Al Davis Should Send Some Gang Member to Slap These People Around
You may have noticed that I entitled my most recent post "Comitment to Excelence."
I did that on purpose.
It's a joke.
You may laugh now.
But the scary thing is that a Google search reveals several sites that use the same misspelling.
Perhaps you want to read the January 19, 2005 news release "Audiocom's Comitment to Excelence."
Or perhaps you want to read the advertisement in which Limousines of Nevada speaks of their "comitment to excelence."
Even Raiders fans make a mistake once in a while. (Are you shocked?) This was posted in September 2004, when the poster predicted a great season for the Raiders:
My Hat is also off to the man himself Jerry Rice, he is still showing up rokies past the age of 40 he is a legend and Oakland gets to experiance another Great Season of NFL Football from The Oakland Raiders, and Their Comitment To Excelence!!!!
Forget the misspellings for a moment. This phrase is so ingrained in Raiders lore - and once upon a time it was actually true - that I figured I should investigate it a little more. It turns out that the Oakland Raiders were not in any way excellent before Al Davis' arrival, and that they had a bug-eyed coach at one point (or a coach with the same name as a famous bug-eyed actor). Excerpts from about.com:
Oakland Raiders History
1960
• The American Football League awarded Oakland a football franchise on January 30th.
• Eddie Erdelatz was appointed first Oakland Raiders coach on February 9th.
• First regular-season home game was a 37-22 loss to Houston on September 11th.
• Raiders record their first regular-season win, 14-13 over the Oilers, on September 25th.
• Finished the 1960 season with a 6-8 record.
1961
• Head coach Eddie Erdelatz was fired and assistant Marty Feldman took over on September 17th
1962
• Head coach Marty Feldman was fired after five-straight loss and was replaced by assistant William Conkright.
1963
• Al Davis named head coach and general manager on January 15th.
• Raiders display new silver and black uniforms in season opener on September 7th.
• Raiders record their first winning season. (10-4)
1966
• Al Davis named AFL Commissioner on April 8th.
• On June 8th, the AFL and NFL merge and make plans to have a common draft and championship game.
• Al Davis resigns as AFL Commissioner on July 25th.
1967
• Raiders ended the season 13-1; the best record in AFL history.
• Beat Houston 40-7 to win AFL Championship on December 31st.
1968
• The Raiders lost to the Packers, 33-14, in Super Bowl II on January 25th.
• November 17th was the date of the infamous "Heidi" game. The Raiders beat New York 43-32, but their great come-back win was cut off by the television network so they could start the movie "Heidi" on time.
1969
• John Madden replaced John Rauch as head coach on February 4th.
1976
• Raiders win the AFC Championship by beating Pittsburg[h] 24-7 on December 26th.
1977
• On January 9th, the Raiders beat the Minnesota Vikings, 32-14, at Super Bowl XI in Pasadena, California.
• On March 5th, Al Davis was named NFL Executive of the Year for the 1976 season.
Perhaps I'll save the 1980s for another time - or wait until I add a law blog to my blog empire.
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