Friday, January 06, 2006

Sorry, I just can't help myself...



Yes, I believe I am the President of the Art Shell Fan Club... When I think of The Great Art Shell I think of three things:

(1) The most dominant Left Tackle in the history of the NFL... his "Perfect Game" in Superbowl XI where the famed Minnesota Viking D-Line, the "Purple People Eaters" where eaten alive by Shell and his mates - Art Shell did not give up a sack, tackle or assisted tackle the entire game... Hall of Fame DE Carl Eller did not appear on the game summary other than showing that he indeed started and played in the game.

(2) The story told by The Great Howie Long, where an underachieving rookie, DT Chester McGlockton, was called out in practice by Shell... Shell, trying to light a fire under huge Chester, lined up against him in scrimmage and one-on-one knocked Chester on his ass... Chester was in full pads, Art was in a T-shirt and shorts...

(3) The day I met Art Shell in Buffalo at the Team Hotel prior to a game... Shell demands attention and respect, his sheer size is overwhelming, his demeanor and presence quiets a room... although I am 6 feet, 235 lbs, shaking his hand made me feel like a child...

There are many good, yes even great head coaching candidates out there... who knows where Al Davis' search will end? If you have not guessed, I'm partial to The Great Art Shell...

PS, to my buddies at the old Tri-State Raider Boosters... esp. Ivan and Darren, if your reading this pls email me at thetooz@mosszone.com
5640

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I would like to be vice president of this club. Art Shell should be the raiders head coach. He has a winning record and has worked with Big Al before. And has stated he would do it again. A lifetime Raider, who could be better?

Slicric
Harrisonburg, VA

Anonymous said...

The one thing that remains the same.......once a Raider, always a Raider. We need someone that actually cares about the organazation instead of just collecting a pay check. Someone who cares about the tradition of the silver and black. Someone who will instill the intensity in the defense to make sure the other teams quarterbacks always wake up the next day sorry they came to Oakland. Art Shell knows the organazation as well as anyone. He cares about the Raiders and Al's legacy. He would have enough respect from Al to put his own mark on the team. It also seems that most successful coaches become so after a second or third chance. Art had a good run with the Raiders before. If he learns from his mistakes like many great coaches do and makes the second time even better he may have us battling in the playoffs soon. There seem to be a lot of coaches on the market that have head coaching experience but none of them are locks to be great. There is no Bill Walsh or Jimmy Johnson types. So everyone is going to be a risk, either an experienced head coach who has struggled else where or a young assistant or college coach who has never had a chance and they are just as unpredictable as a rookie draft pick. For every Gruden there are 10 others who get a shot and wind up an assistant again sooner rather than later. Atleast with Art we would know what we are getting. Seems like a good pick to me. And like you said, if some young player does not want to listen or buy into the Raider way, Art can always line up with him and show him how the Raiders played in the old days.

"The Tooz" said...

Killion likes to make stuff up too... Of course it ended badly for Art, how does one get fired well? Killion states the obvious there, Sheesh..... anyways yes the Marcus thing was a factor, he basically told the world through Al Michaels that Art had no control, a huge act of treason... Art Shell came out and dealt with it callling Marcus a liar, but Marcus got what he wanted, he took a stab at Al... it was at Art's expense but Marcus didn't care if Art or the team was hurt at all....actually I have no proof of this but I believe it really fell apart with Mike White... Mike was an assistant under Art and I think there was a little sabotage that took place, Mike had sites on Art's job.... again I hae no proof of this, only tryin to read between the lines on all the interviews Al Davis did at the time and after he fired White... I think Al did not realize what type of person Mike White was until after he had hired him as Head Coach...