Owner Al Davis gets most of the blame for the Raiders' decline. People say he's lost his fastball, and for that matter, his curveball, slider and change-up. He is the ultimate decision maker for Oakland, so the Raiders' current woeful state falls directly on him.

I believe the worst move Davis ever made was trading Chucky.

I'm sure it seemed like a steal at the time. Davis accepted four draft picks, including two first-rounders, and $8 million from Tampa Bay in exchange for his coach. At the time of the deal, the Raiders had just come off a loss to the Patriots in the infamous "Tuck Rule" game. And of course, Davis had to blame someone. Gruden became the scapegoat and was expendable.

The decision proved to start the downfall of the Raiders, although not immediately. The Raiders made it to the Super Bowl the following year, only to have Chucky whip them, 48-21. Oakland also failed to take advantage of the draft picks it gained from the Buccaneers. The players Oakland drafted were linebacker Napoleon Harris, tight end Doug Jolley from BYU, defensive end Tyler Brayton and center Jake Grove. Harris is a reserve for the Chiefs, Jolley is out of the league, Brayton plays for the Panthers and Grove is Oakland's starting center.

You won't be seeing any of the four players in the Hall of Fame. Or Hall of Very Good.

I think the Raiders had their spirits crushed while watching Gruden whoop it up for the cameras in their Super Bowl loss to Tampa Bay. It obviously got in Davis' head, as he's lost the necessary patience and common sense to effectively run his franchise. He's hired five coaches since that defeat. The latest, after the Raiders fired Lane Kiffin and refused to pay him the remainder of his contract, is interim coach Tom Cable. He has quite a head-coaching resume, as he was Idaho's coach from 2000 to 2003 and had an 11-35 record.

I miss the old Raiders. I vaguely remember my guy Jim Plunkett throwing three touchdown passes in Super Bowl XV. I recall Marcus Allen's amazing change-of-direction 74-yard touchdown run in Super Bowl XVIII and Jack Squirek's momentum-changing interception return for a score in the same game.

The Raiders were a fun bunch when they were the rebels of the NFL, rallying against the lawmakers and changing home towns when they felt like it. Who would have guessed that people would miss those outlaw Raiders?

It sure beats watching a bad horror show.

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E-mail: aaragon@desnews.com