Tim Brown Would Like To Clarify That Whole 'Al Davis Hates Blacks From Notre Dame' Thing

By now, you've probably heard what Tim Brown told WCNN radio in Atlanta, which was basically that Al Davis finds black athletes from Notre Dame to be a tad, oh what's the word, uppity.

The former Raider said:

Meeting Al was pretty unique. I found out five or ten minutes after my first practice there that he hated African-American athletes from Notre Dame. And they literally told me that. They literally told me that because we're known for using our education more than our athletic ability that he thought that I would be one of these guys that would basically take the money and run. I don't know if that was a ploy to get me amped up, but it certainly worked.

Now Brown would like, as he puts it, "to give some face value" to his comments. In a statement to Sports Radio Interviews' Jimmy Shapiro, Brown clarifies:

If you read the statement carefully, you will see it says "they said", not Al Davis said. Early in my career , Al Davis and I may have had some contentious years , but none centered around him being racist.

I am fully aware of the history and Mr. Davis making moves over the years. I lived some of them. I have also seen Mr. Davis do things for his players, African-American players that only those in the Raider family would know.

Please, read or listen to the statement for what it is and not what everyone wants it to be.

In sum: "They" said it. Not Tim Brown. And Al Davis did "things" for the Raiders' black athletes, which is true. He did make Art Shell the first African-American coach to be hired, fired, rehired and fired again.