It’s a little before 4 p.m. on a Thursday afternoon when Greg Papa breezes into a favorite Danville restaurant. Because it’s during the languid expanse between the lunch rush and the dinner crowd, the staff has time to give him a properly warm welcome.



Every few minutes a different waiter stops by and speaks rapidly in a melodic Italian accent. They all say they are happy to see him again.



Lovely as the setting is, however, Papa had something of a bad date here once.



“It’s funny, I was in this very restaurant with (Raiders president) Marc Badain when they told me I wasn’t coming back,’’ he said, smiling wide. Then Papa turned and gestured toward a pretty white tablecloth on the patio. “We sat at that table over there.”



This is where the Raiders broke up with Greg Papa, apparently because of his feud with owner Mark Davis, effectively silencing the booming, brash and brilliant voice of the past 20...