to fire or not to fire

you think donald trump is a bad boss? try working for al davis.

the raiders' owner is constantly throwing head coach lane kiffin under the bus, with a report surfacing almost every sunday that kiffin is to be fired on monday (regardless of the outcome of sunday's game, of course).

but, as of tonight, kiffin still remains at the helm of oakland's beleagured nfl squad, doing his best to hold together a team that has been shoddily constructed and features characters who make T.O. look like a saint.

can you imagine being in kiffin's spot? team officials refuse to deny the reports of his firing, yet he has to keep on coaching. he barely loses, 24-23, to a solid buffalo team, but there is little praise for the picasso he makes it out of the crappy paints that are his players.

can you imagine being a raider? your owner doesn't have confidence in your coach, so why should you? you don't know if he'll be here next week, so why bother playing hard for him? the media only pays attention to the gossip about his job, so why try and make an impact during the game?

the raiders have gone from featuring the "Black Hole" as one of their strengths to losing themselves in one, and it all comes back to davis. if he can't show the appropriate leadership at the top, there is no way anything is getting fixed from the head coach on down.

time to retire, old man. leave nfl ownership to a younger - and less stubborn - crowd.

and don't make kiffin your scapegoat.