10 Things You Might Not Know About Al Davis

Football lost one of its icons today when Oakland Raider managing partner and all around colorful character, Al Davis died at the age of 82.  

While Davis and his Raiders have been the butt of many jokes in recent years, Davis was a true pioneer in professional football and the league is as successful as it is today because of guys like Davis.

Davis did many things in his almost 60 years being involved with professional football.  Here are 10 things every football fan should know about Al Davis.

1. He was the AFL Commissioner and presided over the AFL/NFL merger.

2. He hired the NFL's first Latino and Black head coaches, along with the first female executive.

3. When the Raiders played in Los Angeles, Davis used a middle school as his team headquarters.

4. Davis was the AFL Coach of the Year in 1963.

5.  Over the years, Davis has sued: City of Los Angeles, City of Oakland, City of Irwindale, the NFL and countless others.

6. The Raider's logo was designed by Davis himself in 1963.

7. Davis traded his head coach, John Gruden for 2 number one draft picks.  Gruden went on to beat the Raiders in the Super Bowl with Tampa Bay.

8. In 2007, NFL Films chose the feud between Davis and the NFL as their top feud in NFL history.

9. Davis' son Marc has took a more active role in the helping his father run the team in recent years.  

10. He coined the Raider's famous motto, "Just win, baby."

Packers-Saints TV Ratings High, But Down From Last Year

Thursday's night's Green Bay Packers victory over the New Orleans Saints delivered reliably huge ratings for NBC. But the game was nevertheless down a bit compared with last year's NFL season kickoff.

Thursday's game tackled a 17.2 overnight rating/28 share, making it the second-highest-rated NFL kickoff game in 13 years, says Nielsen.  It happened to be down 3% compared with last year's gigantic opener between the Saints and the Minnesota Vikings.

Overnight ratings measure the 55 largest TV markets, covering nearly 70 percent of the country. Each overnight rating point represents about 735,000 TV homes. The rating is the percentage of all homes with TVs, whether or not they are in use. The share is the percentage of in-use televisions tuned to a given show.

Was is because these are two small market teams?  Was it because the Packers appeared to be on their way to a blowout win, or are fans disenchanted afterthe long NFL lockout?  Also, viewing might have been thrown off a bit by President Obama's jobs speech that was carried live before the game.

We'll see how ratings look this week as there are some good matchups.

Randall Cobb Impressive to Say the Least

In the first quarter for Green Bay, the former Kentucky star caught his first touchdown pass from Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers. It was a 32 yard touchdown and Cobb did his first famed "Lambeau Leap."

But he wasn't done.

In the third quarter, Cobb tied an NFL record with 108 yard kickoff return.  Packers coach Mike McCarthy had a huge smile on his face after Cobb's return, like he knew something nobody else did.

Aaron Rodgers was smiling as well as the Packers put up 42 points and beat the Saints 42-34.

The NFL Lockout is On, it's Off, and Back On Again

A federal appeals court on Friday granted a temporary stay of an April 25 lower court order that had ruled that National Football League owners could not lock out their players.

The 2-1 ruling by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis allows NFL owners to again suspend football operations, as they seek to revise the current system and negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement with the league's players.

"We are back to a lockout," said 8th Circuit court clerk Michael Gans, who confirmed the court's ruling.  The lockout is back on, but to what degree?

Friday's announcement, which became public during the second round of the NFL Draft -- the last element covered under the previous agreement between the two sides.

Appeals court judges Duane Benton and Steven Colloton voted for the temporary stay, writing that they wanted to "give the court sufficient opportunity to consider the merits of the motion for a stay pending appeal."

The lone dissenting judge, Kermit Bye, said that the temporary stay shouldn't be granted -- arguing unsuccessfully that such an order should apply only to an "emergency situation."

If games don't start on time late this summer, it would be the first NFL work stoppage since 1987.

No word on how long this lockout may stick.

The Growth of the NFL Combine

At 8 o'clock Saturday morning, NFL Network will begin live coverage of the league's scouting combine in Indianapolis.  Millions will be watching looking for their football fix.

Scheduled to work out for scouts on Saturday are kickers, offensive linemen and tight ends.

Up Sunday morning, will be quarterbacks, running backs and wide receivers.

On Monday, it will be defensive linemen and linebackers followed Tuesday by defensive backs.

The workouts consist of recent college players running, jumping, lifting weights and catching footballs for the pleasure of NFL teams that may or may not decide to draft them and bestow upon them gobs of signing-bonus money.

All of the workouts each day are expected to last into mid-afternoon. All will be conducted under the watchful eyes of NFL coaches, scouts, personnel gurus and ... you, if you choose.

Like the April draft, it's yet another NFL event that has turned into a giant television production. The NFL believes the combine has such enough TV potential it has locked out ESPN and other broadcasters.

Any year now, we can expect the quarterbacks, running backs, and wide receivers to be divvied up and the entire proceedings to be shifted to prime time.

Covering the combine started in 2004, less than six months after NFL Network's launch. Most of what got on the air was video-taped packages. The following year, NFL Network offered 13 live hours. This time around, plans are for 30 live hours and then lots of analysis.

It's stunning, but it just keeps growing to meet demand," said Eric Weinberger, NFL Network's executive producer. "Viewers have spoken to us and they want more."

In 2010, a record 5.2 million viewers watched a piece or all of the combine. As NFL Network adds subscribers, the number of viewers is expected to grow. Note, too, that more than 700 media credentials were issued this year. That's also a record.