For the first time since 1979, Al Davis won't be in the owner's box watching his Oakland Raiders play an NFL game.
Davis is heeding advice from his doctors and not making the round-trip flight to Tampa, Fla., allowing swelling in his right knee and ankle to recover. Davis had a brief hospital stay earlier this month following a fall.
"The doctors told him it's probably not the best thing to spend 10 or 12 hours in the air," Raiders executive John Herrera said, according to the Contra Costa Times.
Herrera said, to his recollection, it's the first Raiders game Davis has not attended since 1979 when he missed a game to be with his wife Carole, who was hospitalized following a heart attack. Davis joined the Raiders organization in 1963.
Herrera tried to emphasize, however, that Davis is feeling well.
"I can't emphasize this enough. He's feeling good. He wanted to make the trip and expected to make the trip, but the decision was made that it was not a good idea because of his knee and ankle," Herrera said, according to the newspaper. "He was a little ticked off that he didn't make the trip, but he knew he'd better listen to what the doctor said."
