Notebook: Tillman brothers are training at Fort Lewis

Pat Tillman, former Arizona Cardinals safety, and his brother Kevin have returned from Iraq and have been selected by the Army to participate in a three-month elite Ranger training regimen at Fort Lewis.

"The boys have been back for a couple of weeks now," their father, Patrick Tillman Sr., said Monday. "They are both healthy and fine, and we, of course, we are very relieved and very happy."

Pat Tillman, a safety who played in the NFL for four years, walked away from a three-year, $3.6 million contract with the Cardinals, and his brother Kevin gave up a minor-league baseball career to enlist in the Army after the 2001 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.

Since enlisting with the plan of becoming Rangers, the Tillman brothers have refused all media interviews.

Their sacrifice, as well as their service in the war in Iraq, will be recognized on ESPN's 2003 ESPY Awards on July 16, when they will receive the Arthur Ashe Courage Award.

The brothers, both former Arizona State athletes, will not be in attendance to accept the award.

"To tell you the truth, the boys are not too pleased about the ESPY thing," Patrick Sr. said. "But I am. I'm very happy about it. I'm proud."

Patrick Sr., an attorney in Alameda, Calif., would not elaborate on whether his sons saw much combat.

"That's something they won't talk about very much," he said. "They are still pleased with the decision that they made."

Al Davis says "fraud"

turned Oakland deal bad

SACRAMENTO — Al Davis wrapped up his testimony yesterday, saying he signed an "excellent deal" to return the Raiders to Oakland in 1995.

"But because of fraud, it turned into a bad deal," he said.

Davis, recalling the buoyant East Bay atmosphere in the summer of 1995, repeated claims that he trusted assurances by Oakland officials that Raiders fans would pack a remodeled 65,000-seat stadium and return the team and its city to "glory."

The Raiders' 74-year-old owner, dressed in identical black and silver for seven days in the witness chair, concluded four harsh days of cross-examination.

Davis is seeking $1 billion from the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, its chief negotiator and the defunct accounting firm Arthur Andersen for failing to deliver on sellout crowds and causing the Raiders to lose money.

Davis estimated the Raiders would be worth twice as much in 2010 — up to $850 million — had he moved them to Baltimore instead of returning to Oakland after 13 years in Los Angeles.

Also yesterday, the Raiders dropped a 1996 lawsuit against the NFL on the eve of jury selection in San Jose. The Raiders earlier claimed NFL Properties failed to use "best efforts" to promote Raiders merchandise and unfairly stopped the team from selling its merchandise on the sidelines during games.

Note

• Denver TE Dwayne Carswell waived his right to a preliminary hearing on a complaint that he picked up his girlfriend by the neck. Carswell, arrested Friday and free on $2,500 bail, will later enter a plea on charges of domestic violence, battery and obstruction of an officer.