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2B – Daily News – Tuesday, January 4, 2011 Cable’s future uncertain despite progress Oakland Raiders ALAMEDA (AP) — The Oakland Raiders ended a run of seven straight losing seasons, dominated their division and rediscovered the big-play offense that had been so lacking in recent years. Whether all of that is enough to help coach Tom Cable keep his job for another season is the first major question owner Al Davis must answer heading into an eighth straight offseason that begins before the playoffs start. Oakland (8-8) ended the season with a couple of notable accomplishments. By winning the season finale 31-10 at playoff-bound Kansas City, the Raiders avoided an eighth straight losing season and completed a perfect run through the AFC West, sweeping division rivals Kansas City, San Diego and Denver. That was the first time the Raiders had a perfect record in the division since their Super Bowl season in 1976 and the first time since the 1970 merger that a team won all its division games and did not make the playoffs. ‘‘We certainly got this thing back on its feet and we’re very proud of that,’’ Cable said Monday. ‘‘You can’t call us losers anymore, at least from this point forward. That’s a huge accomplishment for this team, particularly for the guys who have been around here for a number of years, and the organization itself. It gives everybody, the city of Oakland, everybody in football, something to look forward to as we move forward.’’ Whether Cable will be part of that moving forward will be determined in the next couple of weeks. He has a 17-27 record since taking over as interim coach from Lane Kiffin in 2008 and has earned the admiration of his players, who credit him for a culture change around the team. Cable got a new contract after his interim season that expires in two weeks, meaning the Raiders must decide whether to exercise the two-year option on his deal or allow him to leave. The team must notify Cable by Jan. 17 whether it plans to exercise the options for 2011 and ’12 at $2.5 million per season. If Davis chooses to pass on the option, he will begin the search for the team’s seventh head coach since the 2001 season. With 44 games as coach, Cable has lasted longer than anyone in that position since Jon Gruden spent four years as head coach before leaving for Tampa Bay. Pro Bowl punter Shane Lechler, who has played for six coaches since joining the Raiders in 2000, said it would be a shame if Cable is not back. ‘‘I seriously believe that it would set us back again,’’ Lechler said. ‘‘I can’t go through another head coach. I just can’t. I’ve been through too many of them. And they all come in here and say the same thing, ’I’m going to do this, I’m going to turn this.’ No, you’re not. I’d rather be with the guy that’s here right now, and we’ll roll with him.’’ But once again Oakland goes into the offseason with uncertainty at head coach. Since keeping Norv Turner fol- lowing the 2004 season, there have been questions every offseason about whether the head coach would return. Turner was fired following the 2005 season and Art Shell was fired a year later. The tension between Kiffin and Davis led to talk about whether Kiffin would resign after his first season in 2007. The Raiders interviewed candidates after the 2008 sea- son before deciding to stick with Cable and there were weeks of uncertainty a year ago about whether Cable would stay. ESPN and NFL Network are reporting that it’s ‘‘unlikely’’ Cable will return in 2011, although there were similar reports a year ago when Cable stayed. ‘‘I’d like for it to just go away and have Al and I sit down and discuss it, which we will,’’ Cable said. ‘‘I know what we’ve done. I think everybody else who knows foot- ball knows what we’ve done. Whoever says it or writes it probably doesn’t know what the hell they’re doing.’’ One of the leading contenders would figure to be offen- sive coordinator Hue Jackson, who was brought in by Davis a year ago to take over the play-calling duties from Cable. The improvement on offense has been stark, with much of it owed to the decision to release former No. 1 overall pick JaMarcus Russell in the offseason and acquire Jason Campbell. Led by a breakout season from running back Darren McFadden and big plays from rookie receiver Jacoby Ford, the Raiders finished sixth in the league in scoring with 410 points. That more than doubled last year’s scoring total and was the sixth-most points scored in a season in franchise history. ‘‘You got to start somewhere, we feel like this is a great starting point for us,’’ Campbell said. ‘‘We’re going in the right direction. We didn’t come here to be 8-8, to go unde- feated in the division. We came here to go undefeated in the division and go to the playoffs. There are still a lot of goals to shoot for in the upcoming season.’’ 49ers move forward from 2010 looking for GM, coach San Francisco 49ers SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Vernon Davis, Ted Ginn Jr., Alex Smith, Patrick Willis — they all will be watching closely in the coming days and weeks to see what the San Francisco 49ers’ future entails. Along with many others. Team president Jed York will soon hire a new general manager, then that person will find the coach to replace fired Mike Singletary. Will sought-after Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh con- sider leaving the Cardinal after the Orange Bowl on Mon- day night for a franchise that hasn’t reached playoffs in eight years? He will have his share of options, that’s for sure. ‘‘It’s going to be interesting,’’ said Willis, a four-time Pro Bowl linebacker who missed the first game of his career Sunday following a second surgery on his broken right hand. San Francisco heads into the offseason — earlier than expected — after a disappointing 6-10 year that began with a perfect preseason and high hopes of winning the NFC West. Instead, the 49ers started 0-5 and couldn’t recover. It’s 7-9 Seattle instead headed to the playoffs as the unlikely division champion, a team the 49ers beat 40- 21 back on Dec. 12. The 49ers fired Singletary after a 25-17 loss at St. Louis on Dec. 26 that eliminated the team from playoff contention. ‘‘I think we did play tight,’’ Davis, the Niners’ star tight end, said Monday after a season-ending team meeting. ‘‘Guys were just a little scared. They were scared. They were more worried about coach Singletary getting on them instead of playing football. But you have to under- stand him. If you don’t understand the guy then you are not going to be able to relate to him. I think that’s what the problem was with most guys. They were scared, worried about dropping passes and missing tackles instead of just going out and being themselves. But he left and guys start- ed to be a little easy.’’ York said last week he would get a general manager in place and that person would hire the coach, though it’s unclear whether it will actually happen that way. The Nin- ers want to make their run at Harbaugh, and soon. Vice president of player personnel Trent Baalke is considered the favorite for GM, though it appeared York still planned to interview some other candidates early this week who were still working for teams as of Sunday. Fill-in coach Jim Tomsula, promoted from his defen- sive line duties for all of a week, led the loose, animated 49ers to a 38-7 season-ending victory against Arizona on Sunday in what likely was Smith’s final game in a San Francisco uniform. The 2005 No. 1 overall draft pick out of Utah becomes a free agent, so finding a quarterback is yet another thing on the team’s to-do list heading into 2011. ‘‘Nothing’s changed,’’ Smith said Monday upon clean- ing out his locker at team headquarters in Santa Clara. ‘‘A lot of uncertainty out there, that’s for sure, but don’t know enough at all to make any decisions.’’ Smith lives in the Bay Area, so he knows there will be no avoiding the 49ers news as it happens this month. He isn’t ruling out a return to the only team he’s known during a rollercoaster professional career so far. ‘‘I’m not ruling that out yet in any way. It’s hard to decide — no head coach, a lot of uncertainty in this build- ing,’’ he said. ‘‘I will wait for all of that stuff to get ironed out and then make a decision.’’ Smith took over the starting job midway through 2009 and was entrenched as the starter heading into 2010. After separating his non-throwing left shoulder Oct. 24 at Car- olina, Singletary turned to 2006 Heisman Trophy winner Troy Smith for the next five games — even after Alex Smith was healthy again. Troy Smith went 3-2 as a starter, then it was Alex Smith’s turn again for two games, includ- ing the commanding win over Seattle. After a flop at San Diego, Singletary turned back to Troy Smith for the must-win game with the Rams. Tom- sula went with Alex Smith for the season finale. The constant quarterback switcheroos were just the start of the drama for this franchise in another lost season. San Francisco, which went 8-8 last year in Singletary’s first full season in charge, has failed to post a winning record since its last trip to the playoffs in 2002. Three players departed along the way: second-year running back Glen Coffee retired, defensive lineman Kentwan Balmer was traded to Seattle after opting not to show up for training camp practices, and former Pro Bowl safety Michael Lewis also left and landed in St. Louis. Last month, secondary coach and special assistant to Singletary, Johnnie Lynn, resigned for personal reasons. Singletary fired offensive coordinator Jimmy Raye after a Week 3 loss at Kansas City and amid problems for Smith getting the play into his headset in time. San Francisco had its share of injuries, too, most notably losing veteran center Eric Heitmann for the sea- son and star running back Frank Gore going down with a season-ending fractured hip in a Monday night game at Arizona on Nov. 29. Many of the 49ers spent Sunday night contemplating what might be different had they played all year like they did against Arizona. San Francisco produced its second- largest scoring output of the season while the defense held the Cardinals in check. ‘‘It’s truly bittersweet knowing what it should have been the entire year,’’ linebacker Takeo Spikes said. ‘‘You take it for what it’s worth. You deserve what you get and you get what you deserve.’’ Massage therapists sue Favre, Jets over texts NEW YORK (AP) — Two massage therapists sued Brett Favre on Mon- day, saying they lost their part-time jobs with the New York Jets after complaining about sexually suggestive text messages from the vet- eran quarterback. Claiming they were sub- jected to sexual harassment and job discrimination, Christina Scavo and Shan- non O’Toole are seeking unspecified damages from Favre, the Jets and a Jets massage coordinator. While the women don’t say they received any mes- sages directly from Favre, he referred to Scavo in a message proposing a meet- ing with her and a third, unidentified massage thera- pist, the lawsuit says. ‘‘Kinda lonely tonight,’’ he added in a subsequent message to the third masseuse, the lawsuit said. ‘‘I guess I have bad inten- tions.’’ The team declined to comment. Favre’s agent did- n’t immediately return a telephone message. The lawsuit comes five days after the NFL fined Favre $50,000 for not being forthright in an investigation into allegations that he sent lewd text messages and pho- tos to former Jets game host- ess Jenn Sterger when they both worked for the team in 2008. The league’s investi- gation went on for months as the three-time MVP stag- gered through his 20th NFL season, fighting injuries as he led Minnesota in a disap- pointing season. Favre’s consecutive starts streak was eventually snapped at 297 in December and he sat out the Vikings’ final game, a loss to Detroit on Sunday. After- ward he said he’s retiring — for good, this time. The NFL also reviewed media reports that Favre pursued two massage thera- pists who worked at the Jets’ facility in 2008, but the league said that claim could not be substantiated because people with ‘‘potentially rel- evant information’’ would- n’t cooperate with investiga- tors. O’Toole’s and Scavo’s lawyer, David Jaroslawicz, said he told investigators about the information his clients had. The two women worked for years at the Jets training camp and for various play- ers individually, sometimes giving massages at players’ homes, according to the lawsuit. O’Toole brought Scavo into the Jets fold, Jaroslawicz said. After Scavo and an unidentified colleague gave massages at the training camp in 2008, Favre sent the colleague a text message saying, ‘‘Brett here you and crissy want to get together I’m all alone,’’ the lawsuit said. Jaroslawicz declined to identify the mas- sage therapist who allegedly received the messages. Scavo told her husband, Joseph, about the messages. He promptly told Favre to back off and apologize, according to the lawsuit. The husband got a brush-off from Favre, and his wife and O’Toole got blackballed by the team, the lawsuit says. The Jets stopped calling the women for work, initial- ly offering such excuses as having moved the training camp, Jaroslawicz said. After the allegations about Favre chasing Jets masseuses surfaced in media reports, the team’s massage coordinator, Lisa Ripi, sent Scavo a series of e-mails referring to Favre as ‘‘a pervert’’ but ripping Scavo for not having keep- ing the matter quiet, the law- suit says. ‘‘There are ways to han- dle things in a professional manner and ways to be compensated not in public. ... All this nonsense is unnecessary,’’ Ripi wrote, according to the lawsuit. ‘‘For sure feel horrible that u had to go thru that w a per- vert. ... He was wrong on all counts...and we cldve helped u a lot more at that time.’’ Meanwhile, Ripi told NCAABASKETBALL The Top Twenty Five The top 25 teams in The Associated Press’ college basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Jan. 2, total points based on 25 points for a first- place vote through one point for a 25th- place vote and last week’s ranking: Record Pts Pvs 13-0 1,625 1 14-0 1,551 2 13-0 1,491 3 15-0 1,437 5 13-1 1,358 6 1.Duke (65) 2. Ohio St. 3. Kansas 4. Syracuse 5. Pittsburgh 6. San Diego St. 15-0 1,198 7 7.Villanova 8. Connecticut 9. Missouri 10.Kentucky 11. Purdue 12.Texas 12-1 1,187 8 11-1 1,168 4 13-1 1,116 10 11-2 1,052 11 13-1 930 12 11-2 902 13 13. Georgetown 12-2 834 9 14.Notre Dame 12-2 688 15 15.BYU 14-1 648 16 16.Texas A&M 12-1 569 18 17. Kansas St. 11-3 523 17 18. Michigan St. 9-4 19.UCF 20. Illinois 504 20 21. Memphis 22.Vanderbilt 13-0 490 19 12-3 328 23 11-2 313 21 11-2 238 24 23.Washington 10-3 173 — 24. Cincinnati 25.UNLV 14-0 159 — 12-2 136 — Others receiving votes:Louisville 124, Min- nesota 96, Temple 74, Wisconsin 55, Bay- lor 50, Florida 35, Butler 25, Wichita St. 17, North Carolina 9, Saint Mary’s, Calif. 8, Gonzaga 7, Arizona 2, Cleveland St. 2, Florida St. 2, Georgia 1. Monday’s Top 25 results No.10 Kentucky 86, Pennsylvania 62 St. John’s 61, No. 13 Georgetown 58 No. 16 Texas A&M 66, Nicholls State 55 No.17 Kansas State 92, Savannah State 61 No. 18 Michigan St. 65, Northwestern 62 Today’s Top 25 games No. 2 Ohio State at Iowa, 6:05 p.m. No. 5 Pittsburgh at Providence, 4 p.m. No.8 UConn at No.14 Notre Dame, 4 p.m. No. 12 Texas vs. Arkansas, 6 p.m. Today’s televised game Indiana at Minnesota, 4 p.m., ESPN2 Lakers O’Toole to ‘‘keep your mouth shut’’ and declared that neither O’Toole nor Scavo would ever work for the team again, the lawsuit says. Jaroslawicz said his clients had held off on suing while awaiting the results of the NFL investigation, but they decided to go ahead after the probe ended in NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE Pacific Division WL Pct GB 23 11 .676 — Phoenix 14 18 .438 8 WARRIORS 13 21 .382 10 Clippers 10 24 .294 13 KINGS 724 .226 14.5 Southwest Division WL Pct GB San Antonio 29 4 .879 — Dallas 25 8 .758 4 New Orleans 21 14 .600 9 Houston 16 18 .471 13.5 Memphis 15 19 .441 14.5 Northwest Division WL Pct GB 24 11 .686 — Utah Okla. City 23 12 .657 1 Denver 20 13 .606 3 Portland 18 16 .529 5.5 Minnesota 9 26 .257 15 EASTERN CONFERENCE Atlantic Division WL Pct GB Boston 26 7 .788 — New York 19 14 .576 7 Philadelphia 13 21 .382 13.5 Toronto 11 22 .333 15 New Jersey 9 25 .265 17.5 Southeast Division WL Pct GB 27 9 .750 — Miami Orlando 22 12 .647 4 Atlanta 22 14 .611 5 Charlotte 11 21 .344 14 Washington 8 24 .250 17 Central Division WL Pct GB Chicago 22 10 .688 — Indiana 14 18 .438 8 Milwaukee 13 18 .419 8.5 Detroit 11 23 .324 12 Cleveland 8 26 .235 15 ————————————————— Monday’s results Orlando 110, Golden State 90 Boston 96, Minnesota 93 Denver 113, Houston 106 Miami 96, Charlotte 82 New Orleans 84, Philadelphia 77 Utah 102, Detroit 97 Today’s games Atlanta at Sacramento, 7 p.m.,CSNB Milwaukee at Miami, 4:30 p.m. San Antonio at New York, 4:30 p.m. Oklahoma City at Memphis, 5 p.m. Toronto at Chicago, 5 p.m. Portland at Dallas, 5:30 p.m. Detroit at L.A. Lakers, 7:30 p.m. Dallas what they saw as a token fine. Allegations about Favre’s below-the-belt behavior initially surfaced on the website Deadspin, which posted a video Oct. 7 that included text messages and voicemails allegedly left by Favre for Sterger, includ- ing one in which he alleged- ly invites her to his hotel. NHL WESTERN CONFERENCE Pacific Division WL OT Pts GF GA 23 13 4 50 114 111 SHARKS 21 13 5 47 115 108 Ducks Kings 21 17 4 46 109 119 22 16 1 45 116 96 Phoenix 17 13 8 42 106 113 Central Division Detroit WL OT Pts GF GA 24 10 5 53 133 110 St. Louis 20 13 5 45 101 104 Chicago 21 17 3 45 128 118 Nashville 19 13 6 44 95 93 Columbus 20 16 3 43 101 114 Northwest Division WL OT Pts GF GA Vancouver 24 8 5 53 127 92 Colorado 20 14 5 45 132 125 Minnesota 18 15 5 41 98 112 Calgary 18 19 3 39 107 115 Edmonton 12 18 7 31 95 126 EASTERN CONFERENCE Atlantic Division WL OT Pts GF GA Philadelphia 24 10 5 53 131 104 Pittsburgh 25 12 3 53 127 94 N.Y.Rangers 22 15 3 47 119 103 N.Y.Islanders 12 19 6 30 89 120 New Jersey 10 26 2 22 68 122 Northeast Division WL OT Pts GF GA Boston 21 11 6 48 110 85 Montreal 21 16 3 45 100 96 Ottawa 16 19 5 37 90 121 Buffalo 16 18 4 36 105 114 Toronto 14 20 4 32 90 113 Southeast Division WL OT Pts GF GA Tampa Bay 23 11 5 51 121 122 Washington 23 12 5 51 120 106 Atlanta 21 15 6 48 131 125 Carolina 18 15 5 41 111 115 Florida 18 17 2 38 102 95 NOTE: Two points for a win, one point for overtime loss. ————————————————— Monday’s results Vancouver at San Jose, late Boston 2, Toronto 1 Chicago 4, Los Angeles 3 Florida 4, Carolina 3, OT N.Y. Islanders 5, Calgary 2 Today’s games Minnesota at New Jersey, 4 p.m., VS Tampa Bay at Washington, 4 p.m. Buffalo at Colorado, 6 p.m. Columbus at Phoenix, 6 p.m. Detroit at Edmonton, 6 p.m. BOWLS Monday’s result Orange Bowl Stanford 40, Virginia Tech 12 Today’s game Sugar Bowl At New Orleans Ohio State (11-1) vs. Arkansas (10-2), 5:30 p.m., ESPN NFL AFC West WL T Pct PF PA y-Kansas City 10 6 0 .625 366 326 Chargers 9 7 0 .563 441 322 RAIDERS 88 0 Denver East .500 410 371 4 12 0 .250 344 471 WL T Pct PF PA y-N. England 14 2 0 .875 518 313 x-N.Y. Jets 11 5 0 .688 367 304 Miami Buffalo South WL T Pct PF PA y-Indianapolis 10 6 0 .625 435 388 Jacksonville 8 8 0 .500 353 419 Houston 6 10 0 .375 390 427 Tennessee 6 10 0 .375 356 339 North WL T Pct PF PA y-Pittsburgh 12 4 0 .750 375 232 x-Baltimore 12 4 0 .750 357 270 Cleveland 5 11 0 .313 271 332 Cincinnati 4 12 0 .250 322 395 NFC West WL T Pct PF PA y-Seattle 7 9 0 .438 310 407 St. Louis 7 9 0 .438 289 328 49ERS 610 0 .375 305 346 Arizona 5 11 0 .313 289 434 East WL T Pct PF PA y-Philadelphia 10 6 0 .625 439 377 N.Y. Giants 10 6 0 .625 394 347 Dallas 6 10 0 .375 394 436 Washington 6 10 0 .375 302 377 South WL T Pct PF PA y-Atlanta 13 3 0 .813 414 288 x-N. Orleans 11 5 0 .688 384 307 Tampa Bay 10 6 0 .625 341 318 Carolina 2 14 0 .125 196 408 North WL T Pct PF PA y-Chicago 11 5 0 .688 334 286 x-Green Bay 10 6 0 .625 388 240 Detroit Minnesota 6 10 0 .375 281 348 x-clinched playoff spot y-clinched division ————————————————— Sunday’s late result Seattle 16, St. Louis 6 End of Regular Season Wild-card Playoffs Saturday’s games New Orleans at Seattle, 1:30 p.m., NBC N.Y. Jets at Indianapolis, 5 p.m., NBC Sunday’s games Baltimore at Kansas City, 10 a.m., CBS Green Bay at Philadelphia, 1:30 p.m., FOX 6 10 0 .375 362 369 7 9 0 .438 273 333 4 12 0 .250 283 425