Several weeks ago, the Oakland Raiders expressed a desire to ban former Raiders quarterback Rich Gannon from the team’s headquarters for production meetings in preparation for a game that Gannon would be broadcasting for CBS.
The team quickly relented, but Gannon ultimately didn’t show, citing travel difficulties.
This time around, Michael Silver of Yahoo! Sports encountered difficulty in obtaining a credential for Sunday’s game between the Raiders and the Jets.
Silver tells us that a request was made on his behalf on October 18. Today, his editor was told that there will be not enough room in the press box.
Silver suspects that the team’s position was motivated by his reporting on the Randy Hanson situation. Silver’s most recent article includes Hanson’s reaction to the decision of the Napa prosecutor to not charge Raiders coach Tom Cable for the incident that resulted in Hanson suffering a broken jaw.
The article was published Friday, and the response to Silver’s request for access came after the article appeared at the Yahoo! web site.
Previously, Silver interviewed Hanson, who shared his version of the events with Silver, including an alleged threat from Cable that he would “kill” Hanson. After word emerged that the other assistants who witnessed the incident between Cable and Hanson had not corroborated Hanson’s version, Hanson told Silver that he would take a lie detector test.
It’s not the first time that Silver has been denied access by the Raiders.
“I was banned from the Raiders’ facility on several occasions in the ‘90s,” Silver told us via e-mail. “Once at Arrowhead Stadium the team prevented me from entering the visitors’ locker room after a game. Al Davis was later fined $10,000.”
This time around, Silver promptly solicited the assistance of the PFWA and the NFL. And Silver tells us that, after the league got involved, the Raiders relented.
Unlike Gannon, however, we suspect that Silver will show.
And if Raiders executive John Herrera is hanging around, the action in the press box could ultimately be as compelling as the stuff that happens on the field.
Our only hope is that no one falls down and, you know, breaks his jaw.