Lester Hayes Plans to Make a Comeback : ‘They Can’t Count Me Out Yet,’ Deposed Raider Cornerback Says

As in days of old, when the silver and black is in peril, a hero rides out to save them. And someone has just poked his familiar-looking head through the gloom to volunteer.

And his name is . . .

Lester Hayes?

That’s right. The deposed left cornerback with the two “troglodyte toes” (his phrase) who was offered a choice of retirement or the waiver wire (Coach Tom Flores’ phrase, reportedly), who is now on injured reserve, in which capacity he has been barred and reinstated at El Segundo after arguments with members of the medical staff, says he’s planning a comeback. Or a resurrection.

“My toes are a smidgin better,” Hayes said Monday. “They can’t count me out yet. They aren’t God and they can’t control my destiny.

“I’m going to an acupuncturist. I’ve tried everything else on earth--ultrasound, all that high-tech stuff. They have individuals in the silver-and-black scheme of things who have written my epitaph but it is not just. Because my football destiny is not complete.”

Hayes’ successor, Lionel Washington, is struggling. What isn’t known is whether the team still takes Hayes seriously, or is letting him serve out his season on injured reserve.

In the wake of Sunday’s 35-13 whipping, Hayes, of course, says he’s baffled.

“I don’t understand that-- at all!” he said. “On our turf? On natural grass and they (the Seahawks) aren’t a grass team! They come to our house and whip our gluteus maximus?

“Gee, that’s where you’ve got to go and hide some 2 x 4s in the tunnel at halftime and wear their rear ends out. That’s what we used to do. We used to have them so damn scared, they would dread the halftime walk-in and the after-game walk-out to their bus. And that was worth points on the board to us.

“The mystique died out against New England, that playoff game in ’85 (the one after which Patriot management engaged Howie Long and Matt Millen in the tunnel). The mystique flew to Chicago. That intangible is null and void to us now.

“We still talk about silver and blackisms but we’ve got to get back to the old pit bull Raiders. I don’t know what it is. Gee, I’m baffled.”

Back on Earth, Flores said he plans no lineup changes--”at this point”--for next Sunday’s game at New England, at quarterback or anywhere else.

“No excuses,” Flores said. “No panic. We’re not as bad a team as we appeared to be in the first half of (Sunday’s) ballgame. I don’t have the answers to why we played that way. I don’t know that anybody in this organization does.

“I know the question will come up about the quarterback situation, but then you look at why we weren’t that productive in the first half.

“The quarterback (Rusty Hilger) really didn’t have much of a chance. . . . It’s just not fair to a quarterback when you don’t give him a chance to generate the offense that you want.”

Jim Plunkett is eligible to come off injured reserve, but Flores says he has no plans to activate him “at this point.”