Al Davis: Behind the Raiders Shield Hardcover – September 1, 2017

*** WHAT DOES AL SAY!!! ***Ask the actual person terrible stuff is being bombarded with*** It's opinionated. Al Davis passed away in 2011 and can't dispute or clarify what these jokers wrote about him and the Raiders organization. He provided a very nice life to those involved with this book. He willed a multi-million and now billion franchise to his boy(Mark).He wasn't a perfect man. Who is? These are the opinions in this book of scouts and lower tiered employees. I ask them... Why not quit and go work at Home Depot? I mean I'm super sorry Ron that Al didn't come see you at the hospital. He asked daily about you, he told your friends if he some how could pay for the best doctors for you. Not every body has the same structure on illness & death. It's been well documented that was his greatest fear. He cared deeply for you and all you could do is go behind his back and tell others he doesn't care and is no good, Proof is in the pudding. I hate to say it, but successful people are not extremely nice. Like it or not. That's the way it is.The book somewhat/sorta mentions Al picking up the tabs on travel, dinners,, funerals, extended family health issuesand really paints him as an evil dictator type NFL owner.Well I'm here to say that #1. It's offensive to me he doesn't have the ability to be here to dispute,refute or pollute any of these allegations. I think it's pure chicken the Amazon customers/Raider Nation and public can't hear Al's side and those that wrote the book stated they actually waited until he died to write this. That's cowardly in my opinion. Think about that, actually waited until he passed away. Today nobody asks the actual person to give their take.Anyways, I don't know if Amazon will accept this review. I just don't like all this hate anymore, This book is about hate, loaded with revengeful comments and the man it's focused on doesn't even get to tell his side of the allegations. I find that wrong.Al Davis has been very good to my family & I and it's nothing that anybody would think was anything. I just mean respectful and understanding. I got no financial kickbacks from Al or any fine dining dinners like these traitor authors have for decades. I respect the man's legacy and two things must be said... This book does not respect or protect him and who he was and on that basis I believe it shouldn't be produced based solely on the fact he can't respond since he's deceased. #2. All this is about is money! Plain & Simple. If it was really that bad over the years. Why not leave?Mark, If you're reading this. Thank you for keeping the fire burning. I'm happy you fired PR man Zak Gilbert in 2013. You're right dude... You must protect the legacy. If we all reeeealllllly knew John Wayne, Elvis, or even Abe Lincoln... We might have a different opinion. That's yesterday's news. We move on and try ourselves to improve. Nobody is perfect. So thanks for protecting your ol' man. 5-Super Bowls. 3- World Championships... I think Al did ok. Remember the trainer in the early 70's that just got hired on and suddenly passed away. Remember what your dad did for him and his family? (Nobody knows that or at least mentions it and that's one of many instances) Al might not of been the easiest boss in the world. He was the boss and he had a huge heart too. He deserves some respect.Don't read this book. I should of never bought it. "Take the good with the bad, baby" and in today's society. "Trust no one!"On a happy note... "Just Win" (L.A. Raiders players ribbing/mocking Al for his unique personality) and then after SB 18 victory Mr. Davis stepped up to the mic with his humor & his own personal stamp of "Just Win, Baby!" as the entire team laughed & cheered (players didn't know he knew you mock his... "Just Win, Just Win" comments.) Great Times, Mr. Al Davis brought a lot of joy to his players & fans. I'm happy he got to be one of my many idols! I sure miss him. :-D “There’s part of you that says, you know that he’s going to die, but there’s another part that says, Al Davis will never die. It’s Al Davis. Then, you think that he’s sick, he’s not doing well, but he’s a fighter, he’ll fight this, and he’s going to win. Then, you hear the call and you say, well, you shouldn’t be shocked. But it was very, very shocking. I still am. If you really knew him and you were a part of him, he was the most loyal friend or person that you could have. And then there was a lot of people that he didn’t know. Well, of course, he couldn’t be loyal to them. Like I said, Al Davis isn’t for everyone. Everyone’s not going to say that Al Davis is this or that, that he’s perfect, and he’s all these things. But if he’s your friend, if you played for him, if you coached for him, if you were part of the NFL, he was that guy. And there was no one that could be better at being that guy than Al Davis. He stood up for what he believed and he stood up for what he thought was right, not only for him but for other people.”---- John Madden, Head Coach Oakland Raiders

I have to ask what others have. If it was that terrible, why stay all those decades? Was if for the chance that you might be able to write this book about the man who employed and trusted you all those years?Al Davis is no saint. Who among us is? This book tells who he wronged. How often he wronged them. Along with Al, apparently, never admitting nor even understanding who he wronged or why it was wrong.I am a huge fan of Steve's. This much vindictiveness is beneath him. But I have no reason to think anything he put down on paper lacks fact in his eyes.I am not upset that I purchased the book. It gave me insight into a side of these men I had no idea existed.

To start, this book is not well organized and the writing style is odd. Basically a jumble of Raider stories from a couple of ex Raider scouts and former Raider newspaper beat writer. They repeat some information. The story lines hop around different topics. Sometimes in the same paragraph.Writer Corkran I know from his east bay newspaper days. I liked him then. This is substandard.If you are a die hard, love them for ever Raiders fan, that have read everything that you can find, like me, add this to your list. Fills in lots of gaps and "What was up with that player or coach?"Lots of behind the scenes stories. Confirmation about how All Davis was stupid distracted by 40 yard dash times.

As a long time Raiders fan, overall I am glad I read the book. There are multiple interesting stories and explains why the Raiders went downhill. I thought about a 4 rating but decided on a 3 as the good of the book is really diminished by the negatives: 1) All the similar negative stories about Al Davis were more than excessive, really to the point they became boring as repeatedly belabored similar negatives of Al Davis personality over and over again; 2) seemed like authors' mission other than trashing Al Davis was to write about how smart they were - only if Al Davis had listened to them in this situation or that situation; and 3) missed opportunities to discuss things that to me would have been quite interesting. E.g., wrote about Super Bowl loss to Tampa but did not address Tim Brown's allegations that Coach Callahan deliberately threw the game due to his anger at Al Davis. In a book like this, you would think this would be a topic. Would like to see more about positives mixed in, while some discussion about how Al Davis would change players positions, but never even mentioned how switched Lester Hayes from linebacker to being what should be a Hall of Fame Cornerback. Like to hear story about cheating. Matt Millen speaking about Raider rule, "if you ain't cheating you ain't trying. Also, this book wrote about how Bill Walsh and Davis were strong friends, but never touched on Walsh speaking about how demented some Raiders players were (ESPN 30 for 30). There could have been so many more interesting stories vs. just repeating the same negative things about Al Davis.

A superb read!

A must read for any Raider fan.

Ok