I am fortunate in that there are many former AFL players that live in the San Diego area, and I get the opportunity to meet with several of them on occasion.  One such meeting occurred this past week, when I went to the home of Oakland Raiders legend, Ben Davidson.  Ben and I initially discussed the New Orleans Saints bounty situation, but then the conversation bounced around in other areas.

 

 
 

One item that we talked about was his old game helmet from Ben's Raiders days.  Ben said that players rarely had a chance to keep any of their equipment, but that after he cracked the helmet near the earhole, the Raiders allowed him to take it home. 
 

Looking at this helmet, one can only cringe thinking of the countless collisions that Ben went through while strapped into this particular piece of headgear.  by looking closely at the hundreds of scuffs and marks, one can clearly identify the red of a Kansas City Chiefs helmet, the blue of a Denver Broncos helmet, and white that could be attributed to a number of his AFL opponents.

 

 
 

Seeing Ben Davidson holding that helmet in his hands, you would think that he wanted to put it on and get back out to a battle with one of the AFL's great linemen, perhaps throw a headslap or two, and maybe, just for fun, knock over a referee while making a tackle.