Marcus Allen to light Al Davis flame Sunday

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"Marcus Allen, come back home." - Ice Cube, on 'Come and Get It'

ALAMEDA -- The long simmering feud between Marcus Allen and the Raiders, specifically, Al Davis, has come to an end.Allen, at the behest of Mark Davis, will light the team's ceremonial flame in honor of the late Raiders owner before Oakland's game against Pittsburgh on Sunday, CSNBayArea.com has learned.

Allen, the Raiders' top draft pick in 1982 as the reigning Heisman Trophy winner out of USC, was Super Bowl XVIII MVP and the NFL MVP in 1985. But shortly thereafter he was on the receiving end of the elder Davis' cool rage."What do you think about a guy that has attempted to ruin your career?" Allen said in 1992, in an interview aired on Monday Night Football.

"He told me he was going to get me. We've had conversations. I don't know for what reason, but he told me he was going to get me."

Some theories had Davis angry that Allen wanted more carries and more money. Others had Davis jealous that Allen had become a bigger star than him in the team's then-home of Los Angeles. The most scandalous, though, was the one whispered the loudest, and given legs in Murray Olderman's new book, "Just Win, Baby, The Al Davis Story," that Davis disapproved of Allen's relationship with O.J. Simpson and his inner circle.

This much is true, though. Year after year, Davis brought in different running backs -- from Bo Jackson to Greg Bell to Nick Bell to Roger Craig to Eric Dickerson -- and Allen's time on the field grew shorter while his time on the bench grew longer.

After 11 star-crossed years with the Raiders, Allen went to Kansas City and enjoyed a resurgence playing five more seasons for the Chiefs. He won Comeback Player of the Year in 1993 and entered the Hall of Fame in 2003.

Ice Cube, in his 2010 documentary "Straight Outta L.A.," asked Al Davis if Marcus Allen was a true Raider."At one time he was," Davis said. "Yeah, he was.So what happened with Allen, then? "I'm not going to tell you," Davis told Ice Cube. "It's a deeper story than you even dream, that I was well aware of, and I just got a certain approach to life."

The younger Davis would not wade into it now, though. After all, there's a homecoming for which to prepare, even if Allen never played a home game in Oakland.

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