Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

And now, a message from Al Davis

Al Davis

Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis walks into the stadium before the Raiders’ NFL football game against the San Francisco 49ers in San Francisco, Sunday, Oct. 17, 2010. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)

AP

Jerry McDonald of the Oakland Tribune wrote such a nifty post on Wednesday that we wanted to pass it along. (And let’s face it: there’s not a lot going on right now.)

He relayed a story from Bill Parcells, who was asked what he learned from Al Davis.

“Nobody cares,” Parcells said. “Nobody cares about your injuries or your problems. All they want to know on Monday is if you won.”

That message can absolutely applied to the current labor situation. Fans don’t care about the league’s problems. Or the players’ problems.

Let’s face it: They are the problems of a sport that doesn’t have real financial problems. They are good problems.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell seems to understand this. In a story relayed by Peter King in Monday Morning Quarterback this week, Goodell made a phone call to a faithful caller “Benny” of SIRIUS radio. (Goodell often contacts fans directly that contact the league.)

Goodell’s message: “He told me, ‘Don’t take sides,’'' Benny said.

It’s a great message we’d like to hear more. For the majority of fans, every word that comes from the players or owners until an agreement happens is just noise.

Nobody cares about the the owners or players’ problems. We just want a win.

In this case, that’s an agreement.