UPDATE: (12:00AM ET): Don Williams of the LUBBOCK AVALANCHE-JOURNAL reports Tuberville will interview Wednesday.

Last night I Tweeted that I thought Texas Tech would hire Tommy Tuberville in less than two weeks. In the past 48 hours I’ve heard from two college football sources that he’s the likely hire. As late as early today though, Tuberville had confirmed that he’d not yet been contacted about the job.

But Lubbock radio and TV personality Chris Level reports this afternoon that, “Tech is going to talk to Tuberville next and after talking to Tommy earlier he’s more than ready for the phone call when it comes.”

Level is also the proprietor of RedRaiderSports.com.

Dwain Price of the FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM reports that earlier today Ruffin McNeill had an informal visit with the same folks who jettisoned Michael Leach from the school:

Interim Texas Tech football coach Ruffin McNeill had an informal interview Monday morning with school president Guy Bailey and chancellor Kent Hance.

Pete Christy of KCBD-TV in Lubbock also reports that McNeill talked to the Tech admin, and that chat included Athletic Director Gerald Myers.

So besides Tuberville and McNeill, who else is in the mix, and who isn’t?

Read more…

And we lose our lunch minds.

Empty stomach? Fasting? Go ahead and click through.

Read more…

THE SMOKING GUN has some delightful details of the 2007-08 incarceration of convicted tax-evading and minor-corrupting porn guy Joe Francis.

On Aaron Weinsten, who once worked for the pay-for-sex mogul:

Weinstein’s plea follows the conviction of Ralph Hawkins, a sheriff’s deputy who admitted taking $3200 and Oakland Raiders tickets from Weinstein in return for smuggling unauthorized food items (like sushi and barbecued chicken) to Francis.

So dude wanted Raiders tix to provide comfort to a porn guy in prison? Next thing will be a story about dude wanting porn to comfort Raiders fan in prison. Or dude wanting prison to comfort Raider fan who does porn. Or … okay I’ll stop.

The last time we heard from Chris Johnson - no, not the one on the Titans with “gettin’ away from cops speed,” the one on the Raiders - he was too busy drawing bullcrap penalties for praising the Lord after an interception. Seriously, that was a steaming plate of C-R-A-P, and we’re glad the league apologized.

(”THANK YOU JESUS BUT I KIND OF HAD BIGGER ASPIRATIONS SO LET’S TALK ABOUT THOSE LATER TODAY OKAY THANKS AGAIN BYE BYE”)

Johnson’s probably going to need God again, and he’s going to need Him for a serious, universe-altering favor.  Parting the Red Sea? Feh. Planting dinosaur bones to make atheists think the Earth is old? Child’s play. Creating the universe and everything in it? Ho-hum. God’s got much bigger problems to work out now: like making the Raiders run the table and make the playoffs this season.

Read more…

And now, more punchy fun involving the Oakland Raiders, this time without Tom Cable. You may remember Jeremy Brigham (below) as a tight end for the Raiders from 1998-2001 (if so you have a good memory — he scored three career touchdowns). He now lives in the peaceful, leafy Northern California enclave of Pleasanton, where he coaches a youth football team of 9- and 10-year-olds.

Today, however, Brigham is under investigation by Pleasanton police for allegedly beating up his assistant coach, who is now in a neck brace. Brigham supposedly attacked the coach because he thought he had leaked the team’s plays to another team after he had fired him. Then it gets weird. Read more…

Sunday in San Diego, the Chargers beat the Raiders for the 13th straight time, a bitter pill for the legions of SoCal Raider fans who made the annual journey south from (East) Los Angeles.

(NFL apparently is like Vegas to J-Russ and Cable: A game of “chance”)

With the lossthe Raiders dropped to 2-6, their playoff hopes out the window.

But despite Sunday’s result and the season’s circumstances, JaMarcus Russell wasn’t displeased with himself after the Charger loss. Nor was his coach. Read more…

A San Diego bail bonds company had a TV ad done up specifically for this week. One guess why:

(One guess which frame I threw in there.)

Video after the jump. Read more…

ESPN’s Outside The Lines reports this morning that three different women in Tom Cable’s life have accused the Raiders Coach of physical abuse in public document filings.

This morning ESPN aired on-camera comments from Cable’s first wife Sandy, as she accused the coach of punching her in the jaw during their marriage. Another woman, Marie Lutz, a woman that Cable dated before marrying his third wife (Carol) in May, also accused Cable of striking her in the face. Cable’s second wife Glenda, who receives a five-figure child support payment from Cable each month, disputed her previously documented abuse charge.

After ESPN aired the allegations, Cable quickly fired off a response which was read post-haste by Bob Ley on-air. Read more…

If this isn’t an indication of how far the Raiders’ franchise has fallen, I don’t know what is.

(Rex Ryan has officially put his signature on the Jets)

Mark Sanchez was seen eating a hot dog (with mustard) on the sidelines during the Jets 38-0 rout at Oakland yesterday.

Video after the jump. Read more…

So the talk of the NFL this week was the Oakland Raiders’ unlikely win over the Philadelphia Eagles, and more specifically, the pigeon which appeared to fly along with the Raiders’ special teams unit for one play during a kickoff return. Several Oakland players are now saying that it was no coincidence that the bird looked so comfortable on the play. It just may have been, they say, the ghost of deceased teammate Marquis Cooper.

Cooper, a linebacker and special teams player for the Raiders, was lost at sea in a tragic boating accident in March, and is presumed dead. Oakland running back Justin Fargas, who was close to Cooper, told a Sacramento radio station this morning that their fallen teammate is never far from their hearts, and when they saw the pigeon appearing to cover a kickoff, many had the same thought. Read more…