As Oakland Raiders fans coped their Monday blues the morning after losing out on the Donovan McNabb sweepstakes, the first wave of post-trade Internet gossip isn't going to make them feel any better.
First, an unflattering tweet from ESPN's Adam Schefter, claiming that the "Eagles wanted to do right by McNabb enough so that they agreed to trade him in the division rather than to the Oakland Raiders."
Hmmmph. You don't have to tweet between the lines too hard to realize that what Schefter is saying here is that the Eagles' front office felt that trading him to the Raiders would have been "doing wrong" by McNabb.
Whatever, Eagles' front office.
Then Michael Silver's latest Yahoo! Sports report says McNabb threatened to retire if the Philadelphia Eagles had traded him to the Raiders.
"When the Oakland Raiders sniffed around and showed willingness to trade for the quarterback without an extension," writes Silver, "McNabb indicated to the Eagles through his associates that he’d retire."
It's as if the collective NFL universe feels the Oakland Raiders are an inferior franchise to the Philadelphia Eagles. Does no one remember that these Raiders beat the Eagles this past season?
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Or maybe it's because people remember that the Raiders are an organization where the coach can sucker-punch an employee and totally get away with it. Head coach Tom Cable's complete exoneration came one step closer this weekend, with a Yahoo! Sports report that the Raiders are asking the Alameda courts to send this case to NFL arbitration.
If the case goes to NFL arbitration, the matter would be out of the court system entirely. The case would then be decided by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.
This is the same Roger Goodell who already declined to punish Tom Cable on this matter, clearing him of wrongdoing without even talking to Randy Hanson.
So do feel free to be as bitter toward Donovan McNabb as you please, Raiders fans. I know I am. But realize that the Oakland Raiders aren't on the Bay Area's Best Places to Work list for a reason.
Joe Kukura is a freelance writer who will threaten to retire if he gets traded to the Republican National Committee.
