ShareThisFinally, there is something Lane Kiffin and Tom Cable have in common -- a desire to pound Oakland Raiders assistant coach Randy Hanson into a gray paste.
Only Kiffin suspended Hanson for five days a year ago, helping hasten his falling-out with The Al (as in Davis), and Cable actually did it by physical force 13 days ago, according to multiple reports.
Now we'll see where Davis stands on the matter, where the NFL stands on the matter, and most entertaining of all, where Kiffin stands on the matter.
We'll lay odds that Kiffin talks first.
By all accounts, Cable clocked Hanson on Aug. 5 while Hanson was speaking with defensive coordinator John Marshall, and though the trigger for Cable's displeasure is not yet known, it does make one wonder how much longer Hanson will have a job, or, if Hanson is one of The Al's favorites, whether Cable will find himself in the same wing of the doghouse that Kiffin owned last year.
That, though, will unfold in time. Before that happens, though, we await words from the NFL office more comprehensive than league official Greg Aiello's "We'll look into it."
It will be fascinating to see how involved the league gets, given Roger Goodell's willingness to insert himself in other legal matters (Hanson did not press charges, but police are automatically notified when an assault is reported at a hospital).
If the league does get involved, the Raiders' current plan to stonewall the story for public consumption likely will have to collapse, despite Hanson's refusal to cooperate with police officers in Napa, Calif. (site of Raiders training camp). Goodell is not a big fan of being told lies (see Vick, Michael), and it would take a heap of equivocating for him to ignore this incident, given his aggressive involvement in others.
So while we await developments in Napa and New York, we are most eager to await developments in Knoxville, Tenn., where Kiffin, now coach at the University of Tennessee, has some form of I-told-you-so clawing at his soft palate and desperate to get out soon.
Trust us, he won't be able to help himself. I mean, he never has before. That's why he's in the position he is today.
(E-mail Ray Ratto at rratto(at)sfchronicle.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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