I am sickened to death by the actions of Bill Callahan.

Will someone please tell me what in the name of hell is going on? Tim Brown has been with the Raiders ever since I have been a fan, and I am inclined to believe anything he says. I am simply shocked

Conspiracy theory
By Tim Keown
Page 2 columnist


Tim Brown went on a San Francisco radio station Monday night and made some of the most remarkable allegations you'll ever hear about an NFL coach. If what Brown said is true, Pete Rose has nothing on Bill Callahan.


The gist of Brown's assault? Callahan "sabotaged" the team's season. Brown did not suggest this was accidental sabotage, either. He suggested that Callahan had it in for someone in the front office, and just about everything he did from the first day of training camp until Sunday's loss to the Chargers was done with blatant disregard for wins and losses.


Callahan changed the team's offense for no reason other than sabotage. Callahan injected a negative attitude onto the team for no reason other than sabotage. Callahan deactivated Charles Woodson and Charlie Garner before Sunday's loss to the Chargers for no reason other than spite and sabotage.


I was driving as I listened to this, and my jaw was resting on the steering wheel. A Hall-of-Fame receiver, one who spent his whole career with Team Dysfunction, suggested repeatedly over the course of an hour that his head coach intentionally put his team in a position to lose games.


Have we ever heard anything close to this damning? We always knew the Raiders were the most unusual franchise in professional sports, but could it have deteriorated to this point? Commitment to Sabotage? Just lose intentionally, baby.


Brown said Callahan would spend time during practice telling the team they had no chance of winning that week's game. He said Callahan repeatedly belittled his players to the point where nobody wanted to play for the coach. He said Callahan came in at halftime of a game in which the Raiders were leading the Broncos and said, "Well, we haven't turned the ball over yet." The Raiders, evidently swayed by the power of suggestion, had three turnovers in the second half and lost.


"He coached to get fired," Brown said.


Brown also provided a history lesson, saying Callahan -- then an assistant -- twice walked out on the team in the final games of the 1998 and 1999 season. Just took his headset off and left the field, saying he didn't want to be associated with such folk as the Raiders.


An obviously-fawning caller made a joking reference to Brown, saying he should have let the fans know about this weeks ago so the fans could have taken care of it in the parking lot. Brown laughed, but the caller hit on something important: If the Raiders believed their coach was actively sabotaging their chances -- deliberately, no less -- didn't they have an obligation to themselves and their fans to make it public before the season ended?


Judging by his read-the-speech, leave-the-podium routine of the past two days, Callahan is not likely to respond to Brown's allegations. One thing is clear, though: This was either the most vigorous plea for a coach's firing in history, or the most phenomenal shredding of a coach's character ever heard in public.


Just goes to show: There's a whole weird world out there, and then there are the Raiders.


Also -


http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=1695742

ALAMEDA, Calif. -- Beleaguered Oakland Raiders coach Bill Callahan looked the way he always does on Mondays following gameday: extremely tired with a day's worth of stubble on his face.


But the words he spoke, and those he didn't, conveyed a deeper sense of uncertainty about his future with a franchise that only a year ago he guided to the Super Bowl as a rookie head coach.


Callahan summed up the season in three minutes Monday, then marched out of the room without fielding questions.


The coach, according to The San Francisco Chronicle, already has cleared out his office in anticipation of being fired.


The Raiders finished a dismal 4-12 season with a 21-14 loss to San Diego. Oakland posted its worst record since also going 4-12 in 1997. The Raiders tied with three other teams for fewest wins in the league in the biggest collapse by a team that reached the Super Bowl the previous year.


For their poor performance, the Raiders earned the No. 2 pick in next year's draft.


"I addressed the team this morning and thanked them all for their efforts and contributions this season," said Callahan, who has refused to speculate whether he'll return next season, saying it's out of his control. "I know that we're all disappointed in the outcome, as I stated before, but I accept full and complete responsibility for the lack of success that we've had this year.


"As I told the team, I believe that we all learned some invaluable lessons, but the great thing is that we can all move forward and learn from this experience, personally and professionally."


The players seemed just as eager to get away as Callahan. Jerry Rice rolled down his car window, smiled and waved as he pulled away from team headquarters.


Charles Woodson made time to express his frustrations with Callahan, who deactivated Woodson and running back Charlie Garner before Sunday's game for missing curfew.


Woodson, a four-time Pro Bowl cornerback who could become a free agent, has been one of Callahan's most outspoken critics. He has called Callahan stubborn and said he lost the respect of his team.


"He's really made this thing personal," Woodson said Monday. "When things get personal, it's not a good situation to be around people that it's personal with. I won't play for him.


"He's not the type of person you want to be around. He's just really brought a really negative vibe to this team over the course of the season."


Callahan defended his decision not to play Garner and Woodson, citing his suspending center Barret Robbins for the Super Bowl after he disappeared the day before and missed team meetings.


"And my decision to bench them was predicated solely as my responsibility as a head football coach and also as responsibility to this team," Callahan said.


"The bottom line is that we're all accountable and as an organization, and I feel strongly that as a society, we cannot function without structure and we cannot function without discipline. There are consequences.


"I'm paid to manage this team, and in all fairness to the other team members I had to do what was necessary, as any leader would do in any organization. I cannot and will not accept lack of discipline on this football team."


Yet Woodson claims Callahan acted out of resentment. Woodson had already begun changing his clothes when he was called into Callahan's office before the game.


Woodson said he walked out on the coach while Callahan was still speaking. He and Garner flew home and skipped the game. Woodson did not attend a short team meeting Monday morning.


"Why?" he said.


"I didn't give him a chance to finish what he was saying because I knew he was doing it out of spite," Woodson said. "There was no reason for me to sit in there and listen any further to what he was talking about."


Bickering and infighting have been the theme of the Raiders' season.


It didn't help that 12 players were lost for the season with injuries, including 2002 MVP quarterback Rich Gannon, and his backup, Marques Tuiasosopo. Not to mention almost the entire offensive line.


While Callahan does have his supporters among the players, plenty of Raiders believe change is needed.


Raiders owner Al Davis, whose team was not able to live up to his "Just Win, Baby!" motto this season, is not known for his patience with coaches.


Even Tim Brown, the longest-tenured Raider, has his concerns about Callahan.


"I don't know if he's the guy who can bring this team back together," Brown said. "This year, he made things personal with this team. You can't do that. If he's back, it's going to take two to three years to fix this, because nobody trusts a word he says."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This whole situation disgusts the hell out of me. There has to be some reason why a man would destroy his whole career just to get even with a team.