More incompetence from the Bay Area media

This is my second post describing the Bay Area media’s incompetent coverage of the Oakland Raiders. The first post, here, discusses how the Moss trade revealed the bias and incompetence of Monte Poole and Tim Kawakami.

Today’s post is about how completely wrong and/or clueless Greg Bell and Phil Barber have been regarding the Raider’s cap situation.

The Sacramento Bee’s Greg Bell, in an article titled: Raiders put in huge bind by Woodson, begins:

The Raiders' tricky, precarious plan for signing top-dollar players and still getting under the NFL's $85.5 million salary cap by the league deadline crashed like a tower of toothpicks Friday night.

That's when ESPN.com reported Charles Woodson's agent, Carl Poston, walked into an Indianapolis hotel and presented team officials with a signed tender offer, keeping the cornerback a Raider for yet another season.

and ends with:

Tuesday, Lombardi had said, "We'll be fine with the cap."

That was just after signing Porter and franchising Woodson, and knowing he was on the cusp of landing Moss. But that was before Woodson's wrecking ball hit Friday.

I’m not sure what the wrecking ball wrecked, considering that the Raiders signed Randy Moss the following Wednesday, and Lamont Jordan on Thursday! LOL!

Phil Barber of the Press Democrat wrote:

By signing and hand-delivering the sheet to the Raiders on Friday, and submitting a copy to the NFL Management Council, Woodson guaranteed his franchise fee - and, some say, sabotaged the Raiders' salary-cap situation. They are said to be $15.7 million over the cap, without factoring in the hefty money Randy Moss is likely to demand when his acquisition becomes official Wednesday.

You’ll notice Phil gives himself not one, but TWO outs in that paragraph… “Some say” and “They are said to be.” Uh… thanks Phil. Who are these “some?” Are they Raider representatives? Are they, I don’t know, random strangers who watch ESPN once in a while? “They are said to be” is rather odd as well. Did Phil actually overhear a conversation like this?

Ted: Hey Danny, did you hear CWood signed the tender?

Danny: Yeah. That puts them 15.7 million over the camp.

Ted: Ya’ don’t say?

Danny: I just said it. It is said.

Phil Barber gets paid, I suppose. Why isn’t he an expert on the Raider’s cap? Why doesn’t he, at the very least, have access to Raider Nation cap-tologists? Why didn’t he, I don’t know, call the Raiders, or sources close to the Raiders? Clark Judge of Sportsline.com did, and in consequence wrote an article called Raider won't have to purge roster to get under cap. In fairness, I should add that the publishing date of Judge’s article is the 28^th, and Barber’s is the 27th. But Barber is a professional local reporter, not a gossip columnist. Why doesn’t he have the inside scoop? Why does Clark Judge, a senior writer in New York, whose beat is the entire NFL, more accurately report on the Oakland Raiders than a local reporter?

Don’t answer that. Rhetorical.