I’m not sure that the media and others hate him because he does things his way, I’m not sure anyone hates him at all. Maybe I’m not understanding you correctly, but that seemed like kind of a blanket statement.

Al spent alot of money on people this offseason, yes, and did he do it to improve the team? Yes. But did he spend wisely? That remains to be seen. And that last question would be the only one that would be legitimate.

- How many square ones do we need until Al is blowing it? It seems to me that we’ve had quite a few square ones.

- Dan Snyder also has a wilingness to spend money….

- If the press don’t like the Raiders policy on information sharing, tough muffins for the press, they’re not entitled to know everything they want to know.

- I’d tend to believe what Belichek says about a player over the “experts”, apparently the Patriots are doing something right in their player evaluation. That being said, it doesn’t make the signing without question due to Kelly’s injury.

- Correct me if I’m mistaken, but by strong arm, do you mean let Kiffin pick his own staff and have significant input in the drafting (or signing) of the players he’s going to coach? That’s a legitimate desire if you ask me.

I'm not arguing your points, rather than just trying to offer a rational response to them.  Both sides have their merits, which is what can be maddening at times.

- I don’t believe much I hear in the media, although Kiffin’s reluctance to speak to the media for a while doesn’t help his case. I’m a pretty firm believer that “you don’t know until you know”. As far as we know, Al could have being a jerk and prompet Kiffin to want to leave…..or…..it happened how you said it did.

- I don’t buy that “Al hired an offensive coordinator” issue, because Al does what he wants to do. Al got the man that he wanted, no favors were done here. I think its a mistake to believe otherwise.

- The staff: I think that the Kiffin hire was so late in the game he didn’t have many options. What I know from Ryan, I like him. I think he’s the best option the Raiders have had in a while, however, whether or not its fair doesn’t address the fact that Kiffin wasn’t able to choose his own staff, top to bottom. (I, for one, would not fire Ryan.)

- Where were the TDs? I don’t think that’s a necessarily fair question, since it wasn’t necessarily the staff and the players that Kiffin would have assembled. BUT, the O-Line was much improved, which is paramount. The running game was in turn improved. I think you’ll see TDs this season, which I’m sure you’d agree.

• My last point, if Al went out and brought in FAs that Kiffin didn’t necessarily want, let’s say, due to past injury issues…..or so on…..Kiffin will be to blame for certain “failures”.

- Did Kiffin want Tommy Kelley for a DT, or did he really want to draft Dorsey?

- Did Kiffin want Walker as a WR?

- Did Kiffin want to draft McFadden, or would he have rather gone with a Bush/Fargas and co.?

(McFadden is a nice pick, but you could make a case for him being the second choice)

When the success of the offense rests on your shoulders, you should be able to bring in the exact personnel that you want. Should you not? I can’t prove or disprove any of these moves were not Kiffin’s doing, but neither can anyone else.

The point I was trying to make was where do you draw the line between blindly following Al Davis because he “is the Raiders”, and starting to question the status quo without being dismissed as not being a true fan. I’ve seen it happen.

Forgive the analogy, but when I see it happen, it reminds me of people that question war or other presidential policies are branded non patriotic. But questioning the direction of our elected officials is a responsibility of the people, and just because you don’t necessarily agree with the current presidents direction doesn’t make you less patriotic.

I try not to “go political”, but it really seemed to fit here.

One of my objectives was to plead the case of the faithful that may question the long standing icon that is Al Davis. Another was to show that even if some people aren’t necessarily on board with Al, that it could be out of carefully considering what is in the best interests of the teams, as well as respecting and appreciating the past and present contributions of Al Davis.

One thing that I disagree with, is that while I remain faithful, I don’t look at the recent failures of the Raiders as being very “fun”. I am thankful for the opportunity to root for the Raiders in Oakland, but could do without the other stuff.

Questioning Al Davis doesn’t make you less of a Raiders fan.