Shanahan lets Davis do the talking

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The worse things get for Al Davis, the more fun Mike Shanahan's press conferences become.Two weeks ago, Shanahan suggested Lane Kiffin was likely to beat his dubious standard of longevity working for the Oakland Raiders' megalomaniacal owner. Shanahan lasted 20 games. At the time, Kiffin had coached 18."He might have me beat," Shanahan said then. "I don't know, though, there's two games left, so we'll have to wait and see."Tuesday, Davis made it a tie by firing Kiffin after 20 games -- 19 years after doing the same to Shanahan. Kiffin's record for Davis was 5-15. Shanahan's was 8-12."I was a little disappointed, to be honest with you," Shanahan said Wednesday. "I was there 582 days. Lane Kiffin was there 616 days. So what it really means is that Al Davis liked Lane more than he liked me. I really don't think it's fair. I won three more games, yet he got 34 more days of work. It just doesn't seem right. Does it to you guys? No, really, you think about it."The 79-year-old Davis, once one of football's most fearsome competitors, is now an eccentric embarrassment, the doddering great-uncle who goes out in white pajamas or Vulcan collars and talks about his glory days as if the intervening quarter-century was an allegation. Such a condition normally engenders sympathy or pity. But those Davis bullied and browbeat during his career -- and they are all over the NFL -- don't even try to disguise their delight.Davis called a press conference in Oakland to announce Kiffin's firing. It can only be described as bizarre, a longtime media antagonist calling in the media so he could rail against the coach he had hired and fired. His bitterness was not directed only at Kiffin. It spattered all over the place.Kiffin was "a professional liar." Shanahan was fired for insubordination as an assistant in Denver and has asterisks beside his Super Bowl championships because the Broncos cheated. The Patriots tampered with Randy Moss before acquiring him from Davis for a fourth-round draft pick.He read aloud a three-page letter he sent to Kiffin after the Broncos beat the Raiders in the season opener, threatening to fire him for cause -- and not pay off the remainder of his contract -- if he continued making public statements Davis considered disloyal.At this point, Davis seems to consider life itself disloyal. After Tuesday's performance, his mental health is in doubt. His franchise is in turmoil, as usual. The divisional opponents that keep beating him -- Denver and San Diego -- are both coached by people he fired.Apparently, Shanahan took time out from game planning for Tampa to watch the wacky press conference. He was asked about going up against Bucs coach Jon Gruden, yet another former Raiders coach."Well, I know the right thing to say," he said. "The thing I should have said: 'You know what, I haven't had time to look at interviews and what really happened.' But I think everybody saw the press conference; we'll leave it at that."It was citing the exact number of days employed I found interesting. How would Shanahan know those? Had he scratched off his own at the old L.A. Raiders headquarters, one at a time, like an inmate?"Well, to be honest with you, I knew how many days I was there," he said. "I just wasn't sure how long Lane was there. When I found out after that press conference that Al really liked Lane more than me because he lasted 34 more days, I said, 'Well, that's 34 more days of pay.' You think about that. And I had three more wins. That doesn't seem right, does it?"Given Shanahan's 19-year dispute with Davis about whether he got all the money coming to him after he was fired, I wondered if he was sure Kiffin's 34 additional days meant 34 more days of pay."No," he said, as if expecting the straight line. "I can't guarantee that."Even after his high-profile dispute with former Broncos coach Dan Reeves -- the firing to which Davis alluded -- Shanahan never took this sort of public glee in Reeves' competitive misfortunes. Davis, clearly, engenders a special sort of antipathy.His obliviousness to how foolish he looks now is a source of amusement all over a league he has tormented, intimidated and sued for decades.Someone asked if Shanahan had a response to Davis' latest shots at him."No, I just think we'll let the press conference speak for itself," he said. "I think we've been through that. We've been down that all . . . we've been down that road before. I don't think I have to go down that road anymore."It sounded like he was going to say "alley," no doubt the setting he imagines for a battle with Davis. Whoever wins in Denver on Sunday, Davis won't be happy about it. For the loser, that will be some consolation.(Contact Dave Krieger of the Rocky Mountain News at kriegerd(at)rockymountainnews.com.)