Scenes from this Side of the Bridge: End of an Era

 “What do you think the world would be like if there hadn’t been a Steve Jobs?” I asked my friend. He thought for a second before responding.

“I think Sony would be king of the tech market. Remember those mini disc players? They were really pushing those things for a while. If there had been no Steve Jobs, we might all still be using Sony Walkmen.”

“That would probably have been better for the recording industry, right?” I asked. “Since people would still be buying music discs rather than buying music though iTunes, I mean.”

We were seated at a small table near the back of with our open laptops on the table between us. Our large mugs of coffee and a plate of oatmeal cookies rested near the edge of the table. Tall bookcases loaded with shelves of Korean books lined the walls next to us.

Other than a middle aged man sitting near the counter with his own laptop, we were the only customers in the cafe. Perhaps it had something to do with the weather, since the salon next door seemed to be pretty quiet too.  The dark clouds hanging over Main Street threatened to unleash their army of rain drops before we reached the bottom of our coffee mugs.

“It would probably have been better for the recording industry, but not necessarily for consumers,” Scott said. I nodded.

“I have to say that he did help to create an industry that might not be there without the iPhone and iPad though,” I responded.

“What industry is that?”

“App development. Without Apple, there probably wouldn’t have been nearly as many app developers as there are,” I said.

Scott pointed at his phone. “True. But there are lots of applications for Droids too. So there still would have been app developers.”

He broke off a piece of his cookie and chewed it.

“Okay, so Steve Jobs was obviously important to technology. Now how about Al Davis? I kind of think Al Davis was just as important to football as Jobs was to technology. I mean, he changed the game. Love him or hate him, you have to admit that,” I said.

Scott rolled his eyes, readying himself for another of my “the-Raiders-are-so-cool” speeches.

A woman walked in the back door and greeted the man sitting with his laptop.

“Are you ready to go?” she asked.

He smiled and nodded, stuffing his computer into his bag. They walked out together waving goodbye to the barista. He replied with a “thank you,” before the door shut behind them. The soft, classical music floating around the café now serenaded only us and the barista.

I became a football fan much later than most of my friends. When I did start to like the game, it was only natural that I gravitated toward the Oakland Raiders. After all, I am originally from Northern California and have a reputation for being a little wacky. The Raiders and I were a perfect match.  

“Ok, how did he change the game?” Scott asked. He sounded a little reluctant to ask the question.

“Well, for starters, he made the game more exciting with the vertical passing game. For another thing, he was a huge part of the AFL merger. Also, he created a really unique franchise. I mean, is there any team quite like the Raiders?” I asked.

“Yeah, I hear you,” Scott replied.

“It’s just strange to think those two died during the same week,” I said.

Scott and I finished our conversation and he turned back to his computer as his phone rang. I got up and went to the counter to get another cup of coffee. Outside, the first few raindrops splattered on the sidewalk.

While I don’t own an iPhone or an iPad and have never attended a regular season Raiders football game, I felt a sense of loss last week. Two of the most influential fixtures in the technology and sports worlds were now gone.

Billy Witz wrote an article earlier this week explaining how Steve Jobs and Al Davis shared some common characteristics. While it’s true, sad and interesting to reflect on the fact that we’ve lost both of these innovative minds, the impact I felt from their deaths was more about the passing of time. It seems virtually impossible to go anywhere these days without seeing someone using an iPhone or iPad. It also seems that you can’t mention Al Davis to any football fan without receiving a quick reaction (usually negative) and comment about how the Raiders used to be great but have been terrible over the past few years.

When I think about the technological and cultural impact Steve Jobs and Al Davis had directly and indirectly on millions of people, it makes me realize that I have heard about them, Apple and the Raiders in conversations and in the news for much of my life. It makes me remember the part of Steve Jobs’ famous speech at Stanford when he told students to “have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.”

Both Jobs and Davis exemplified that. It’s strange to think that they are both gone. It feels like the end of an era.