In Silver And Black...

[Angry Pope]

Bob Brown....

His own salaries

"It's a number that's embarrassing. The money they throw around now, they've got guys sitting on the end of the bench who pay more in taxes than I made."

His own ability

"I can block anything that was born from a woman. I just never had a problem with that, whether it weighs 350 or 260, it didn't matter to me."

 

[Angry Pope]

Al on Biletnikoff at the HOF ceremonies...I believe...

"A man will walk softly into the valley of giants and he will make you wonder: Where is the body? Where is the strength? Where is the speed? How is he going to play a giant’s game? How is he going to compensate?

"And then you hope and you watch and you wait for a miracle to happen and you discover that this man can play the game. He can beat you - not with great physical skills, not with great athletic skills, but with artifice, timing, and execution. Fred Biletnikoff was an artist and the Hall of Fame is his Louvre."

 

[Angry Pope]

More Al about Fred...

"I see his long sleeves flying," Davis says. "I see his socks hanging down below his bony knees... always hanging down - I love it!"

Davis smiles his half-warm, half-sinister smile. "And that long, blond hair flowing out of the back of his helmet. And lots of eye black below the eyes. And Stick'Em everywhere - on his uniform, on his body, and especially on those hands... those magnificent hands... those hands that he’d always seem to be able to extend at the last second to pluck the football out of the sky from Kenny Stabler or Daryle Lamonica or Tom Flores."

 

[Crossbones]

Al Davis was eloquent there. Bravo!!

 

[Rupert]

We'll have to wait to see what he says about Madden. Hopefully, he'll be as eloquent.

 

[Angry Pope]

Pete Banaszak....

Back in those days every team hated us. Madden would even get a group of guys to go to church on Sunday morning and even the priest would make a derogatory comment about us when he saw us sitting in the back that the enemy is in town.

 

[Angry Pope]

Bob Brown...

Asked to describe his playing style, Brown said....

"I was very attack oriented. I didn't want to be a shock absorber. I wanted to be the guy who was delivering the shock. I was extremely aggressive for an offensive player. I used to liken it to being a 16-pound sledgehammer."

 

[Angry Pope]

Dave Casper on being chosen to be in the HOF...

"I feel very fortunate [to be in the Hall of Fame]," Casper said. "There are some people who think I'm very, very good. There are some who think I didn't play long enough. They're both correct. I'm here and I'm happy."

 

[Angry Pope]

During the week before the Oakland Raiders beat the Philadelphia Eagles 27-10 Sunday to win Super Bowl XV, their coach collected $15,000 in fines.....

"Actually, that's a conservative figure," said their captain, Gene Upshaw, the left guard. "We're not a bunch of choirboys and Boy Scouts. They say we're the Halfway House of the NFL. Well, we live up to that image."....

Here Upshaw paused in his postgame oration for dramatic emphasis, and a smile split his face.

"Every chance we get."

 

[Angry Pope]

Midway through his second season with the Raiders, defensive lineman Chester McGlockton stopped by Shell, his coach, as McGlockton trotted off the field after practice.

"Hey," he said to Shell, "someone told me you used to play."

 

[Angry Pope]

Madden......

"Bob Brown used to always say that if he could get the right hit on a defensive end -- hit him in the right place, like the solar plexus or something -- that he could take a quarter out of him. And he used to do it. He'd hit a guy in the first quarter and say, 'I won't see him again until the third quarter.' "

 

[Angry Pope]

From Foo (Villapiano)...

"You've got to give something back. I'm a national vice president for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. In 10 years, we've raised a couple million for research. I've been working with them since 1971. I also help with the Special Olympics' Tournament of Champions."

 

[Angry Pope]

Davis, who was supposed to be the villain of the event, kept a low profile all week. You would have thought that with the Raiders finally in the big game again after a nine-year wait, Al would have hung around and enjoyed the limelight. But he was practically invisible. On game day, as he loitered on the field after the Oakland team buses arrived, he was asked where he had been.

"Aw, you know me," he said. "If I come around, I say something controversial, and the commissioner doesn't get the headlines."

 

[Angry Pope]

Frank Middleton...(more known quote but I will get it out of the way)...

Oakland Raiders; prior to Super Bowl XXXVII he was asked what was the best thing his ex-head coach Jon Gruden (now the Tampa Bay head coach and his opponent in the Super Bowl) did for the Oakland Raiders. Frank said: "Leave."

 

[Angry Pope]

John Madden

The road to Easy Street goes through the sewer.

 

[Angry Pope]

Bo Jackson...

If my mother put on a helmet and shoulder pads and a uniform that wasn't the same as the one I was wearing, I'd run over her if she was in my way. And I love my mother.

 

[Crossbones]

Oakland Raiders; prior to Super Bowl XXXVII he was asked what was the best thing his ex-head coach Jon Gruden (now the Tampa Bay head coach and his opponent in the Super Bowl) did for the Oakland Raiders. Frank said: "Leave."

What's that tell you? Players tire quickly of Gruden's act. Gruden is all about Gruden IMO.

 

[Angry Pope]

Howie Long...

"In Montana, they renamed a town after an all-time great, Joe Montana. Well, a town in Massachusetts changed their name to honor my guy Terry Bradshaw--Marblehead."

 

[Angry Pope]

Atkinson....

Naturally, Oakland's George Atkinson drew considerable pregame attention. Over and over, he was grilled on his past atrocities in secondary. For him, there was nothing unusual about his exploits, "I treat pass receivers the way you would treat a burglar in your home," he said. "What would you do?" he added, asking the question of his listeners.

"Call you," said a media wit.

 

[Angry Pope]

Stabler.....

"I bet there are 25 quarterbacks who can throw better than I can. But I can make guys win. I can motivate players and they'll tell you that. It's part of my job. Winning is what we're all here for. It cures colds, heals fever blisters, whatever's wrong with you. "