Raiders owner Al Davis is out there. If you have any doubt about that, then go back and check footage of his news conference announcing the dismissal of coach Lane Kiffin.

Deadspin’s AJ Daulerio had this reaction to the spectacle:

“Wow. For those who just witnessed Al Davis’ bizarre press conference accusing former head coach Lane Kiffin of ‘lying’ and ‘propaganda’ among other things, I can’t tell if I have more respect for Al Davis or am just dumbfounded by the brazenness of it all. Davis has revealed a letter (which he’s put on overhead projector for the press corps) that he wrote to Kiffin prior to the Kansas City game outlining the former coach’s faults and his bumbling personnel moves. He essentially calls Kiffin a baby for blaming the team’s losing record on ownership and for throwing defensive coordinator Rob Ryan under the bus.”

Somebody named Tom Cable now has the unhappy task of running the team. Davis is refusing to pay the remainder of Kiffin’s three-year, $6 million contract, so Lane will take his case to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.

Cable became Oakland’s sixth coach in seven years. Here is how San Francisco Chronicle columnist Ray Ratto assessed the turnover:

“Davis guessed horribly badly with Kiffin, no matter which side of that particular spit-fest you take. Davis was wrong on Art Shell, and Norv Turner, and Bill Callahan. He was right on Jon Gruden, but personalities clearly got in the way. He was then wrong on Joe Bugel and Mike White. He was wrong when he fired Shell the first time, by his own admission, and he was wrong on Mike Shanahan. The last time he was right on a coach was Tom Flores, at least based on the results, and he fired him when the record went south.”

MYSTERIES OF THE UNIVERSE

Questions to ponder while wondering what took Tony Mandarich so long to own up to his steroid abuse:

• Now that Marc Bulger has been named the starting quarterback for the rest of the season, will he seem a little happier to be a Ram?
• Why would the Cubs pitch to Manny Ramirez even once during their playoff series?
• Now that the Brewers finally got back to postseason play, can they last more than a week?

RICKY WILLIAMS IS AN HONEST MAN

The oft-suspended Dolphins running back told the Miami Herald that he was tempted to smoke some pot during Miami’s bye week. All that free time, nothing much to do . . .

“So there was definitely an urge,” he said. “But I just thought about what I have to lose, and it was easy. The urge didn’t last very long.”

Ricky is one positive drug test away from never playing in the NFL again.

QUIPS ‘R US

Here is what some of America’s leading sports pundits have been writing:

Jerry Greene, Orlando Sentinel: “Who dreads the Tampa Bay Rays in the World Series more — Fox TV or Las Vegas? A Rays- Milwaukee Brewers Series would destroy Fox, while Vegas was offering 75-1 back in March on the Rays winning the American League pennant and 150-1 on winning the Series.”

Mark Kriegel, FoxSports.com: “Seriously, not to take anything from Brett Favre’s great day, but those guys in the Wrangler commercial play tougher defense than the Cardinals’ secondary.”

Thomas Bonk, Los Angeles Times: “Steve Smith of the Carolina Panthers has an interesting new TV ad in which he catches a scoring pass and leaps into the stands, where he starts eating a fan’s Bojangles’ chicken. Good thing the ad isn’t for Valvoline.”

Greg Cote, Miami Herald: “In soccer, accusations that a player was using witchcraft during a match in eastern Congo sparked a riot. Accusations proved true when the player turned himself into a rhinoceros and rampaged for 44 goals.”

Will Leitch, Deadspin: “The Lions went ahead and practiced yesterday, their first runthrough without Matt Millen as GM. Wouldn’t it have been kind of awesome if, suddenly, all the players were five times more talented? Or if they could, like, fly? If the Lions go 13-0 the rest of the way, it will be the greatest sports story of all time. Maybe it’ll be a ragtag bunch of scallywags who somehow claw their way to victory in amusing ways. Perhaps they’ll sign a kicking mule.”

MEGAPHONE

“It was something I wasn’t proud of to be associated with and I was embarrassed for him, to tell you the truth.”

Former Raiders coach Lane Kiffin, on Davis’ news conference.