The new coach didn't preen or preach or egregiously oversell himself amid this cosmically absurd situation, thank goodness.

In fact, the new Raiders interim coach was acting so rational during Tuesday's otherwise non-stop delirium, I half-expected to see a trail of vapor at some point and an empty spinning chair next to Al Davis.

Oh, and a Tom Cable-sized exit hole, stage right.

But, no, Cable never bolted the news conference, though he (wisely) seemed to edge as far away from Davis as politely possible.

Meanwhile, Davis showed no outward familiarity with his offensive-line coach at all. Why would he act warmly? Al barely knows Cable.

We'll see how long this one lasts — I'm guessing the Cable Raiders Death Watch probably starts in "three weeks? Four weeks?

Hey, at least Cable was an excused absence from the meaty part of "King Lear," err, I mean, Davis' opening 45-minute monologue/harangue against fired coach Lane Kiffin on Tuesday.

Cable was trotted out later, and sounded properly gung-ho and energetic, though his section had its own bewildering Al moments. So Cable gets full credit for looking just as stunned as the rest of us who were present for this.

And Cable gets even more credit for refusing to disown his former boss, calling Kiffin a "friend" even as Davis' eyes narrowed.

"I respect Lane Kiffin," Cable said. "I love the guy. I think he worked his tail off. However, whatever that's gone on here is between him and Mr. Davis, and I'll leave it at that."

Not exactly the greatest way to start off his new relationship with Mr. D, but that was, I'm sure, Cable's point: He might not be as overtly confrontational as Kiffin, but Cable is his own man, too.

Good for him. Bad for his Raiders tenure. Oh well.

"One thing I said to Tom — I want him because he does have that personality to dominate that locker room, dominate those players," Davis said.

Doesn't really matter, of course — Cable has no chance for long-term success with the Raiders, because nobody has a chance for long-term success with the Raiders as long as Davis meddles and overrules and sends his minions out to tear apart the coach of the moment.

My favorite part of the day came in the Davis group-interview session after the news conference doubleheader, when Davis criticized former executive Mike Lombardi for his treatment of Art Shell in 2006.

"You can't get that in an organization, somebody in the organization bad-mouthing the coach," Davis said.

That prompted a raised eyebrow by me, and a nod over to Raiders official John Herrera, who did precisely that with Kiffin. Davis didn't even try to deny it.

"Well, you can do it a little bit," Davis said. "Seriously."

King Lear, with a wink, I guess.

Will things change? Probably not. Sure, Davis talked about adding a new, desperately needed football executive and even hinted that the new man was a local. But let's all believe that when we see the press release.

Al almost always does what he has always done. Why would he change now? Let's just run through the recent Raiders coaching history:

—Joe Bugel, a former offensive-line coach, lasted one season.

—Jon Gruden, a prime offensive strategist, lasted four seasons.

—Bill Callahan, a former offensive-line coach, lasted two seasons.

—Norv Turner, a prime offensive strategist, lasted two seasons.

—Art Shell, a former offensive-line coach, lasted one season.

—Kiffin, a rising offensive strategist, lasted one season plus four games.

And now Cable, an offensive-line coach.

You see the pattern here? This goes back further: Mike Shanahan (brainy strategist) to Shell 1.0 (offensive line) to Mike White (brainy strategist) to Bugel . . .

Next up by January 2009: a young offensive strategist, who will be fired at midseason.

Al charms himself by spotting the hip new thinkers but quickly tires of them and always replaces them with stolid blue-collar guys, then repeats the cycle over and over.

He just did it again. The only difference now is that Davis' cycles are getting quicker and more haphazard — the brainy guys last a little longer than the grunt-work offensive-line guys, but even the brainy guys now last barely more than a year.

And another difference: Al is getting older and loopier, he has nobody credible to help him, and the Raiders are now almost permanently stuck in his personal malaise