This is bizarre. I am watching ESPN Sports Center Monday morning and they have a segment that is taped in the Raiders locker room after the game Sunday. Let me set the scene.
Al Davis died over the weekend, and for the Raiders, the game against the Texans is seen as the classic “win one for the Gipper” scenario. Someone beloved dies and the football team goes out and plays their hearts out in honor of the deceased. Well, the Raiders did just that. They won a close game. They followed their coaches instructions to “win one for Al.” So, why is this so strange?
It’s not the game itself, but the locker room team meeting afterward. The players are surrounding the coach, Hue Jackson, who is teary-eyed and emotionally spent. Jackson says, “Let’s have a moment of silence.” The players are all bowing their heads in prayer. Except this moment of silence isn’t a moment of silence, because Jackson immediately starts talking! What does he say? A prayer. Nothing unusual about this, except he begins praying to Al Davis!
He proceeds to tell Al that they miss him and they won the game for him, and such. The players surrounding him are still in prayer mode as Jackson gives his tribute to his boss and hero, all in the form of a prayer.
Two things.
1. A moment of silence, the politically correct term we use now for prayer, well, if you invoke it, then be silent.
2. Don’t pray to Al Davis. Pray to God about Al Davis. Don’t pray to Al Davis because he is not God. He was a great football mind. A great innovator. But, he is not the Almighty. I know this, because I met Al Davis.
He was eating alone at the table next to us in Matteo's in LA, back in the 80’s. Dining alone on a Sunday night after a Raider’s game. Wrinkled old clothes and wearing the patented Raider’s jacket. Mr. Davis seemed sad and lonely, but I won’t speculate.
What I do know is God is a non-physical being, and as such, does not eat food. This is why I am confident that Al Davis is not God. God does not eat pasta and that is what Al is dining on that night!
Heartfelt sentiment Coach Jackson, but let’s remember who really is the Big Coach in the Sky shall we?
