Could Davis Be Asking, ‘What Price Raiders?’

When I read the gossip column in a San Francisco newspaper Wednesday that it was pretty much a “done deal” that Al Davis was selling his ownership share of the Raiders, I was hoping we would learn the buyer is Disney.

Wouldn’t you like to see the look on Skull Man’s face when Disney replaces the Raiderettes with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs?

Picture all those criminals tailgating before a game, Disney’s new rules allowing only marshmallows to be roasted with Winnie the Pooh making the rounds in the Black Hole to wish everyone a Pooh-happy day.

The Disneying-up of the Raiders would be worth the price of admission and there’s nothing that Disney likes more than the price of admission.

Talk about your California Adventure--this would be one wonderful ride with image-minded Disney officials ordering the Raiders to stop with the penalties.

Instead of Davis sending plays down from the press box, you’d have a grinning Michael Eisner advising Jon Gruden he’s scaring kids with all those faces he’s making on the sideline.

For all we know Eisner is already calling the shots, and looking for another Mickey Mouse-like centerpiece to the operation, he’s the one responsible for signing Jerry Rice.

*

THE SAN Francisco Chronicle report, quoting “a source for one NFL team owner,” said “there is tremendous pressure for [Davis] to sell, and it could be coming very soon.”

The theory in some quarters--now that he’s lost his lawsuit against the NFL--is that he probably realizes his team is stuck in Oakland and he’s looking for a “get out of jail” free card.

The newspaper said Davis will be 72 next month, and he has been bothered by a serious back problem. It said “an undisclosed investor has already agreed to plunk down big money for Davis’ limited financial share of the legendary team.”

If the players start wearing name tags that read, “Hi, I’m Rich,” it will be a pretty good indication that Disney is plunking down the big money.

*

MAYBE THIS is why we were hearing reports now that the Anaheim Angels might be disbanded. Would ESPN’s Peter Gammons just make something up like that?

He wrote this week that baseball owners are interested in contraction and would like to get rid of four teams. And he said the Angels might be one of them. He has a point--if you’re 18 1/2 games out and it isn’t even the Fourth of July, why bother?

“Disney so wants out of baseball that it would consider folding the Angels, which would allow owners Ken Hofmann and Steve Schott to move the A’s from Oakland to Anaheim,” Gammons wrote.

Now if you were Disney, and you were going to own the Pink & Blue--those would be the Raiders’ new fun colors--wouldn’t you want the A’s out of Oakland so you could have the friendliest place on earth all to yourself?

Personally, I’d urge Disney to disband the Mighty Ducks before breaking up the Angels.

*

I BELIEVE everything I read in the newspaper, of course.

But you might be a little skeptical and wonder just how much of this Davis selling the Raiders and the Angels disappearing into the clouds’ stuff is true.

First, ask yourself this question: Do you think the NBA fixed it so that the Lakers would jump out to a huge halftime lead Wednesday night on purpose so that when Destiny’s Child sang, “I’m a survivor . . . I’m going to work harder . . . I’m going to make it . . . I’m not going to give up,” you’d think the 76ers were going to mount a stirring comeback?

There were people out there before the game who figured the NBA referees would arrange it so the 76ers clipped the Lakers in Game 4, setting up a dramatic Game 5 on Friday that would have demanded the country’s attention.

If you are one of these people--and there is no bigger believer in conspiracy theories than Davis, who tried to convince a jury that the NFL always has been out to get him--Goofy and Donald Duck will be honorary captains for the Pink & Blue’s opening coin toss.

Let’s get real here. If Davis surrenders his ownership interest in the Raiders, it will be for something more than money. There has been talk for some time that Davis would sell his interest if it would allow him to move the Raiders, get a new stadium and still run the team on a daily basis.

But the Raiders have a stadium lease through 2011, and even if they had somewhere to go with someone willing to build them a new stadium, they’re grounded. The Raiders may be living in a fantasy world, but they will be playing their games in Oakland.

So right now there’s a better chance of them re-signing Todd Marinovich, now that he’s enhanced his Raider credentials with jail time, than getting the Disney make-over. Don’t you think Pluto would have made a great Raider mascot?

As for the Angels, I understand the owners would like to shrink baseball, but it makes more sense to shut down Anaheim than disbanding a team that no one supports and replacing them with another team no one will support.

I just wish the powers-to-be in the NBA, who are so good at fixing the NBA draft and playoff games, would share their expertise with Major League Baseball and work it out so the Angels win it all some day.

*

THIS TIME, it was the 76ers as a team that flopped.

*

ARE YOU telling me that Dale Jarrett is as good as they can do in Philadelphia for celebrities?

*

I THINK Channel 4’s Fred Roggin had the best line in regards to 76er President Pat Croce challenging Laker owner Jerry Buss to match his climb to the top of the Walt Whitman Bridge to help hang a “Go Sixers, Beat L.A.” banner.

“In L.A.,” Roggin said on the pregame show, “you don’t climb a bridge, you have your people climb it for you.”

*

TODAY’S LAST WORD comes in an e-mail from Sean:

“I live in a small suburb about 45 minutes away from Philly. . . .”

Are you sure that’s far enough?

*

T.J. Simers can be reached at t.j.simers@latimes.com