Tom Cable: A Case For Performance Evaluation and Identifying Triggers

Years ago I learned the term "yellow journalism." Too many times politicians, leaders, professional athletes and others were attacked by the media. Now the Oakland Raiders head coach, Tom Cable, is being attacked by what appears to be "yellow journalism."

Whenever an article is filled with assumptions, judgements, accusations, faulty reasoning, too much subjectivity and minimal factual information, it is questionable journalism.

Sponsorships behind most media may even shift the focus to "propaganda" rather than reporting facts and truth.

This problem was so prevalent during the Civil Rights Movement that organizations such as the NAACP and the National Urban League started a movement of suggesting that minorities become stakeholders in the media.

The witch hunts were designed, in the 1960s and 1970s, to topple powerful men. Many of those witch hunts were successful because there were no rebuttals, nor were there enough analytical thinkers across disciplines who could disprove allegations.

More and more the focus is aimed at professional athletes. Money may be the issue. But, resentment or unrequited love may be another reason.

This is why I believe the focus of the media should be the character of the man on the playing field, or in his job as a professional athlete or coach.

There is no doubt that allegations should be investigated, however too often conclusions are drrawn before the accused are found guilty beyond a shadow of doubt.

There are also cases where the innocent are allegedly proven guilty in a court of law. Conversely, there have been cases where the guilty go free. The justice system does a good job sometimes, but if error creeps in, then error is propagated.

Technology is everywhere, and more and more science and technology are helping investigators discover truth. This search for truth must become more aggressive as more people shrewdly bring forth allegations against former husbands, lovers, co-workers, and so on.

This problem has become flagrant. Yellow journalism is rising up, up, and away.

The Oakland Raiders already have several challenges before them. Adding the allegations against Tom Cable seems a bit strange since the timing certainly ought to be at the edge of some statutes of limitation, if they exist for these types of cases.

During my youth, I would not have wanted a friend to knock on my door in the wee hours of the morning. I, on the other hand, would not have knocked on the door of a friend in the wee hours, taking a chance of finding him with other guests.

During earlier years and probably before the AIDS era, men and women often dated more than one person if they were not married. That was the culture of an earlier era. You know that if you were dating during the 60's and 70's.

In my community, you just didn't pop up at a man's apartment or home, knocking on his door well past midnight, demanding to see who his new friend is. That's crazy unless other hidden motives are present.

Next, if a woman appears at a man's door at that time in the morning and he is "busy" with his guest, why not just not open the door? Sometimes being polite just seems a bit dumb.

Now, after this prelude to characterize the social-legal-media menagerie we experience in the 20th and 21st century, I want to make something clear: Our focus must be on the performance of Tom Cable, something observable and measurable.

Here are some facts:

Tom Cable's data is item ten in both charts. When you look at the second chart, the height of his win-loss percentage is not that bad when compared to the other selected coaches for this study.

I selected 18 coaches in order to create a context for this discussion and comparison.

We wanted to keep it simple.

The main point is that we must be cautious of allegations against a man in his personal life. A focus on job performance, consideration of the culture of frivolous lawsuits in America, the racism and anti-Semitism which still raises its ugly head; all of these things should make us more the "thinker" for ourselves, drawing valid and true conclusions as much as possible. And, by the way, truth and validity are defined differently.

Be mindful, too, that some folks are experts at triggering behaviors in people they want to intimidate, control, or destroy. If you jab a dog over and over, even if he may have had a history of being docile, he will eventually rise up and bite you. 

There is no excuse for abuse of a man or woman, but abusive behavior has more than one direction. It can be abusive to nag a man. It can be abusive to show up at a man's home, and repeatedly bang on his door.

Since these areas are so fuzzy, let's focus, as I said before, on those things that we have direct observational, measurable or scientifically determined data.

If, however, we are forced to enter into discussions outside of the job, then let us evaluate the matters from every direction and recognize the possibility of subtle and abusive provocation and triggers.