Nancy Gay: The Raiders Are Chanting, Rallying Behind Tom Cable
August 18, 2009 – 11:30 am by Tas MelasSo, Tom Cable broke the jaw of defensive assistant coach Randy Hanson on August 5th. Oakland did a very good job of keeping this story under wraps until recently, but the Cable man has now been confirmed as the culprit. What Nancy Gay also revealed in this interview is that Hanson no longer works for the team – no one knows how he was let go, or if he left on his own terms, but this is a key part of the story. I’m not sure what will legally happen to Cable, but on the field, it seems to be only boosting the team’s morale. Listening to this interview, the sense is that the players believe Cable threw that punch for them in a way, or more simply, he was standing up for what he feels is important. I mean, he broke Hanson’s jaw; the Raiders have to be taking their practices just a little more seriously right now. Writer, Nancy Gay, joined The Tony Bruno Show to discuss if Cable needs to address the media regarding the issue, on the Raiders verbally rallying around Cable, and what this incident does for the team.
On confirming it was Cable who threw the punch:
“I’ve lost track of how many NFL people told me specifically that it was Cable that punched assistant coach Randy Hanson. So, we’re standing behind our story and I would expect him to protect himself legally and criminally if charges were to be filed by Randy Hanson, which he could do. He could go back to police and re-open the case and file charges; it can still become a sticky matter in terms of how Cable handles himself going forward.”
Does Cable to have address this to the media at some point?
“I don’t think so if he wants to protect himself legally and criminally. What he did today was not deny it, which I found very interesting. He could have put this whole thing to rest by flat out denying that it ever occurred. He simply said, ‘I’m not gonna comment on it, it’s an internal matter.’ To me, that leaves an opening in questioning, what really happened? If nothing happened, I would have expected him to quash it right then and there.”
On the Raiders chanting, rallying behind their coach:
“So, today at practice in Napa, players started to get word that this story had happened, that this supposed incident had taken place between the coaches. They got on the practice field for their stretching and chanted, ‘Cable, boma ye!’ Just like the Ali-Foreman chant in Zaire in 1974; that is the absolute truth. Translated to mean ‘Cable, kill ‘em,’ so I would say this is the kinda thing that rallied the Oakland Raiders behind Tom Cable, their head coach.”
On the Raiders continuing their ugly tradition of chaos:
“It just speaks to the continued dysfunction within the Raiders’ organization and it’s unfortunate because I think Tom Cable’s a very good coach, I like the direction that he’s taking that franchise, the players are very solidly behind him. This is just a distraction they don’t need and I don’t think it will last long; I think if Hanson has been dismissed, the organization will move on and like I said, Cable gets some cred with his players.”
Listen to Nancy Gay on The Tony Bruno Show (starts at 1:35)
Tags: Football, NFL, Oakland Raiders, Randy Hanson, Tom Cable
