While the Napa County D.A. decided last week not to charge Tom Cable over his alleged jawbreaking and murderous threats towards assistant Randy Hanson, the Raiders’ head coach has a whole new headache to contend with this morning, courtesy of ESPN’s “Outside The Lines”.
Cable is accused of violent and abusive behavior towards a former wife and girlfriend, with incidents detailed in the above clip. That the Raiders failed in their due diligence in elevating Cable upon Lane Kiffin’s firing is no shocker ; in the overall scheme of things, this might not even be the 10th worst personnel decision they’ve made in the past half decade. But it does call into question just what sort of investigation NFL security conducted after Hanson left training camp requiring medical attention. Roger Goodell implemented a draconian personal conduct policy with the cooperation of a toothless-at-the-time players union, and we’ve already seen instances where member of the uniformed workforce have been denied their right to work in the NFL monopoly long before they’ve been convicted of a felony.
Is Commissioner Goodell prepared to tell that same workforce that Cable’s alleged habit of solving problems with his fists makes him a lesser risk to public safety than Plaxico Fantastico? I don’t know what the odds are on Donte Stallworth running over another pedestrian, but the recidivist rate for spousal abusers might just a tad higher. I guess this is just my long-winded way of saying Tom Cable’s at least as big a menace to society as Larry Johnson.