Singletary vs Cable; One gets pass while other gets ridicule

As I have stated many times, the Bay Area sports media; the writers, radio/TV announcers, Internet bloggers, etc. are afraid of Mike Singletary. Not all of course, but a good majority are simply intimidated by the specter of ripping him. Why? I'll speculate in a moment.

I bring this up because in contrast to Raiders coach Tom Cable, who has been labeled as aloof, dysfunctional and a 'truck driver posing as a coach, Singletary's transgressions on the field, his overall say-nothings at press conferences, have been generally ignored. This is NOT to defend Cable as the second-coming of Vince Lombardi, nor to denigrate Singletary. I'm just pointing out what I perceive as unfair comparisons. Its jarring.

I have never met Singletary. He's a hall-of-fame linebacker and before getting the 49Er's gig, spent much of his coaching career as a defensive coordinator. He got the job with SF because he was able to go 5-3 last year and adequately replace ex-coach Mike Nolan, who was fired midway in 2008. The players seem to like him and play well for him, (save for the disaster in Seattle Sunday) Nevertheless, his record isn't that much better than Cable's. He has had problems with clock management and his time-out issues, among other things is quite apparent. Have these points been broght out? Yes, but just barely. Not exactly pronounced. Interesting.

So again, just WHY does big Mike get a pass and Cable gets roasted? Figure it out. Think PC. Think about an issue that nobody dares go down that road. The "that" is fairly obvious. Its so evident that I'll let you draw your own conclusion.

I'll expound further in a more detailed column soon.

**Lowell Cohn, a distinguished writer/blogger from the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat sent an interesting comment regarding my post...

Rich, this is something i've thought a lot about. I do not believe writers give Singletary a pass based on race. He is dignified and seemingly persuasive -- vs. Cable. I think writers react to that. And until the flop in Seattle the team seemed on the right path. I honestly don't believe race is a factor.



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