David Rosenthal

There's a quote about him in America's Game.

Outside of Oakland, it was not certain where Al Davis would finish in a popularity contest among Sharks, the Mumps, the Income Tax, and himself.

If the voters were the other American League football coaches, Davis would probably be third, edging out the Income Tax in a thriller.

You can't trust Al Davis any further than you can throw him.

And he is the perfect new head of the AFL in this war.

They don't let him know about the merger negotiations.

They don't actually want him to negotiate.

They just want him to start a war and improve their negotiating leverage.

In literally one of the most incredible unforced errors of all time, the NFL fires the first shot in the new war as soon as Davis takes over.

So in May 1966, the Giants in the NFL...

break the gentleman's agreement.

They go over and they poach a veteran from the Bills in the AFL.

A kicker.

Once this happens, though, the other NFL owners are just...

apoplectic at Giants owner Wellington Mara.

They're like, you're throwing this all away over a kicker.

So the owner of the Colts, the quote, God damn it, Mara, if you wanted a kicker, why didn't you just ask me?

I'd have given you one.

So Davis gets the news that the gentleman's agreement has been broken and the kicker has been signed.

The kicker signing heard around the world while he happens to be literally in the middle of meeting with the bill's owner.