It always seemed as though the inmates in the Oakland Raiders' asylum were running amok. But it was a controlled amok. Now, these guys are bouncing around in silver and black straitjackets. The Greatness of the Raiders has become theater of the absurd.

The usual circus has spun into Cirque Du So Long for youthful head coach Lane Kiffin, except Kiffin remains in charge. He thinks. We think. We don't know. He doesn't know.

Nor can the Chargers know who they're playing Sunday when they visit The Black Hole for a maddening matinee. The Raiders organization is such a wild kid's room, such a mess; Sigmund Freud would do a Pontius Pilate — wash his hands and walk away.

"Greatness" coach Kiffin has been fired more by Al Davis, the team's managing partner of the general partner's partner (or whatever the hell he is), than George Steinbrenner bounced Billy Martin. Except Big Al hasn't officially pink-slipped his 33-year-old protege.

Not really. We guess.

The Raiders have more leaks than a drunk with an overactive bladder. Internet insiders have canned this guy as often as Green Giant has corn. A lot they know. Their stuff has yet to stick to the wall on this one, probably because Davis keeps wiping it off before it can set.

I have to think Al, now in the December of his years, is enjoying this game immensely. Except his team stinks, and the one thing he hates more than losing is death, or the inevitability of it.

We hear Davis has told Kiffin he's done, but the coach isn't finished. That was Kiffin Wednesday morning on a conference. He didn't dial from a pay phone. But the sophomore coach, who now shows up for media briefings sans Raiders garb, all but confesses he's been fired for some time, probably dating to last year, except he hasn't been bounced.

Make sense?

"I don't know the exact date or anything," he was saying. "It went a certain direction. All I can do is have a competitive mind-set to do what we can do to win.

"I don't worry about things I can't control. My job is to motivate this team. They've been beaten down for a long time. The last thing they need is to see it in their leader. That's not going to happen to me."

The speculation is Davis wants Kiffin to quit so he won't have to pony up for yet another dismissed coach. Big Al's still paying Art Shell, and Mike Shanahan insists the Raiders owe him from his time there. But Kiffin still considers himself a Raider.

"Sure I do," he said. "I'd never quit on these guys. The last thing I'll ever do is bail on them. It has nothing to do with my being owed money."

I don't know Lane Kiffin, but here is a stand-up guy. And, with a little luck, his team could be 2-1 through all this. But it's a tough job now, man, made triple-hard by the chaos.

The Raiders, who once sold themselves as "The Team of the Decades," the winningest professional sports franchise, have gone 20-63 (a .241 winning percentage) since 2002, their last Super Bowl season. They've lost at least 10 games five straight years, and by that standard only two other NFL franchises in history have been worse.

Not good.

For some insight on the subject, I decided to consult a ringside witness, Ray Ratto of the San Francisco Chronicle, who happens to be America's best sports columnist. Ray is, well, Ray's different. And way beyond smart.

"I've never seen such a cohesive unit," Ratto said. "They're playing like their surroundings. It's a pie fight. This is what you get. Never mind about the five years they've been the worst team in football. Since they came back to Oakland, they have the third-worst record in the league.

"It's not every day you have an owner who wants to fire the coach and the coach wants to get fired and neither gets their way, when two people can't agree on the right course of action. They spent $200 million during the offseason and now they're quibbling over $4 million?

"There has to be a kindergarten teacher in the building who can set it straight. They literally should stop wearing pants and go right to floppy feet and a red nose."

There has been talk Kiffin won't last past Sunday's game against the San Diego Chargers, because a bye week follows. Firing always is more convenient during byes.

"Everybody thinks that next week there will be blood on the moon," Ratto said. "But I think this is blood sport. I think they want to bleed each other dry.

"The most interesting thing is that so many people inside the building are telling so many different things on the outside. The Raiders used to be good at keeping the walls up. Now it's become a text war.

"Can they win Sunday? It would be a surprise. At some point, the players have to see what's going on around them and say, 'This 100-percent thing isn't working. Why risk an ACL on these (bleeps)?' "

I would like to thank the Oakland Raiders and the genius of Ray Ratto for assisting on this column.

Nick Canepa is a sports columnist for The San Diego Union-Tribune. Contact him at nick.canepa@uniontrib.com.

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