Oakland Raiders to Wear Peculiar "Black" Jerseys as Tribute to the Late Al Davis

The National Football League’s Oakland Raiders have announced that they will honor the memory of influential, iconoclastic, litigious late owner Al Davis in bizarre fashion, by wearing black jerseys—black jerseys, on a football team!—for their remaining 2011 home games.

Raiders star running back Darren McFadden (assuming it’s not
some other guy; we don't actually care) wearing white, the
only jersey color the Raiders have ever known.

The Raiders run the risk of confusing their fan base with their noble if unprecedented and misguided sartorial tribute. Known throughout their tenure in the AFL and later the NFL as the “Silver and White Attack,” the Oakland Raiders have become synonymous with the color white and the bad-boy image of tough, hard-edged rebellion that it represents.

The proposed black jerseys (artist’s conception).

However, Raiders fans’ reaction to this strange development has been surprisingly muted so far. Older fans are perhaps shocked by the loss of the powerful and charismatic owner who helped change the face of the NFL and led his team to an AFL Championship, twelve Division Championships, four AFC Championships, and three Super Bowl victories.

Younger fans, perhaps not familiar with Davis’ early career, are probably befuddled by the outpouring of praise for the man who led the team to a 29-83 record from 2003 to 2009, burned through five head coaches in the same time span, and paid JaMarcus Russell $3.38 million per touchdown pass. 

It’s also possible that younger Raiders fans have not reacted to Davis’s death because the news has yet to reach their cell block.

Man, is he ever going to be bummed
when he gets out of solitary
and finds a newspaper.