Grab Your Popcorn and Soda: Kiffin and Davis Are Just Getting Started!

by Hooper on Mar 18, 2009 11:22 PM EDT in Tennessee Volunteer Football Comment 8 comments

Aaaaand it's showtime!

The link above is a pdf (h/t CBS) of the letter sent by the Oakland Raiders to the University of Tennessee regarding the arbitration hearings between Al Davis and Lane Kiffin. It basically lays out the cards for the Raiders' strategy in the hearings, though not with all of the actual details they intend to bring. So as not to sent our dear lawya Joel into apoplectic shock, I decided not to blockquote the whole thing here, so you'll have to go read it yourself. However, that won't stop me from bringing the quick highlights for the AD/HD and the lazy. According to the letter:

Mr. Kiffin lied and broke rules!
Mr. Kiffin was admonished!
Mr. Kiffin didn't talk to Al Davis enough!
Mr. Kiffin called the Raiders "dysfunctional"!
etc., etc., etc...

Maybe the Broncos fan in me had a little too much fun with that, but that is about the gist of the whole thing. This will be a fun little circus for everyone to follow, even though it's going to get rather unprofessional and nasty by the time it's all done.

Actually, it already got a little nasty. At the end of the letter, the Raiders talk about Vols who have been associated with them. Adding a little "it'd be a shame for that relationship to be damaged" rhetoric, you can easily read into it that the Raiders would be less likely to draft or trade for former Vols simply because Lane Kiffin is the coach in Knoxville. (It's not directly worded, which is oddly smart of the Raiders, but the innuendo is easy to find.)

But again, the Broncos fan in me finds some guilty pleasure in knowing that some of our best won't be wearing Silver and Black anytime soon. The last thing I wanted was for Eric Berry to have that silly skull on the side of his helmet. (Of course, the Broncos fan in me is still a little shell-shocked at the Shanahan firing and the current dispute between McDaniel and Cutler, but that's not germane.)

To cut the long story short, it's best that we remember that we really don't know what was said or done by whom. Lane might have breached contract; Al might be blowing smoke; both might be true to their own extents. No matter how this ends, we'll still have football in the fall and the Raiders will still be ~~dysfunctional~~ ~~the laughing stock of the NFL~~ ~~hopelessly incompetent~~ ~~managed by the asylum's inmates~~ over on the West Coast, far away from Knoxville.

(Aside: when settting up this post, I noticed a lot of fun Al Davis tags. I've included a few of the cleaner ones for your viewing pleasure. Do note that I have not created any new tags for the sake of this post; all of them were done by people before me.)

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Eff Al Davis...

Al Davis has been a cancer on the butt of professional feetball since the eighties. The guy is obviously delusional and his opinions should be quickly and adamantly dismissed.

Did CLK say or do things that Al deemed inappropriate or hurtful? Maybe. But then you’re listening to a man who reminds me, honestly, of the Stalin of the NLF. “Disagree with me in the slightest, and you’re immediately the enemy.”

Just because CLK had a difference of opinion about something or thought that something should be dealt with differently than Al thought it should be is no REAL reason that CLK or any other coach, should be slighted for having a difference of opinion or direction. The fact that any of us are still listening to ANYTHING Al has to say is a disturbing view of our desperation for drama.

I will always be glad that NO VOL is wearing the black and grey and will sit in my satisfaction that as long as Al Davis is running the Raiders, NO ONE should EVER be willing to wear it. EFF AL DAVIS.

BTW, I’m also disparaged by the way the Broncos are handling the Cutler situation AND what happened to Mike Shanahan. That’s like firing a coach that has won 75% of his ball games over 17 years. Oops. Did I just make THAT comparison?

Hey y'all!! Welcome to Knoxville, Kiffin Kounty, Tennessee! Home of the best koachin' in the kountry. Now y'all put on this uniform and see how it fits. Woo-wee!!! Yaw yaw yaw FOOTBAW!!!

by XRayVol on Mar 18, 2009 11:53 PM EDT reply actions

Heh.

Nice touch on the Shanny firing bit, there.

I’m still torn on the firing, myself. The last couple of drafts had gone extremely well for the Broncos. If they had simply settled on one defense and let it be, they’d have been in much better shape.

by Hooper on Mar 19, 2009 12:06 AM EDT up reply actions

Wow

It only took one comment for the Stalin comparisons to comes out.

Where I take exception to that is Stalin was much more competent than Al Davis. And, you know, he did murder 30 million people.

"Florida didnt win their first SEC title until 1991 and now they think they invented football."
-Ron Zook

by rustytanton on Mar 19, 2009 6:43 AM EDT up reply actions

Let me fix that for you

And, you know, he did competently murder 30 million people.

now with less meyton panning.

by Pride of the Southland on Mar 19, 2009 9:24 AM EDT up reply actions

Can you say crybaby?

Mr. Davis & General Counsel:
That was one of the most pitiful sob-stories I’ve ever heard. You’re a proud organization, fallen upon hard times…we get it. We’re also particularly skilled at dealing with organizations in your present situation, as we’re conference opponents of the Alabama Crimson Tide. Just do me a favor please and grow up, be men (and/or women), and realize that while you may be the team owner, YOU ARE NOT GOD! The last time I checked, there is only one career-field here in the states where walking away from a job/contract is a criminal offense (military). If you plan on filing a breach of contract law suit, please do so expeditiously…you’ll probably win, anyway. Recoup your cash, and then stay the hell out of any place outside the metropolitan Oakland area.

The authors of that misguided letter sounded like nothing more than a 3rd grader tattle-tailing to a peer’s mommy & daddy because he got his feelings hurt on the playground. Character assinations are the direct result of expressing dissatisfaction with an individual without having any actual evidence of any wrong-doing to rely upon. If The University of Tennessee’s Athletic Administration made a mistake in hiring Mr. Kiffin, we’ll pay for it in the end. We believe that you’ve got your own “football issues” out west; make the most of your time of fixing yours, before you consume yourselves in fixing ours. Although our university is located in the heart of Appalachia, we’re not all ignorant, illeterate, brainless, rednecks. We make reasoned and extremely analytic decisions here too, particularly when it comes to our way of live “in these here woods”.

Oh, and the ‘unintentional leak’ of your letter to CBS was a nice move. Really. It was. It opened my eyes to exactly where your priorities are by focusing on the past instead of the future. Oh, and just for the record, “Dysfunctional”, as defined by Mariam-Webster, is the “abnormal or unhealthy interpersonal behavior or interaction within a group”. By virtue of the context of your letter and the text above, I’d say that Mr. Kiffin’s analysis of the Oakland Raiders organization was spot-on.

With marginal respect,

The Volunteer Nation

by Aerobab on Mar 19, 2009 12:58 AM EDT reply actions 1 recs

Al Davis Not Drafting a Vol

Would be doing that prospect a huge favor. Take if from some one who lives in the Bay Area, OAKLAND IS WHERE YOU GO TO DIE!

by bsmithinc on Mar 19, 2009 2:10 AM EDT reply actions

And can you imagine

Eric Berry + Nnamdi Asamouga. That would be a hell of a secondary.

And since the recruiting chimera of UT is going to be pulling in all the 5 star recruits, Oakland is just going to get worse. The road to getting better is through Tennessee now. :) (a gross overstatement, but sounds good right?)

now with less meyton panning.

by Pride of the Southland on Mar 19, 2009 9:28 AM EDT up reply actions