Remembering Al Davis

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"A small wiry man in a tan golf jacket with a greasy duck-tail haircut who paced along the sidelines of both practice fields with a speedy kind of intensity … like a pimp or a track tout."

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That was Hunter S. Thompson's take on the man, back in 1973, during the too-short month they hung together at Raiders practices talking about, according to Thompson, "foreign affairs." (Jesus, how much would you pay for transcripts of those conversations?) After a few weeks, Davis banished the Gonzo king from the kingdom of the silver and black; Al, always the paranoiac, quickly decided he didn't trust the man. But if you're looking for an analogy for Al's legacy, there you have it. What Thompson was to journalism, Al Davis was to professional football.

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