Al Davis Too Cool For His Own Party

For the second straight year, the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame tried to induct Raiders owner Al Davis, only for Davis to be a no-show at the event. Last year, he was to go in with Eddie DeBartolo, the former owner of the crosstown NFC rival 49ers. He couldn’t make it then, so officials postponed his induction until this year, only to find that Davis was not in attendance for unspecified reasons.↵↵Some were left to guess whether he was wrapped up in draft preparation (which for Davis usually entails just seeing who had the fastest 40 yard dash time) or dealing with NFL owners’ meetings in Florida. There are those who think Davis’ snub was him working out a grudge he had against the organization for not inducting him sooner. No one really seems to have an answer, but they can agree he didn’t miss the event out of apathy.↵

↵↵⇥Though Davis wasn’t at the ceremony Monday, don’t think he doesn’t care. Displayed with each inductee’s plaque is a brief biography written by a sportswriter. When BASHOF sent Davis his bio for inspection, a courtesy aimed at correcting errors, Davis rejected it and asked that it be completely rewritten by a different writer.↵↵↵Mmm-mmm. That’s some tasty spite. ↵

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↵↵⇥John Madden was Davis’ presenter, and also his stunt double when it came to accepting the award.↵↵↵I would have liked to have seen that: Madden says his line, then hops to the other side of the podium, dons a windbreaker and glasses, and says something raspy and surly as he accepts the award.↵

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