Tom Cable wants everyone to know he’s in charge of the Raiders. That applies especially to JaMarcus Russell, the former #1 overall draft pick who has begun smelling decidedly bust-like here at the tail end of his second pro season. Cable made a special point of demonstrating his in-chargeness, to the aforementioned Mr. Russell and everyone else, by chastising the QB for missing a meeting with NFL Network producers ahead of Thursday night’s Raiders-Chargers game (in case you missed it, and you almost certainly did, the Chargers won). “I think it’s a big deal and it does concern me,” Cable said of Russell’s irresponsible behavior. “You have to teach them ‘perception becomes reality.’ If you get perceived as a guy that blows things off or you don’t respect the wishes of the media that way, they’ll treat you that way. And he learned from it. He feels bad about it.”
Cable hit on the #1 most important point there – don’t piss off the media. Those guys can make your life miserable if you give them a chance. And it’s only made worse by so many ex-players being involved. Those guys take that etiquette stuff really seriously. Blow off a production meeting and one of them is liable to lecture you about how, when he played, guys didn’t get away with that kind of crap. Those guys live to rip down players they perceive as spoiled little whiners. Never mind the fact that a lot of the guys doing the ripping were themselves spoiled whiners when they played (cough Warren Sapp cough). That doesn’t matter. A guy could’ve been the biggest baby in history when he was in the game, but as soon as he gets an analyst job, he immediately becomes the embodiment of old school integrity. And guys like JaMarcus, who still hasn’t done squat in the league, become their whipping boys (not in a Marv Albert sort of way though…well, sometimes, if Mark Schlereth is involved).
So, Cable was doing JaMarcus a big favor by telling him to be nicer to the media. Of course, it’s possible that JaMarcus wasn’t listening closely enough to get the message anyway. To say Tom Cable is a lame-duck coach, the sort of guy players don’t feel obligated to obey or even pop the iPod earbuds from their ears and pay attention to, would be understating matters. To put it mildly…I have about as much chance of being the coach of the Raiders come 2009. Um, come to think of it…I wonder if Al Davis has my number. Gosh I hope not. I couldn’t imagine a fate worse than having to deal with a bunch of useless blobs like JaMarcus Russell. Tom Cable should be glad he only has three more games left to suffer. And JaMarcus? I don’t know how much longer he has either. This guy has catastrophic ACL injury written all over him. He might as well book the surgery and rehab time right now. He should’ve known from the second the Raiders drafted him that he was doomed. But maybe he didn’t care – maybe it was enough for him to get a whole bunch of Al Davis’s money. Not to be too down on the kid, but…he doesn’t strike me as the most committed fellow in the world. Of course this could all be a false perception created by the media. They could just be after him. See how that works JaMarcus?
Tags: al davis, jamarcus russell, mark schlereth, marv albert, tom cable, warren sapp
