Cable? Sounds like pay per view

Stunned by allegations that he sucker-punched an assistant, Oakland Raiders coach Tom Cable is denying everything. Is he lying? We'll soon find out the truth.

After a whirlwind week of Michael Vick-related dogfighting stories, the NFL now gets a coach fighting controversy, which is a far less serious issue, of course.

The league's team of investigators is looking into the matter, so be certain that commissioner Roger Goodell will get to the bottom of it. Goodell is not exactly as clumsy and clueless as Barney Fife.

According to a police report and media reports, Raiders defensive assistant Randy Hanson was treated at a hospital for a jaw injury two weeks ago. As the story goes, Cable allegedly punched Hanson and broke his jaw, and Hanson is not talking, either.

"Nothing happened," Cable snapped to a swarm of reporters Tuesday. "Listen, you want to talk about this football team and the players on this football team, I'll talk all day."

Let's hear about the KO, Cable Guy, and spare us the boring Xs and Os. Something happened, obviously, and it might be the highlight of Oakland's season.

Cable could get fined or suspended, but working for Al Davis and coaching the Raiders is punishment enough.

• LABOR OF LOVE -- It was touch and go for a while, but Brett Favre is back, and ESPN's love affair with him continues. The minute Favre joined the Minnesota Vikings, they were penciled in for the Super Bowl by ESPN analyst Ron Jaworski.

"The Vikings are now the team to beat in the NFC," Jaworski said in a classic overreaction.

For the record, the Vikings' odds to win the NFC dropped from 8-1 to 7-1 at the Las Vegas Hilton sports book.

• LUCKY LOU -- Cubs manager Lou Piniella was stopped for jaywalking Tuesday in downtown San Diego. Piniella got off the hook with a warning.

He was due for some good luck. Before Friday's game against the Padres, the fading Cubs were 3-7 in their past 10 games and had slumped to 60-57.

"I was walking down the street, talking to my son on the phone, looking for a place to get my hair cut,'' Piniella told the Chicago Sun-Times. "And I guess I crossed against the light. I got the siren and the whole thing. I thought, I better get out of the way, they're chasing somebody. And it was me.''

• RECORD DEALS -- Seventy-seven seconds before a midnight deadline, agent Scott Boras sealed a deal for pitcher Stephen Strasburg, who signed with the Washington Nationals for the largest contract ever for an amateur player.

Strasburg's contract is for $15.1 million guaranteed over four seasons, and the drawn-out negotiations got done more than two months after the major league draft.

We might see a similar scenario next year. Boras is an adviser to the family of Bryce Harper, who recently left Las Vegas High School to attend the College of Southern Nevada.

Harper, a power-hitting catcher, is targeted as the No. 1 pick in June. Will Boras try to get another record deal?

COMPILED BY MATT YOUMANS LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL