Transcript Of Al's Press Conference...

[Angry Pope]

Transcript of Al Davis Press Conference




The Madden Segment (Part 1 of Al Davis)

I want you to all know I'm alive, very healthy, can still smile, and work out, five days a week, and if we could do away with this walker, well, I'd be able to meet with you more often, won't be scared of you.

I've been getting a tremendous amount of calls, from all over the country, relative to John Madden, my friend and great Raider, and also to Art Shell, the beginning, the reaffirmation, in Art. Also, the commissionership, that I'll explain to you, I'm on a committee, and then a little bit about football. I make this statement to you, that I think I missed four complete days of practice, maybe five, and two practices a day. Each practice, to watch it on tape, study offense, study defense, not only tactics, strategy, but individual players, special teams, means that it's at least two and a half to three hours, each practice.

So I got wrapped up in it, and I was doing really good, and then an old friend of mine, Gene Upshaw, and he wanted to come in and talk for about two hours, until I released him, got him out, then other people came in, and then some players stopped by, so it's tough to catch up. But I think I'm getting there, I'm really close to where I want to be relative to what's being said and done. I met with the coaches for an hour, the night before, I think it was Monday night, and I'll start by talking about John Madden.

I go back, 33 years, to 1963, I had come to Oakland as the head coach and general manager, and many duties to fill a staff, acquire personnel, get ready for mini-camps, training camp, and I realized we didn't have a place to go for training camp, so I talked to newspapers publicly, about we are open for an area for a training camp.

And I got several calls, many, and there was one particular call I got from the head coach of Alan Hancock Junior College in Santa Maria, California, and his name was John Madden. Quite frankly, it was unbeknownst to me who John was, but he got on, he was very enthusiastic.

We can take you here at Alan Hancock College, we've got a dorm, we can room you and all, and in those days I would talk to him about price per man, and I really believe this to be true, I remember it distinctly, we were talking about 12 dollars a day for room and board per player. And we were even arguing that if a player leaves after lunch and they have already ordered his dinner food, do you pay for that.

In a letter, I still think we file it, from Santa Rosa California, the El Rancho Hotel (unfamiliar name), telling me he had a hotel and motel and would we like to come up to him and talk to him and look at it. We did, and as you know, from 1963 until about 1981 we stayed at the El Rancho in Santa Rosa, and it was super.

When we went to Los Angeles, we stayed in a hotel in Oxnard, California, and then when we came back here, John Herrera, who is one of our executives, who is really good at finding these places, found this hotel and we had to convince everyone in the hotel what they could do with the land in the back, and that's why you see us in Napa.

I eventually met John in 1966 or 1967, he was a defensive coach of a powerhouse, and they really were very good at San Diego State University, they had pro players, and they had draftable players, and we became just acquaintances.

In 1967 we lost a young coach who was going down to coach the San Jose Apaches, he was going to change professional football in the United States, and his name was Bill Walsh. He had been our backfield coach. Bill was going to be the head coach of the San Jose Apaches. We needed someone to replace a coach, so we hired John Madden to be our linebacker coach and for two years he was our linebacker coach, the first year, he was indoctrinated in the National Football League, we went to the Super Bowl, and we got beat very bad by Green Bay, and the next year, we went to the championship game in New York, and it was a brilliant game in the snow, and we got beat at the end. And so those were his first two years as our linebacker coach.

His records, are unparalleled. It's amazing that it comes now, his recognition and his enshrinement in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. It should have been done a long time ago. Of note, beside his record, which is the finest record in the history of the National Football League for coaches who won over 100 games, he competed against, in which I call the golden era of coaches, 10 coaches who are in the Hall of Fame. Don Shula. Tom Landry. Weeb Ewbank. Hank Stram. And we can go on and on, Bud Grant. There's a million. Chuck Noll. I don't know if I said Chuck. We competed against every one of them, and I think one of you pointed out, he had a better record against every one of them than they had against him. Mind you, 10. Ten coaches in the Hall of Fame. And he had to wait this long.

Another thing I say to you, it's exciting, it's inspirational, is he's had nine Hall of Famers from his legendary era of 79 to 88, excuse me 69 to 78, he had nine Hall of Famers get there before him. The indestructible Jim Otto, the great clutch player George Blanda, Willie Brown, and he tells me the only one who ever beat him was Father Time, Fred Biletnikoff with his hands. Ted Hendricks. David Casper, and I could go on and name a few others. The famed Highway 63 and 78 of Gene Upshaw, president of the player's association, and Art Shell of course, the first Afro-American head coach they say of the modern era.

I say this to you, that one of the great characteristics of John Madden, besides coaching ability, was he saw no color. To me, that was tremendously important, because I remember vividly, in 1963, we were the first, and I don't know how many here were with us in 1963, we had to cancel a game in Mobile, Alabama, because they would not house our five Afro-American players. In those days we used the word black. Black players, with no affront to anybody.

So I cancelled the game, and we played it in Oakland. We were instrumental in canceling the All-Star game in New Orleans, and moved it to Houston, because they wouldn't house our black players in the All-Star game.

I say to you, this is self-serving, that the Raiders have done more than any organization, politically, or not, in fermenting and helping diversity, and John Madden was in the battle in it from Day 1. He had a black quarterback by the name of Eldridge Dickey who was drafted No. 1. Those players Upshaw and Shell didn't get to where they got based just on having ability. They had to have someone who believed in them, and it was important to me to have someone like that, that as I told you, he saw no color.

John, came from a family who was a football family. I know it's hard for you to believe, I take it into consideration, though, every time, the wife has to believe strongly that she's going to sacrifice to give her husband the opportunity to pursue their dreams and they have to have an understanding and faith in each other.

And Virginia Madden did that, with Mike and Joe, they used to come to our camps and it was really a football family. Now, John's gone on to be an icon. I'll never forget that when John retired, he did say this. I'm retiring, I'm not resigning. And he made it clear, because several owners in the league would call me from time to time, and say, because we still in a sense had the rights as a courtesy, and say, can we talk to John Madden about being our head coach. Or can we talk to John Madden about being our general manager, and I said, be my guest, go ahead and talk to him. But you couldn't move him. He wasn't going to get out of what he was doing. He loved what he was doing.

I think one thing he did do, as a linebacker coach, he could handle people, he had to get a grasp and grow and get the total picture of pro football, and he was bright enough to learn it. He was educated, highly educated himself, and he was bright enough to learn it. I have some other thoughts, but I'd stop there, and ask are there any questions, because I know on the conference calls that came in, everyone had questions, and if anyone has a question I'd be happy to answer it.

Q: Were you concerned about hiring a 34-year-old head coach and what made you think that would work?

Davis: No, being real honest, everyone I ever hired I thought would work and I thought we could make it happen. I thought the organization was always strong enough to make it happen, that if they had the qualities, I think everyone I ever hired had qualities such as what we're talking about.

No, I wasn't worried about John, because John had one thing _ John had the players. The players liked John, and that's very, very important, and we had great players, there's no question about it.

We have some guys waiting, now, who should be in the Hall of Fame. I know I sound like a town worshipper, but how Cliff Branch is not in the Hall of Fame and some of the others that are ahead of him, is totally unfair. Just totally unfair. Ray Guy is a different situation. Someone there strongly believes that a punter shouldn't be in the Hall of Fame. So they keep the guy out of the Hall of Fame.

cont'd...

 

[Angry Pope]

cont'd....

No, I thought could do it. I thought we would do it, and there's no question that we had to live through some tough times, losing those championship games, but you've to remember this too, in 65, we had cultural revolution in this country. We had the Watts riots, we had Detroit, we had Martin King in `68 being killed, and I, know it's tough to go back in retrospect and remember, but there was a little turmoil in every organization, in every league, over the diversity issue and what's going to happen about it in the country.

I have always been pretty much wanting to establish something, for the Raiders, and the Raider legacy, and John was perfect for that. He understood it. He knew how to fight it, and never wavered when he shouldn't, from time to time, you know it's tough to take the attitude when you're running an organization, that every once in awhile you're going to lose, and you're going to give in to a player, and let the player win. It's the same thing as being a head coach. You can't win every battle with the players. You've go to let them win once in awhile, and it's important, and as I told you many a time, and John went with this, that if you're going to lead, it's not do onto others as you would have others do unto you. But it's treat them the way they would want to be treated, in kind of a military situation, but treat them the way they want to be treated. You can't do it your way all the time. And you've got to respond to them.

So, John had those qualities. And what he had to do is win. And he did win. Another thing, we had just gone into the National Football League in 1970, and by nature of the merger, they didn't, in the National Football League, love Al. And the schedule was made by the league office. It wasn't where you had a scheme or a process or things like that. The schedule was made, and if you remember in 1970, the first time of the leagues competing against each other, we had Monday night, Saturday and we even got the Thanksgiving Day game in Detroit. We had all these games, and it might have bothered some, but it didn't bother John, it didn't bother us. We went for it, and we won our share.

Any other questions?

Q: How different will it be introducing John Madden than the others you introduced and do you have any idea what you'll say?

Davis: First of all, everyone I've had the opportunity to introduce, I've had some kind of love affair with other than maybe one, and I realize how important it is to them to get into the Hall of Fame, and I think I have to again, treat them individually, and yet I run into verbiage that is very similar from time to time on those people because they all had certain qualities, they had a passion for football, they loved it. They loved the league, they loved the team, and they loved being Raiders.

Certainly, as you keep doing them, and I hope that waiting in the wings, Flores, Ron Wolf, Jim Plunkett, Stabler, all of them _ it isn't necessarily will be me _ but I know what I'm going to say about John, generally. Some of the same things I told you. I've written some thoughts down, and hope I can enumerate on them and make the presentation because of how proud he is, because for John, being in the Hall of Fame, is tremendous. It's a life-long dream. Not everyone puts that much stock in being in the Hall of Fame, but John certainly does.

Q: How much credit do you give John for the two championships your team won after he left, or does that credit go to Tom Flores?

Davis: I would be unfair if I said they don't go to Tom Flores, but I think John is part of the fabric of this organization. Tom Flores, when John won the Super Bowl, Tom Flores was coaching for John, Tom was an assistant. So they're intertwined, but Tom did a great job, a brilliant job when he was head coach. He's won two Super Bowls and he can't get a nomination, but they're all inter-related, and they're all part of a fabric that runs a long way, a long time.

You've got to remember this _ the quarterback was different _ we've been to five Super Bowls, four different head coaches, four different quarterbacks, five Super Bowls. Four different head coaches, four different quarterbacks. The one quarterback that was in two, and he won both of them, was Plunkett.

I could sit with you _ and I'm not here to do this today because I respect John Elway, but if Jim Plunkett had had the same start with an organization that was really a pretty good organization, he would have dominated. He has as good a records as Elway. He beat Elway head to head, and even at Stanford, he won the Rose Bowl, I think. I don't know if he won one or two. Jim Plunkett is a special guy, I'm just giving you an idea _ he was the one who was working for Tom Flores, does that answer you?

Q: Your favorite John Madden moment?

Davis: I've presented him before. He won an award of the retired players association in Las Vegas. But I think the biggest thing was, the memory that I was excited about, the one that I was happiest about for him, was that '76 football team when we won the Super Bowl. Because I said it, right after the game, he took his place in the sun _ that was an expression we used in those days, and he had reached the pinnacle of what he wanted to do, and he did it.

And he got his team to do it, and I was excited for him. I was excited for all of us, because we hadn't been on the winning end. There were a lot of games that, you can go back, there were inches in those championship games, and they didn't go our way, and we had to go home and try to come back and try to win the next year.

I want to finish with this. When I came to Oakland, I always said I wanted to build the finest organization in professional sports, I want to have the greatest coaches, the greatest players, play in the greatest games, and have the greatest plays. And while obviously, I've been here 43 years, John, in his 10 years, had things such as, the Heidi Game, the Immaculate Reception, the Holy Roller, the Ghost to the Post, the Lytle fumble, which as as bad as the tuck rule, and I could go on to about seven or eight others, the games and the names that are synonomous with professional football, and when you hear them, you think of the Raiders. The Sea of Hands, and those things were accomplished with John at the helm.

Perhaps one of the greatest things was the miracle of George Blanda, in 1970. And don't forget, George came off the bench each time to win a game for us in some way and true, some of them were with his foot. But the guy who had to bring him in at the right time, who had to put him in the game, was John Madden, and so, these are the things, he gets his turn in the sun again this week and he's done tremendous, as you know, with his games.

He's an icon. Kids will always remember him. I always said to him, as opposed to Cosell, who we're gradually losing sight of, they won't forget you because of your games, not because of your ability in the booth.

And so we kid about it, and someone said to me, would John ever do anything for the Raiders, and my only statement was, yes he would, if something happened to Al, I'm sure he would be someone that Carol Davis and Mark Davis would call, along with several others, who live in this country of ours who have been Raiders most of their lives and still have a tremendous loyalty to it. That's if I don't outlive them.

cont'd...

 

[Angry Pope]

cont'd...

Q: You mentioned it took awhile for John to reach the Hall of Fame and maybe it's overdue . . .

Davis: I didn't say maybe it's overdue. Don't put words. It's overdue.

Q: Why do you think it took so long?

Davis: I don't want to get into that. It's like someone asked me this morning, why did it take so long for Art Shell to get a head job again. You can sit down, I mean, that's a book. Figure it out. So, I can't answer that. I'm not avoiding it. I just don't want to anser it.

Q: Have a theory?

Davis: I just don't want to answer it.

Q: John Madden says your legacy is as one of the great guys in football, what do you think Madden's legacy will be?

Davis: I think he was right when he told you the first one. And he should have put EST on the great. The greatest legacy. What I think is that he's a great coach. His records will stand. Nobody will beat his records. I think the thing that always captivated me was, we had to go around the country, and the Raiders, and I don't have to tell you that the fear of the Raiders, and the respect of the Raiders, but the dislike of the Raiders, when we'd go into all these stadiums, and here comes this big redhead, yelling and screaming on the sidelines and bringing this football team all over the country, and we were a big team, and we were tough. Very powerful, and he had to compete against all these big-time coaches. All of them. I mean, you go into, and he'd beat them, he'd beat them all.

One year, they put is in Miami, it was 75, I think, and they had won 37 straight at home, and they put us in Miami, and the next week they put us in Baltimore. They wanted us to fly from Miami back home, and fly back to Baltimore, which was tough in those days in those airplanes. So we stayed on the East Coast, and we beat them both, another thing he did _ sitting here reminded me _ we made Monday Night Football. He was something like 11-0 or 11-1 on Monday Night Football. We had the best records on Monday Night Football, and we used to play most of the games on the road. We still do. Whenever the last, I say 10 years, you take a look, our Monday night record has slipped, but every one of them have been on the road on Monday night.

I appreciate what you've done for him, some of you. Ira Miller, I think you were one of the reasons he got in the Hall of Fame, and I appreciate



it, I really do. I don't know if Ron is here, Kroichick, but the article he did the other day was fantastic. It showed how the players felt and we had our pains. It wasn't easy. '73, there were articles written by one newspaper man, I don't see him here today, but he wanted to get rid of John. John had beaten everybody, but we won the last four games anyhow and got back in there and lost in Miami in the championship game.

That's another thing, Miami won 16 straight, what was it, 14 or 16? Then they came out here, we couldn't play in the Coliseum because of baseball, we played in Berkeley, and we gave them their first defeat. The Dolphins, otherwise, they probably kept winning and they'd be yelling that they won 30 straight, something like that. So it's just great memories and come to an end. But unfortunately, or fortunately, my life goes on. And we start a new era and we want to win, and it's going to be interesting. It's exciting. It really is.

The Art Shell Segment (Part 2)
(how do you feel in the second Shell era, does it feel the same or do you feel this is the right man at the right time)

I really am excited about it. I think it was about 6 years ago he was a finalist with belichick and gruden to become the head coach again at the time, I saw that he had grown him. he was baby when I had him. when he first became the head coach, the true story, I hired mike shanahan in 1988. in 1989, mike's 2nd year, he fired 5 of our coaches including art shell right after the final game.

I had to restore, I don't what you want to call it, order ... we didn't have a riot. and I brought art shell back on the staff, some other people back on the staff and it was only I don't know remember how many games into the season where I let mike go and gave art the opportunity to be the head coach. he took it and he was young, he was green, but he had one thing about him ... when he walks in he can dominate a room if he wants to. he has an attitude about him. he was a truly great player. he knows the right way to do things. he was a special person.

So he coached for us for several years and did very well. we went to the championship game in '90. That's what obscured it a little. we got the hell beat out of us up in buffalo. but the week before we lost Bo on a freak accident, Bo Jackson. we had a little turmoil within our organization with some of our players and Art was in the middle of it. We went to 1994, we were up and down but we were in the playoffs, we were still a force. I was getting ready to make a decision whether to move or not -- to move to Oakland or stay in Los Angeles at Hollywood Park and build a stadium there.

There were factions within the team, factions within the coaching staff. Just a few years after, even when we were going good, I said I might not have handled it right but I did feel this: when I decided to make the change and let him go, it was inconceivable to me that he wouldn't get a job in the NFL as a head coach. it was just inconceivable. especially with everyone talking about diversity, we're gonna do this and we're gonna do that. It's pretty easy to talk it.

So I say this to your question, and I know it's long and drawn out, he knows what he wants to do, he knows how to do it, he picked his staff, it was a little late to get everybody but he likes his staff and I like a lot of his staff. For some reason or another, it's another reaffirmation of the Raiders. It's a reaffirmation of everything we've ever stood for, everything we ever wanted. when he walks out there I just kind of laugh. Time runs by for me.

I was out there the other day watching 'em and he said something to one player. I just got a kick out of it because I know he wanted to grab him but he didn't do it. he held his composure and I just kind of laughed to myself I get a kick out of a lot of the guys out there. Slater, Jackie has never coached. He has been like an intern. He stood up at a meeting a few weeks ago and said 'I just want to tell you one thing. I never realized how hard coaches work.'

These are the legends of our game. I mean you can't get any bigger than these guys unless you want to invent someone. I just feel good about it that he is back. I remember saying to Upshaw, he was driving me whatever it is, I said why me. why do I have to do it. why can't you get someone else to do it. And I did it.

Now I talk to three other coaches before I brought art back. so there is no misunderstanding, I never offered the job to anyone personally. the job was offered to one other coach. one of our executives had been doing research a long while on this coach and thought he was going to be a great coach. And he did offer him the opportunity.

But all the statements about me with the young man from Pittsburgh, or Saunders ...it's not true. I never offered it to anyone. and I am not the type to run away from saying what I did or didn't do.

when art came, he had been with Amy at the super bowl. when I came to the complex I felt good, I felt real good. and I am happy and I think we have some things to do. there is some rust there -- R-U-S-T. it would be no different for anybody.

Tom Walsh is a tremendously bright guy. Tremendously bright. you will find that out over time. now he has been away from it a long while and he is going to call the plays. but he is not, as bill Walsh said, not going to run an institutional offense. he's going to run what we can do right now. it may not have all the frills we want but it will be enough to carry us for the time being (what will art give you that is different you've had the last few times, not asking you to criticize anyone that came before. but what does he bring that is importantly different) First of all I am not going to criticize anyone. I know who he is. I know what he wants. I know his drive and determination.

I took the recommendations of other people prior on the last coach. The only thing I said about the last coach when we made the change was I never did see the running game nor did I see the deep passing game. I never did see it. I wasn't being negative. it just didn't come out. It just didn't happen.

cont'd...

 

[Angry Pope]

cont'd...

I just know the guy. it's a lot different. I know the guy, I am watching the tapes, watching him and I was able to go back on this commissioner thing, they stuck us in Detroit. I don't know why Detroit. for three days to discuss this. but I have a good feeling about him. and that's what it is. and I respect what he has done. I am a little mad at myself because I let him down back in '94. That's what it is (art is preaching fundamentals and return to basics; you have one WR now who seems to be publicly upset with the program. can one player threaten what art is trying to accomplish out here) oh no. certainly not. if you think that all these teams, and I know a lot of you put a lot of stress on what you call the locker room, but if you think the locker room is that important, I don't but we're talking about one guy and I don't think it will make any impression whatsoever. he is a good guy. he has lost his way a little bit but he is a good guy. he knows, and I am not talking out of school, he knows, his agent has known this for a long while, that if someone offers us the choice we want or a representative player and the $4 million bonus he took from us this year, we'll respond. they got to get it done. the agent has known this since the draft. and before the draft he knew what he had to do. he couldn't get it done but that is not to say things don't work out ... if you want them to. we have a lot of young people who can run and catch. and we have a new staff, so they look at it different. so I don't think ...

I certainly, listen, I wish I could take you all back to 1963. I had one of the greatest players who has ever played this game and he was tough to handle. he was the T.O. of his time. and he was great. his first year for me he carried us. he caught 16 touchdowns. his name was art Powell.

I really mean great. I made some of our players go in one day and take a look at art Powell and Clemon Daniels, that was a RB we had. they came out, that is when Marcus was talking to me and cliff Branch. they came out and said, wow, those guys could play.

what I am saying to you is -- and art was tough, he wanted the football. then on the other side of the field, I had the magical hands guy that wanted the football, Biletnikoff. and it wasn't easy. I was coach then and I used to go in the huddle and hear `give me the damn ball.' it would be you will get the ball when you are told to get the ball. I think watching what we are doing with barry, barry bonds, I think it a little bit overextended ... not overextended, but overemphasized -- the locker room (porter situation doesn't seem to be about playing time; it is a personal issue between he and art. do you worry that might become a bigger issue and will you step in yourself)

No. 1 I don't think it can become a bigger issue. and No. 2, no I would not step in at this time. I would not think of it. art is strong enough. he is big enough to handle it. and they have an opportunity to handle it themselves. I am talking about Jerry. he has an opportunity to handle it if he qualifies with what we set as the parameters for him to leave.

The Commissioner Search Segment
(your assessment of the finalists for the commissioner; do you see it going in the direction of Roger Goodell)

we have a meeting come after this weekend, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday in Chicago at which all this will be debated. the only thing I can tell you from my vantage point, I was on the committee, but the only thing I have ever been allowed to do, I was not allowed to talk to Roger, Jeff Pash, Greg Levy, in house candidates, outside candidates. 11 people were presented to us in Detroit of which we had a briefing book on the 11. at that time, not based on vote, but based on general consensus there would be 5 people picked that would go before the membership. In other words 6 would be eliminated. go before the membership nest week. in an orderly fashion they would get approximately 35 minutes of questions, 10 minutes to present who they are and what they do, why they want the thing. then there would be a vote on it now before I would express what I think to the membership, I would rather not say it publicly. I would rather say it to the owners as to what I think you know some candidates drop out because they night be part of the 5 but they are afraid that if they don't get it it will hurt their company or hurt themselves. that's a factor. I was part of this process. I am still not sure about the process. but I can tell you the candidates -- Greg levy is in house, he is lead counsel, he has been very good in league legal work. I've had to fight him quite a bit. we have Roger Goodell who has been there 25 years. you have to reward longevity with some kudos. then we have a fellow Reynolds from Boston who is a money man. he has done very well. one thing that is intriguing is he has been a Division I official for 15 years besides doing this big job. so it is a guy who loves football. Then we had Nance from Cleveland. they at the end they added Shattard (?)from Baltimore who is the consolidated power company a lot of people you have to take into consideration what they would want contract wise. You would be surprised ... I didn't have this opportunity ... but you would be surprised at some of the names some on this committee knocked off because they claimed they didn't have business experience or some reason. I don't know. we'll see. we'll know a lot more next week.

(is it fair to let an outside guy get the same 35 minutes as an inside guy they know) Well I don't want to talk about the process. I always have certain feelings and it depends on who the candidate is and it depends on how much you know about the candidate but you said an outside candidate? Yeah. that's a good question. I don't have to tell you that's a good question. it's pretty obvious that if somebody is an insider and he has the same time as an outsider, it's pretty tough.

(are you satisfied or encouraged about the way ticket sales are going, do you see a substantial increase in season ticket sales this year) No I am not encouraged or satisfied .. unless we sell out. if that doesn't answer your question, no. I would like to sell out. now I don't know exactly where we are. I would like to sell out. yeah certainly. I'd like to do well with the tickets. they do help that other fellow, the owner ... not the football guy. yeah. I'd like to sell out but encouraged? I don't know what you mean by encouraged.

(Do you think it is going better with the Raiders doing the legwork) well you are looking for something I am not going to get into with you. I have miss trask here. she could answer your question very well. we had to take over the sales. not that you made it sound like we took it over. we had to take it over. there was no way we could have gone out and had this community sell PSLs to the community. it would have been a rebellion. rather than have that, that was one of the reasons we were willing to take it over.

(The raiders tradition was established during the time madden was coach...) that's not true, but go ahead.

(Went to the playoffs 9 of 10 years with madden. the question is how hard it is to duplicate that kind of success, in the playoffs, in this era) The idea is not to be in the playoffs. the idea is to be in the super bowl. and we're behind a couple of teams being in 5.

cont'd...

 

[Angry Pope]

cont'd...

I think it's unfair. I love John and John did great and there's no question about it. but flores did great too. I don't know how you could overlook him.

(John came first as coach but) well art went three out of five years. so it was still going. and we lost it. there's a song, "along the way" or something. but we did lose it and we got to get it back. we have a chance.

(is it hard with players moving around like they do today) I'd like to think about that. it's different. entirely different, this era. but you can get there. maybe you can't get there 10 out of 10 or 9 out of 10 but you can get there. it's a question of doing it though. we certainly haven't but we can get there.

(how are you dealing with all the speculation on your health. how do you feel) I feel great. especially if we win I will feel better. I am good. my leg, I have a quadriceps problem that no one seems to be able to fix for me. and I certainly won't go in and touch it with an operation. I have only known one person in my life who had a quadriceps and had that done with an operation. I don't want to do it.

(art made some comments about needing the change the culture and that the inmates running the asylum. do you agree with that and do you think art is going to be change whatever has been wrong in the culture. has there been something wrong) well, heh, we didn't win. that's the thing. if you win, your culture is fine. if you don't win you have a problem with your culture. but let me say this, whatever he feels or wants to do in that vein, whatever he advances, he is going to do it. that's art. and he's got to do it his way. and if he feels that is something he has to change, he will try to change it.

You gotta understand, I am not art, I am not John, I am not Tom. I look at it different. but I think art is starting to get something I think I had when I was very young and that I was going to dominate it, no matter what it is. I was just going to get it done. and I didn't worry about all these other things. I wasn't going to go the way the society wanted me to go or the culture wanted me to go. I was going to win.

I think that is what I said about art to someone yesterday I think it was, that I think he knows he can dominate. and he will dominate. and that's what you have to do in our culture period, no matter what you are doing. I have always believed that, strongly believe it. we got to get him the players. we have to do that. and we do have some high quality top notch players. we really do. it's going to be tough to put them all together real quickly and get them going. that is another thing about madden. of course he came from a team that was winning when he took over. but there was no losing for a year or two then winning. you look at all the supposed great ones, and they are .... Bill Walsh, who I think is brilliant, chuck Noll, landry, jimmy johnson. all of them. 1-12. 3-11. they all lost big games their first couple of years. aikman will be going in to the hall of fame. he was great. what was he his first year, 1-15. for some reason with certain people we overlook it. with other people we don't overlook it. what I am saying to you is that art, in his first year, full time head coach, first year, he took over after 4 games. he was about 8-8. the next year he went to the championship game. madden went to the championship game. flores had a rough first year.

I remember what happened, Carole, my wife, had a severe trauma and was in a coma and I was not there to help. then the next year, what did he do. he won a super bowl

so I am saying it comes out of nowhere. who won the super bowl last year? they didn't expect to but they came out of nowhere. they thought they were a better team the year before. they just won it. and yet you can go up to Seattle and they will tell you they won it because of some calls. That Seattle thought, that Holmgren thought he had won the game. It's a tough game

Listen I love talking to you. I love football. I love the raiders. art is going to do great. stick with us and we will surprise you. thank you very much for coming.