Al Davis didn’t even wait for the blood to dry on Lane Kiffin’s chair before finding someone to replace him. NFL.COM’s Adam Schefter is reporting that the Raiders will name offensive line coach Tom Cable as their new head coach at a press conference later this afternoon. As for Kiffin? Chris Mortensen is reporting on ESPN.COM that he was fired over the phone - and without pay.  In fact, Mortensen said that the Raiders don’t intend to honor Kiffin’s contract, which he said “happens occasionally. It happens mostly with Al Davis.”

(New Raiders Coach Tom Cable also familiar with stiffing players - @ UCLA)

Cable was one of several candidates THE SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS reports interviewed for the job last night, including offensive coordinator Greg Knapp and Raiders special consultant Paul Hackett. The fact that Davis interviewed Hackett, who singlehandedly almost destroyed USC, tells you all you need to know about the direction the Raiders are heading.

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In news that came as a surprise to, well, Matt Leinart and that’s about it, Arizona Cardinals head coach Ken Whisenhunt has named wily veteran Kurt Warner the starting quarterback.

This is the latest disappointment for Leinart, the team’s 2006 first-round pick, and apparently, he’s very, very sad about it all.

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SOUTH FLORIDA SUN-SENTINEL writer Ethan Skolnick has his perspective on the UNDFTED “sports blogs vs. main media vs. athletes” thing - at MSNBC.com today. His piece on blogs, which features SbB prominently, is a part of a MSNBC web package examining how sports media coverage is evolving (de-?).

Skolnick gives extensive treatment to sports blogs - and for that you also have to credit editors and producers at MSNBC.com. Of course, you still aren’t likely to see a substantive, somewhat even-handed piece on sports blogs on a newspaper site. The dinosaurs (management, not editorial) running those operations are too busy cutting buyout checks and overseeing outright layoffs to recognize the influence SbB, DSpin, WL, TBL, and other sites wield.

I’ll clarify some of my comments from the piece momentarily, but I have to first observe this funny from the piece’s obligatory academic:

“I read Deadspin and The Big Lead every day,” said Sandy Padwe, an associate professor at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. “But both of them are unbelievably misogynistic. It’s OK to scour the Internet and link to other things, some of which are obviously true. But then what is it with all the pictures of the women on there, half of them don’t relate to anything going on in sports?”

Now, I was thinking the same thing last time I saw body-painted, a$$-cracked models on SI.com. And the Hooters Girls on FOXSports.com. And the Fantasy Sports Girls on AOL Fanhouse. And NFL cheerleaders warming adolescents in the front row with their eco-friendly ends. And the ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER selling photos of Allison Stokke. And …

As some of you know, we can’t publish “edgy” SbB Girls photos that feature implied nudes, a$$ cracks, thongs, see-thru, etc., if we expect to land Madison Avenue advertisers. That practice is reserved for 75-year-old brands or billion-dollar internet ops.
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As one team gives up on their season by suspending their star WR for a pair of games, another team dramatically improves their chances by talking their star WR out of retirement.

(How can you argue with a face like that?)

Chris Mortensen of ESPN.COM is reporting that Oakland receiver Javon Walker was set to retire and turn in his $11 million signing bonus before Raiders owner and known zombie Al Davis used his persuasive undead abilities to talk Walker into returning to camp.

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Looks like I’ll be finally heading back to L.A. beginning on Wednesday. Hopefully I’ll be in town by Sunday night, in time to score a Game 5 get-me-in from one of my very generous ticket broker acquaintances. If not, there’s always Craigslist. Coincidentally, HHR has a great bit today on some current Lakers-related posts on the site. Here’s a sampling:

Now you know why I miss L.A. so much. By the way, that last guy is completely screwed. Alas, if only he had an Armitron to offer.

Ross Nethery of SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL reports that Jerry Jones used a speech at the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics convention this week to crow about his new $1.1B stadium. That’s right, a ballpark that will host eight regular season football games per year will cost over a billion bucks.

Almost as absurd as that cost was Jones’ justification for the obscenely-overdone building - via SBJ’s Nethery:

Jones said he could have built the new facility for about $700M. “The reason I’m spending [$1.1B] on that stadium in Arlington is because of perception,” he said. “Only a fraction of football fans will ever set foot in it, but hundreds of millions will see it on television.” How the stadium looks is important, he said, as well as “how John Madden talks about it, and how Al Michaels talks about it, and let me assure you that after I’ve had some time with them, they’ll know everything there is to know about it.”

So the cost was elevated into the ether because of “how John Madden talks about it”?

Since when do an extra couple hot dog and nachos runners to the booth set you back $400M? Now, if he was talking about adding jalapeno poppers to the press box menu, he might have an argument. Read more…

You’ve probably heard the conflicting stories regarding the current status of Dolphins defensive end Jason Taylor. Jason Cole of YAHOO SPORTS initially reported last night that Taylor was done playing for the Fins.

Upon seeing the report by Cole, Bill Parcells immediately contacted ESPN’s Chris Mortensen to lash out at the Yahoo report, saying it was false and that “This latest report is just another example of journalistic irresponsibility.”

Mortensen must’ve gritted his teeth when he took the call from The Tuna about Taylor, considering how Parcells treated Mort the last time he was involved in NFL transactional intrigue. Read more…

Must have been just another one of Al Davis’ senile mood swings. The Raiders are now denying reports that they wanted to kick out Lane Kiffin.

ESPN’s Chris Mortensen reported Friday that Kiffin was asked to resign, but refused to do so. Now the ASSOCIATED PRESS reports the Silver & Black are taking it back. Oakland exec John Herrera retorts, “There is no issue here. There was never an issue here. There’s nothing to it.”

Kiffin himself told the Worldwide Leader, “I’m not going to comment on anything that has transpired in the past three weeks.” Sounds like Lane isn’t going to let the rumors ruin his wonderful weekend in Mobile, Alabama, coaching the Senior Bowl.

It’s no surprise that the Raiders are denying the whole thing, since it’s rather embarrassing - especially considering Kiffin refused to step down. So we aren’t about to enroll Mort into the Kirk Herbstreit school of reporting coaching moves.