The Raiders situation is currently being investigated by police and the Napa County District Attorney. Roger Goodell has taken the firmest stand possible on the Raiders situation, commenting that if Cable is charged with any crimes, he might possibly be punished by the league… Way to come down hard on this sort of behavior commish.
And there is some irony to these unfortunate occurrences. Every time a football player, whether it is college or the pros, gets in the slightest amount of trouble, the league or the NCAA is quick to pounce; just ask Dez Bryant if you don’t agree with that statement. Yet, when the guys who are the role models for players, the men charged with leading their teams out on the field screw up and punch somebody, it is not that big a deal… What did LeGarrette Blount, the running back from Oregon who sucker punched an opponent earlier this year, do differently than Tom Cable? Well, two things, he punched a guy on the other team, and afterwards didn’t threaten to kill him as Cable did with his assistant. Blount was suspended for the entire season by Oregon.
Then, maybe you point to it being an organization or institutional issue. Oregon, a respected school in the NCAA, would not have its reputation tarnished by the foolish act of a player. The University of New Mexico didn’t even have much of a national reputation to tarnish with its suspension decision. So why not hand down the most barebones, save the slightest amount of face possible, with a one game suspension decision? And the Raiders organization? It never had any respectability worth saving by making any sort of preemptive move before the league acts.
Does it make it better that certain acts of violence are more acceptable if they are against people on the same team? I do not know for certain. What I do know is this all seems to be bred by a culture of insider machismo specific to football players. Both these coaches were former football players, who loved the game, and loved its physical nature. Everyone is lauding Mike Singletary in San Fran for bringing his old school, smash mouth attitude to that franchise. And all this hard hitting action is all well and good, right up until the coaches cannot control themselves. Wouldn’t it be hard for Cable to get angry with a player for loosing his cool and getting flagged for a personal foul? How could he be upset with someone getting a roughing the passer call? At least that Raider got someone in another uniform…
Don’t get me wrong, I love hard hitting football games, and teams that play with such a mentality. I think its great when teams reflect the character of their coaches, as it makes the entire team more fun to root for. But, it is worth noting this does not happen, at least with such frequency in other sports or other professions. It is something specific to former football players turned coaches who never quite lost that edge that made them want to play football in the first place. And it seems to be a disturbing trend for this season. I could be wrong about this theory of mine. In fact, I will gladly eat my words if tomorrow’s headline reads “John Clayton suspended by ESPN after allegedly drop kicking production intern at Bristol, CT offices.” - Matthew Aibel
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