver and Black Pride to see what they're saying about The Trade. It's amazing.

On the other hand, you have to give some credit to a fan base that has no sense of reality whatsoever. Picture the guy with a tattered Howie Long jersey, wing-stained fingers and a warm Coors Light clenched in his greasy fist who, drunk beyond reason, leans across the bar and fixes you with that drunk man's stare -- you know the one: the "I have the absolute truth" look -- and says, "I'm tellin' you: THIS IS OUR YEAR."

Behold:

Let's Hear It For Al Davis and his management team!

Seriously. Once again they have gone out and done the best they could with what they had to get a piece that can best help the organization!

How this move pays off in the near and long run remains to be seen, but from where I am sitting (in a comfy new leather seat) this move may be the best we've made since we brought in Rice, Parella and Woodson. And not one of those players was shy of 30 years old.

The pundits are already flapping their gums about this being a one year deal and the Patriots getting over on the Raiders again. To them I say that we are still repaying them for Jim Plunkett. We owe them two Championships and we may have just gotten over again.

Heh.

Look, I don't know that 1st-rounder will turn into -- could be a Jerod Mayo. Could be a Kaczur and a Wilhite. Could be a cup of crap and an elephant's foot trash bin. But I do know that a future 1st round draft choice is way too much money for a heavy player on the downslope of 30 with a history of injuries and a reputation for picking his spots.

Don't get me wrong! I am and will remain a huge fan of Richard's. Incredibly classy guy. Amazingly talented athlete and, often, an unblockable force. He'll forever by one of The Guys -- the team that redeemed decades of fandom with the ultimate success. Three times. He was also a stubborn negotiator, and I'll never fault a player for that.

But there's just no denying that, from a business perspective, the Raiders got hosed. When I read stuff like that quote above (from one of the site's editors), I am left with no choice but to conclude that Oakland-Alemeda County Stadium is nothing but a giant toilet bowl, once full of kool-aid, of which every drop has been silver-and-black-slurped with utter relish.

In fact, I almost hope they have "gotten over." That kind of blind belief is almost holy, in the way aboriginal peoples honor the completely insane "holy."

The views expressed in these FanPosts are not necessarily those of the writers or SBNation.

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Raider face-paint

Heavy metal poisoning can cause madness. Is it any surprise Raider’s draft picks seem like the Mad Hatter’s musical-chairs tea parties? They haven’t been drinking the kool-aid, they’ve been absorbing the metal face-paint.

by Comedic.Sans on Sep 10, 2009 4:56 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

you guys always bring up the raider stereo-types, like you comedic.sans

the truth is, we both won the trade. the raiders get a a guy who can fill in THE biggest hole in their defense, and you guys one by getting the first round draft pick. And raider fans are very knowledgeable in terms of football, so i appreciate if you don’t call raider fans idiots(you didn’t say it, but it certainly seemed like you were trying to). Our fan base has a sense of reality, we’re just dedicated fans. that’s who we are.
Please, do not, ever, talk down to raider fans. we are more knowledgeable than you know.

by patriotguy2 on Sep 10, 2009 8:06 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

'Tis all in jest.

I’m pretty sure Raiders fans said the same thing when they were great and the Pats were awful. I’m not sure whether I’d have traded for Seymour were I a Raider’s GM personally, because there are a few good and far younger DTs who might’ve been picked up for less. In saying that, it’s the first personnel move out of that team that makes sense in a while.

I do wonder if it wasn’t pushed by Al Davis, who seems mostly interested in offence and/or speed. If it wasn’t, and someone else (one of the coaches? who knows?) actually got to weigh in and force Davis to trade for a useful player, that’s fantastic. It’s actually sad to see a team micro-managed that badly. And I’ve never cast the same brush on all Raider’s fans; the heavy-metal poisoning joke was just that, a joke. And I actually do hope JaMarcus Russel and a couple of those RBs have great seasons – they have a lot of things going against them and I love underdog stories.

by Comedic.Sans on Sep 10, 2009 9:05 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

one thing, or two

every team talks bad to one another eventually. second, i made a post on silver and black pride of ALL the DT in free agency that has been updated in june. none were any impact player that they needed, so seymour was the best player that they got out of the DL unit after the draft.

by patriotguy2 on Sep 10, 2009 10:40 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

patriotguy2 is a Raiders fan?

This explains so much…
So when the Raiders start winning again are you going to change your name back to raidersguy2? Or…if the Pats start to suck again and the Raiders still blow will you just change your name to (insert winning team name here)guy2?
Hurry! I hear another bandwagon coming!

"Flying blind on a rocket cycle?" -Vultan, from the movie "Flash Gordon", for no particular reason...

by peytonsurdaddy on Sep 11, 2009 7:18 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

um

first of all, i’m a bit more of a pats fan. i’m a raiders fan too because of my stepfather, and, at an early age, became a fan of the raiders as well. i went on to this site first because i like the pats more than the raiders, but that does not diminish my fanhood as the raiders as well.

by patriotguy on Sep 11, 2009 8:48 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

How many screen names do you have anyway?

"Flying blind on a rocket cycle?" -Vultan, from the movie "Flash Gordon", for no particular reason...

by peytonsurdaddy on Sep 12, 2009 12:02 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

just patriotguy for this computer and patriotguy2 for the computer at my dad's house.

by patriotguy on Sep 12, 2009 11:37 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Doesn't look good for Seymour or the Raiders

Chris Gasper just posted that the Raiders just sent Seymour the 5-day letter tonight notifying him that he has five days to report to the Raiders or he’ll be placed on the reserve/did not report list, which would put him out for the season.

Keep the faith!

by Marima on Sep 10, 2009 10:57 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I heard some talking heads

Say that most GMs talk to players they want to trade for as part of the evaluation process, but Davis didn’t even talk to Seymour’s agent. He’s not even performing due diligence. Seems like every move is kneejerk.

"These players, a lot of other people didn't believe in them, but they believe in themselves. And that is all that matters."- Bill Belichick

by Mainiac on Sep 11, 2009 12:12 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Nope.

This is a fairly good move for the Raiders. Well, if Richie Rich wasn’t being his classless anal self it would be a good move.

They need to get better NOW. No, they aren’t going all the way by any means. But the joke they have become is detrimental to future success. Players don’t want to go there. This hurts them with potential free agents and obviously trades. They need to at least get this monkey off their back. Seymour could stabilize a poor run defense and allow them to go 8-8 or even 9-7 in a weak AFC west. I think it’s worth the pick they are giving up considering their situation.

Warm up the Duck Boats!!!

by BabeParilli on Sep 11, 2009 2:58 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Good analysis

The more you know, the more you know that you don't know.

by SlotMachinePlayer on Sep 11, 2009 3:23 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

It would have been a good trade, but for

what seems to be a complete mismanagement of the whole deal by the Raiders. If Maniac above is correct, Seymour’s agents didn’t even hear from the Raiders camp. Given that Randy Moss and Burgess were probably telling him horror stories about Raiders management beforehand, learning that you’re expected to move to the other side of the United States, join a franchise and become a vital cog in a so-so team within a week without even having talked to that team’s management… well, I didn’t like Seymour’s contract dealings with the Pats, but his dealing with the Raiders is actually somewhat understandable.

by Comedic.Sans on Sep 11, 2009 5:52 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs