NFL Loses Good Football Man With Davis' Death
By Pete Prisco, CBS Sports
OAKLAND (CBS Sports) -- I was getting on a plane when I saw the news:
Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis was dead.
I didn't know Davis very well, only dealing with him occasionally at NFL league meetings, but I always found him fascinating.
He knew football.
I loved that about him.
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NFL Loses A Great Football Man
Yes, he had his faults. And, yes, there are still questions about how he finagled ownership of the Raiders, but Davis was a football man turned owner.
That made him intriguing to me.
I've read countless books about the Raiders and their mystique. I loved the "Just Win, Baby" approach.
In recent years, it's been far from that for the franchise. Did Davis mettle too much? You bet. But remember he was a football man through and through. There are some who insist Davis ran the defense for years after he left coaching.
He couldn't get away.
We lost a big piece of NFL history Saturday.
Just Sad.
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