I wonder if Al Davis was watching the NBA draft yesterday. If so, the Raiders boss may have been sickened by the Warriors' pick. I can picture him shaking his head and complaining, "Is there no one else in the East Bay who knows how to spot talent?"

Bad enough that Davis has to share suite space at the Oakland Coliseum with Billy Beane and the A's.

Beane has built a bestseller-worthy (if not film-worthy) reputation for casting aside physical appearance in favor of production. The whole Moneyball saga is a repudiation of "the scouting eye." The poster child of Michael Lewis' book was Jeremy Brown, a pudgy, unintimidating catcher who hit well in the minor leagues and knew how to draw walks.

This approach couldn't contrast more with Davis'. He dominates the Raiders' draft preparation and commands their decisions, and he goes weak-kneed over speed, size and power. Look no further into the past than April, when he made Darrius Heyward-Bey the No. 7 pick in the NFL draft. Heyward-Bey was not particuarly productive at Maryland, but was tall, muscular and sprinter-fast. It was a classic Al Davis pick.

Now the Warriors, also drafting at No. 7, have opted for Stephen Curry, a shooting marksman who happens to look like a skinny 17-year-old and doesn't really stand out as a runner or leaper.

Davis must be wondering what the world is coming to.

Then again, the rumor du jour is that the Warriors will trade Curry and three other players to Phoenix for power forward Amare Stoudemire. Now, Stoudemire is tall. And fast. And uses his world-class jets to throw down monstrous dunks.

If that trade goes through, Big Al might allow himself a grin and a silent fist-pump.

Funny how your perspective can change in 30 years.

When the story of Ken Stabler and Bob Padecky first surfaced in 1979 (read a detailed Sports Illustrated account here), I " like a lot of sports fans, I'm guessing " dismissed it as much ado about nothing.

My excuses: I was 14 years old at the time, and Stabler was one of my three favorite athletes, along with Reggie Jackson and Fred Biletnikoff. There's no way my hero would have planted a few grams of cocaine in a sportswriter's wheel well. And if he had? Screw 'em if they can't take a joke.

I sort of forgot about the episode until I moved from L.A. to Napa Valley in 1996 and noticed Padecky's mug in the pages of the Press Democrat. Why was that name so familiear to me? It finally registered that he was the reporter who had sparred with Stabler all those years ago.

In 2003, Padecky became my co-worker at the PD.

The fact that I have worked closely with Bob certainly colors my opinion of the Gulf Shores incident. But I'd like to think my view would have evolved since '79 even if I didn't know Padecky.

We'll probably never know whether Stabler was directly involved in the frame-up, though the circumstantial evidence is pretty damning. Maybe friends were acting on the QB's behalf, without his knowledge. In any case, this was no harmless prank. It was a heavy-handed attempt to prevent a reporter from doing his job, and it goes down as one of the most shameful events in the history of media-athlete relations.

It came to the forefront again this weekend, when Stabler acted as grand marshal for the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway. Bob, who covered the race, spoke to his former nemesis for the first time in years, and wrote a column on the experience.

If Stabler's image was tarnished by the fiasco, I would stop short of using it to deny him a place in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. A contingent of sportswriters, led by S.I.'s Paul Zimmerman, has overtly voted against Stabler because of his suspected role in smearing Padecky. As bad as Stabler's behavior was at that time, I've never subscribed to the notion that off-field nastiness should influence on-field honors " even if that nastiness negatively impacts my fellow writers.

No, Stabler shouldn't be kept out of Canton because of the Padecky Episode. He should be kept out because, despite his brilliance between 1973 and 1976, and despite his flawless execution of the 2-minute drill, he threw 222 interceptions to 194 touchdown passes. Those simply aren't Hall of Fame numbers.

Anyway, I've still got Reggie Jax and Biletnikoff to fall back on.

In honor of Father's Day, I have concocted a list of notable Raider dads " the men behind the men who have worn silver and black. Here they are in alphabetical order. Let me know whom I'm overlooking.

And happy Father's Day.

Bruce Cooper " To be frank, I have never subscribed to the whole victim-as-hero theme that Americans seem to embrace. But the way Cooper, a sportscaster for KPNX-TV in Phoenix, comported himself when his son, Marquis (a Raiders special teamer), died at sea in March was a picture of dignity. Bruce Cooper was patient and generous with the media as the search for his son dragged on for days, but he didn't try to mask his emotions. It was just the way I'd hope to behave if confronted with a situation I hope never to experience.

Tony Dorsett " Several Raiders had fathers who also played in the NFL, but none of the first-generation stars could match Touchdown Tony, one of the fastest running backs in NFL history. His son, safety and namesake Anthony Dorsett, never matched his dad's stature.

Antonio Fargas " For sheer novelty and pop-culture nostalgia, who could possibly top running back Justin Fargas' father? Fargas is best known for playing Huggy Bear on the TV series "Starsky and Hutch." But it was in the role of a transvestite in "Car Wash" that the elder Fargas uttered what stands as one of the great lines in movie history: "I am more man than you will ever be, and more woman than you will ever get." Talkin' bout the car wash.

Thomas Howard Sr. " Linebacker Thomas Jr. is so good, he has made Al Davis forget that his dad played for the hated Chiefs in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Gerald Irons " DE/LB Grant Irons was one of the friendliest players I met since joining the Raiders beat in 2003, but his old man was the better player. I remember Art Shell saying that Gerald, a linebacker, was as ripped as his son " I don't believe Grant owned a shirt with sleeves, the better to show off his guns " and that his former college and pro teammate did it without lifting any weights.

Marv Marinovich " No, I didn't say the best dads. I said the most notable. Marv, an offensive lineman, and son Todd, a quarterback, were the first father-son combo to play for the Raiders, as far as I can tell. Marv's attempt to mold Todd into an uber-athlete " a program that failed spectacularly " is well documented. It has made Marv a poster boy for heavy-handed parenting, though a recent mega-feature in Esquire magazine painted their relationship as surprisingly affectionate.

And because family crosses bloodlines, I will include a pair of worthy fathers-in-law.

Bill Brown " Look up the word "crewcut" in Merriam Webster, and there's a picture of Brown, who played fullback for the Vikings for 13 seasons. He was rugged and reliable, traits that would have been appreciated by his future son-in-law: Rich Gannon.

Henry Cisneros " Cisneros is one of the most important Latino politicians of the American 20th century. He became the first Mexican-American mayor of a major U.S. city when he took office in San Antonio in 1981 (he served four terms), and he later became Bill Clinton's Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. And one of his daughters married Brad Badger, the former Raiders offensive lineman.

As I mentioned Wednesday, center Samson Satele is finally on the field, in the late stages of his recovery from offseason shoulder surgery.

That's good news for Raiders fans. No offense to John Wade, but he couldn't beat out Jake Grove for the starting job last year, and Grove was never the strongest link along the Oakland line. I thought Grove improved after putting on some muscle last year, but he had pretty much tapped his potential.

Satele, acquired in a trade with the Dolphins (who, interestingly, wound up with Grove), isn't huge " the Raiders list him at 6-3, 300 " but he's agile and plays with a mean streak. He is supposed to be an upgrade at the position, or will be when he's fully healthy. For now, the Raiders are working him in slowly. Wednesday was his first day back.

Here are portions of my interview with Satele that day:

How did it feel to get back out there?

"Back in football shape. Back to hitting some guys for the first time in a while. But it feels good."

Are you limited in any way?

"Take a little bit of reps here and there, but as the days go on, the more reps I get. I mean, next week or whenever, I'll probably practice full practice."

How are you feeling physically?

"I feel good. The rehab here was awesome. Those guys got me ready in no time, and got my strength back up. These guys did an awesome job of helping me on my strength, and not just that but everything else."

Pinpoint anything in rehab that was particularly effective?

"Just the guys in there. The training staff they have is unbelievable. Like I said, they did everything and anything to get me out here early. So I'm out here. Which I'm not supposed to, but they got me ready, so I'm ready to practice."

So you're ahead of schedule?

"Yeah, ahead of schedule. Like I say, Scotty (Touchet) and all those guys in there, they just did a great job."

Comfortable yet in the Tom Cable blocking scheme?

"Oh, yeah, it fits me. I can run, athletic. And the guys around me, like Robert (Gallery) and Cooper (Carlisle), they're made for this system. They can run, and I'm just trying to catch up to them."

How close is it to other systems you've played in?

"It's not close. This is my third year, and the last two years I've been in a power system. So that is way different from what we're doing. I mean, I got help no matter which I go, so it's a good system for me."

What are the challenges in learning the system?

"There's a lot of other stuff that we have to call here. Not so much a lot of calls, but as long as you learn the basics, like every offensive system, everything else just falls in place. Just learning the different languages, I guess."

Especially important for a center, making line calls?

"Yeah, that's what I mean. Center calls everything on the line. The quarterback does, but if the center gets it out before the quarterback, the line can hear it. So it's a good system. I've just gotta learn the language."

Do you like having a head coach who was an offensive line coach?

"Oh, yeah. Offensive linemen, we're not receivers. We like to run the ball. But to have him as a head coach, he's always there pinpointing everything that goes wrong in the front. So it's like we have another O-line coach there."

Were they handing out free Muscle Milk at Jack London Square and nobody told me? Many Raiders were nowhere to be found when the team convened for an OTA practice this morning.

Here's a list of the missing, and I'm probably forgetting someone: CB Nnamdi Asomugha, QBs Jeff Garcia and Andrew Walter, RB Darren McFadden, DEs Derrick Burgess and Jay Richardson, DTs Tommy Kelly, Gerard Warren (Warren watched practice in a baseball cap) and Ryan Boschetti, S Mike Mitchell, WRs Darrius Heyward-Bey, Javon Walker and Arman Shields, FB Oren O'Neal, and O-linemen Paul McQuistan and Mark Wilson. P Shane Lechler and K Sebastian Janikowski were absent, too, though that's par for the course in the offseason.

Most of them have minor sprains and bruises. Kelly, according to coach Tom Cable has "personal issues." McFadden's "got some responsibilities that he committed to before." Garcia has "some issues that he's dealing with at home." Asomugha apparently has not been taking part in all of the voluntary practices, a departure from his usual commitment. Remember, none of the OTAs are mandatory.

Bey is still dogged by the sore right hamstring he tweaked at the minicamp.

On the bright side, several Raiders did return to action today, including TE Zach Miller and RG Robert Gallery. And C Samson Satele is finally on the field. Expected to start eventually, Satele has been recovering from shoulder surgery since the Raiders acquired him in a trade with Miami.

The 49ers have made their pitch to the city of Santa Clara, putting dollar figures to a proposed new stadium there. The Santa Clara City Council will discuss the issue tomorrow, and may vote to send the stadium proposal to a citywide ballot in 2010.

As that daunting process gets underway, Raiders fans are wondering if their team will be sucked into the deal.

The 49ers' proposal reportedly includes the breakdown of a two-team scenario, and it makes sense that the second team would be the Raiders. Their lease at the Oakland Coliseum expires after the 2010 season, and there is little reason to believe they want to sign another long-term extension there.

It's no secret that the NFL office wants the Raiders and 49ers to consider sharing a stadium. The Coliseum and Candlestick Park are probably the two most rundown facilities in the league, and a two-for-one deal may be the best way to fund an alternative.

"I don't know if that's the best solution here or not," NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said on a visit to a Raiders game last season. "But that is something that I think needs dialogue, and everyone is going to have to evaluate that as one alternative to the long-term solution for both teams."

The first reaction by many Raiders fans is probably: yeah, right. The Raiders and 49ers will share a stadium when Al Davis and Lane Kiffin share a locker at 24-Hour Fitness.

But I don't think it's far-fetched. Davis is renowned for his feuds, and he had a whopper with former 49ers president Carmen Policy. But Davis and the DeBartolos have always been cordial. Davis likes to tell the story of convincing Edward Sr. to buy the team and turn over operations to Eddie in 1977.

And Davis, for all his posturing and boasting of the Raiders as the greatest franchise in sports history, is in many ways a pragmatist. His Raiders have always played in a two-team market - sharing the Bay Area with the 49ers and Los Angeles with the Rams. I don't think it ever particularly bothered him. He knows that his real rivals are the Broncos, Chiefs and Chargers, not some NFC team sharing his town. Or even his stadium.

Davis even told the media, last year after a press conference, that he was open to the idea of sharing.

Which is not to say he'd be an easy man to negotiate with, and that could be the rub that prevents a two-team stadium from becoming a reality. At that same press conference, Davis said any proposal would have to be financially beneficial to the Raiders. This is a man known for tossing out a dollar figure to a prospective coach, then offering an entirely different amount when it came time to sign the contract. He could drive the 49ers crazy.

So there are many obstacles on the path to a shared 49ers-Raiders stadium in Santa Clara. But the route is not closed entirely.

I know I'm about to sound like a fuddy-duddy. (And let's face it, only a fuddy-duddy would even use that term.) I know people will accuse me of being out of touch with hip-hop-era culture, of lecturing like some 1950s chemistry teacher.

But I'll say it anyway: There are athletes who should manage their images a little better, and a couple of Raiders are prime examples.

First is quarterback JaMarcus Russell, who in May was snapped in photos that were originally posted on the site partychaser.com. Check them out here.

The second is wide receiver Javon Walker, who showed up clubbing in Vegas recently and was written up in the Las Vegas Sun's gossip pages.

Let's be clear about this: Neither Russell nor Walker did anything morally wrong. No spousal battery. No dogfights. All they did was party in public. I've done it. You've done it. Maybe it's hypocritical to criticize.

Or maybe it isn't.

In Russell's case, it isn't that he was photographed holding a cocktail. Whatever. It's that he looks sort of clownish in his posturing. (The diamond No. 2 jersey is priceless.) And I'll be perfectly blunt. The dude looks fat in a couple pictures.

This is the guy the Raiders paid $30 million in guaranteed money as a rookie in 2007. He isn't just the starting QB, he's the face of the franchise, counted upon to help lead this team out of the gutter. And one of his responsibilities should be to carry himself with dignity on and off the field.

The party photos don't make me think JaMarcus is a bad guy. But they make me question his judgment.

As for Walker, this is more confirmation that he is a generally likable player who just doesn't learn from his mistakes. When he was beaten and robbed in Vegas a year ago, the most disturbing thing to me was that he had started the night by spraying a dance-floor crowd with champagne " the very same behavior that set off a chain of events that led to the shooting of Walker's Denver teammate, Darrent Williams, a year and a half earlier. Williams died in Walker's arms.

The 2008 beating proved to be an embarrassment to Walker. But here he is a year later, hitting the clubs in the town that made him infamous. If anyone on the planet should hand himself a lifetime ban from the Strip, it's Walker.

The thing is, no one is asking these guys to become monks. They can party all they want. But they should figure out how to do it in a way that doesn't bring ridicule upon themselves and their team.

And spit out that gum!

The rumor making its way along the NFL telephone line right now has the Raiders trying to shop two-time Pro Bowl defensive end Derrick Burgess.

Former Raiders scout Michael Lombardi " who certainly has great contacts in the league but is hard to view as an objective voice when it comes to his former employer " addressed the notion in his National Football Post column today. Lombardi said the Raiders offered Burgess to New England for recent second-round draft choice Sebastian Vollmer, a massive but raw offensive tackle from Houston, and backup quarterback Kevin O'Connell. The Patriots supposedly turned down the Raiders.

I don't know if that particular scenario is based on reality (a backup QB? why??), but I have a few thoughts on the Burgess trade rumors:

1) It might not be a bad idea. Since he came to Oakland in 2005, Burgess has probably been the Raiders' second-best defender, after cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha. That said, his sack total has declined each season, from a franchise-record 16 (2005) to 11 (2006) to 8 (2007) to 3.5 (2008). Burgess is an asset both on the field, where he often demands double-team blocks, and at practice, where is an unbelievable worker despite his stud status. The trouble is, injuries have begun to chip away at the 30-year-old end, and he too often can't make it to the field.

2) Though it does make some sense, I'd be surprised if Al Davis went through with a trade. Davis is very proud of his reputation as a guy who finds castoffs or diamonds in the rough and turns them into stars. Think Jim Plunkett, or Todd Christensen. The Raiders haven't had many players who fit the bill in the last 20 years. Burgess was probably the most recent, and I'm guessing that tag, along with his intimidating presence, make Burgess a Davis favorite.

3) True or not, the mere fact that this rumor has gained legs is bound to sour relations between Burgess and the Raiders. He has been unhappy with his contract for three years and must be sick of losing, so he would probably welcome a trade. By the same token, I've seen many athletes get miffed when they hear they're being shopped " no matter how often they claim not to care about what the media are reporting.

4) Too bad Lombardi is scuttling the Patriots trade he mentioned. I'm pretty sure it would make the Raiders the first team in NFL history with two Sebastians.

As with many struggling franchises, the Raiders' downfall over the past six seasons has been hard to define in a sentence or two.

The running game has been at times tepid, at times formidable. The pass rush has been occasionally strong, often nonexistent. The locker-room vibe has spiraled into near-chaos at certain points, but has more often been surprisingly solid.

There has been one constant, though: shabby run defense.

As the team followed up a Super Bowl campaign in 2002 with a 4-12 finish in 2003, the rushing defense came unglued. The Raiders ranked dead last in the NFL in yards allowed on the ground in '02, giving up 156.9 yards per game.

Al Davis hired Rob Ryan as defensive coordinator in 2004. And while Ryan had his successes in Oakland, his run defense got worse every year " 125.8 yards per game in 2004 (22nd in the league), 128.1 yards in 2005 (25th), 134 yards in 2006 (25th), 145.9 yards in 2007 (31st) and 159.7 yards last year (31st again).

Now the Raiders are banking on Ryan being the problem.

In essence, the team did almost nothing to upgrade its anti-run personnel over the offseason. The Raiders drafted four defensive players, but three of them " Matt Shaughnessy, Slade Norris and Stryker Sulak " are primarily edge rushers. Only safety Mike Mitchell is a potential run-plugger, and he will go into training camp as the No. 2 strong safety.

The man currently running ahead of Mitchell, second-year safety Tyvon Branch, also is a physical presence. But remember, so was the man Branch replaces, Gibril Wilson. Wilson was a liability against the pass, but was one of Oakland's best tacklers last season. The Raiders did sign one interior defender, Ryan Boschetti, but he would look to be the team's fourth defensive tackle at best.

If the Raiders are to get any stouter against the run in 2009, massive DT Terdell Sands will have to play much better (and stay on the field more) than he did a year ago. And new defensive coordinator John Marshall will have to significantly change his players' assignments.

Or their mentality.

That seemed to be the message Ricky Brown " who is moving from outside linebacker to the middle (backing up Kirk Morrison) this year " delivered to reporters after practice Wednesday.

"For me, always stopping the run is a little bit about attitude," Brown said. "It's kind of something that's deep within a guy."

Let's hope he's right. Because it will largely be the same 11 guys looking deep within themselves this year.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Al Davis dunk tank. Step right up and make a throw. Hit the target and the Raiders' 79-year-old owner will fall into a tank of silver-and-black Kool-Aid.

Two weeks ago, it was Tim Brown reflecting on his first day with the Raiders, when teammates supposedly told him Davis doesn't like black players from Notre Dame. Now it's cornerback DeAngelo Hall, who had one disastrous half-season in Oakland before the Raiders cut him loose.

Hall is prospering again (financially, anyway) in Washington, where the Redskins recently signed him to a 6-year, $55 million contract. Speaking to station WJFK in D.C., Hall also went into the Al Davis file and pulled out a whopper:

"Probably the funniest thing, I was pretty close to Lane Kiffin. - And after they fired Lane and were about to announce who the next coach was - I don't know if you guys saw this in the media world, but I was actually sitting there live, me and a couple other players there in the back. And [Davis] went through this whole spiel of what happened - and said our next coach is Tom Cable, he's going to be our interim coach. When everybody paused for Tom to come in, like a break-off, [Davis] goes to the media guide and not even whispering says, 'Hey, anyone got any information on this Tom Cable guy? I don't know where he comes from.' That's just vintage Al Davis. Making a move, not really knowing why, no real justification for doing it. But just saying, 'Hey, I want this guy, let's get him, I'll figure everything else out later.' And that's just how Al Davis is."

OK, I can guess your first reaction: Who is DeAngelo Hall to pop off about Al Davis when he took the money and played cornerback like Oprah Winfrey in 2008?

It's a fair point, but Hall isn't the only one to note that Davis was scrambling for information on Cable during that infamous, post-Kiffin press conference. He truly seemed at a loss to characterize his new coach. And I know for a fact that Hall was at the press conference. I talked to him that day, and he gave me some very nice quotes in support of the coach who had just been canned. In fact, I always wondered if Hall's loyalty to Kiffin was part of the reason he was released midseason, as opposed to merely benched.