Al's rage would have powered a neighborhood

Jerry Jones angrily pounded the Dallas locker room door after the Cowboys latest eggy performance. Bud Adams essentially threw his entire Tennessee Titans team under the road grader he was driving for giving up 51 to Chicago.But there was not a sound in Oakland, where the Raiders let Doug Martin become a household name. In other words, just one more reason to wish Al Davis was still around.Not that he would have said anything after Sundays 42-32 loss to Tampa Bay, mind you. He reserved that level of entertainment for coaches hirings and firings, so he averaged a performance a year for the last 10.But his rage would have powered a neighborhood, and the walls at Raiders Intergalactic Headquarters would have bled for days. Youd have known he was there. Damn straight you would have.This is something we get too little of these days. The new generation of sporting entrepreneur is good at hiding from the public eye, hiring people to explain his (or her) whims and demands without him ever having to pop up at all.The old owners tended to stand out front more, doing odd things like taking responsibility and blowing off steam and shaking their fists and saying Why I oughta . . . The new ones want to lay in pile of money and dream of being holograms.In the Bay Area, the only owner who is eminently visible is Joe Lacob, who sits courtside, often with his arms folded across his chest and looking like he wishes he had heat vision. He is the Warriors, and the Warriors are him. And hell pretty well talk to anyone, any time.This could change, of course, if the Warriors overcome their quick start and settle into their much-predicted high-30s win projection. He is reaching that stage in his progression as an owner in which someone with a tape recorder or camera is more bother than opportunity.But he isnt there yet. And that makes him, well, special. Especially in these parts.

Mark Davis, who inherited the big chair from his father, fulminated privately Sunday if at all. Jed York leaves the football P.R. to Jim Harbaugh (and wouldnt you have killed to see him do the Raiders presser today?), though he will bloviate about the new stadium pretty much on command.The As and Giants exceeded expectations, the Giants winning it all, and other than celebratory moments, neither John-Boy Fisher nor Charlie Johnson made an appearance. Sharks front man Kevin Compton has spoken for the record once, before the lockout.In other words, Jones and Adams are old school. Lacob is kind of old school. The rest of them are . . . well, no school. They attend, but their participation in classroom discussion is nil.It is a safer place to be. Someone else deals with the outside world. Someone else has to handle the art of the spin. The value of invisibility is evident.But its also a little weak.The perfect owner is available for blame deflection after losses, even if its just to say, These are my guys, and theyre going to stay my guys. You want to yell, yell at me. After all, Im part of this too.The perfectly awful owner is available only for victories, to explain his (or her) magnificence when it is safe to do so.But the perpetually invisible owner resides in a netherworld where their very existence is really none of your business. Being above it all is a constant, and frankly, safety is boring.None of this will change, mind you. Our localities owners will occasionally be there when they need us, but never when we need them. They like that deal. Its the one where they win either way, and it explains their business practices in general. Thats how they got to be owners.But I speak for all America when I say that we could have used some public Mark Davis rage Sunday. It was a game that demanded it, frankly, and there are so few demands the Raiders make upon us otherwise.Ray Ratto is a columnist for CSNBayArea.com