Commitment to obstinance: Bravo to Kiffin for defying Davis

Al Davis was one tough SOB. In 1962 he was an assistant coach with the Chargers, coaching receivers. Four years later he owned the Raiders. That's awesome.

But today Al Davis is a shell of that man. He has become what he hated -- a monolith exercising his power for no better reason than, well, he can. And so he goes through coaches like that East Coast megalomaniac, George Steinbrenner of the Yankees, once went through managers. Davis went from Art Shell to Mike White to Joe Bugel to Jon Gruden to Bill Callahan to Norv Turner back to Art Shell and then to Lane Kiffin. All in the span of 13 years.

Because the problem wasn't Al Davis. No sir. It had to be the coaches. All eight of them.

What a loser Al Davis has become.

Kiffin, meanwhile, is the sexiest 5-13 head coach in NFL history. He's the one guy tough enough to stand up to Davis. Art Shell wouldn't do it. Mike White, Joe Bugel, Norv Turner. Bill Callahan. All those guys did was accept what Davis had to give. They took until it hurt, and then they took until they were fired. Taking didn't work for them.

So Lane Kiffin isn't taking squat. When Davis tried to force him to resign after the 2007 season, Kiffin refused. Davis basically told Kiffin he wouldn't be allowed to choose his staff or his players -- not through free agency, not through the draft -- and Kiffin replied with indifference. He refused to resign, and he refused to try to improve his situation by making the kinds of concessions, public and otherwise, made by his predecessors.

After last season Kiffin wanted to fire his defensive coordinator, Rob Ryan, a Davis confidante and holdover from the Art Shell staff who had interviewed for the head coaching position before Kiffin got it. Davis wouldn't let him. So Kiffin bided his time, and at first opportunity he undercut Ryan and Davis, blaming the Raiders' defensive performance in the 41-14 loss to Denver in the 2008 opener on the coordinator and owner.

Some saw that move as gutless or disloyal. Given the circumstances, it was neither. It was damn near heroic. Rob Ryan is aligned with Al Davis, which tells you all you need to know about Rob Ryan.

Lane Kiffin is on the other side.

Which tells you Lane Kiffin is right.