Jury Still Out on Who Is Giving a Good Accounting

Picture NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue in an orange jumpsuit sitting behind bars in L.A. County Jail.

I have--I see him being embraced by Raider fans.

There was a time Wednesday when I thought it might happen, the big bore being slapped in handcuffs and hauled off on contempt charges to serve six months for delivering “incomplete and misleading” financial documents to a Los Angeles Superior Court jury that is trying to determine who is telling the truth, the NFL or the Raiders.

I would imagine that’s a jury that will be forever deadlocked.

THE NFL world has been in an uproar the past few days, the aftermath of a Times’ report Sunday that revealed the operating profits of each of the teams, information that is being used as evidence in the Raiders’ $1-billion lawsuit against the NFL.

“It’s that lying creep, Al Davis, trying to influence a jury in L.A.,” is the way Steeler owner Dan Rooney put it to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “He gave out this information.”

I have no idea if he was the source, but Rooney is a business partner of Davis, and if he says he’s a “lying creep,” he’d know better than I would.

Jacksonville Jaguar owner Wayne Weaver was upset because he said the disclosure of the financial information portrayed the NFL and the Jaguars as robber barons.

That’s inaccurate, of course. I think the disclosure of the financial information confirmed the NFL and the Jaguars are robber barons.

Miami Dolphin President Eddie Jones said his accountants looked at the numbers and couldn’t figure them out. I’d suggest calling my older daughter at Deloitte & Touche in San Diego--just don’t use my name if you want help.

“They bear no resemblance to reality for the Miami Dolphins,” Jones told the Miami Herald. “Now quote me on that . . . it is confounding.”

Now here’s the rub. If the financial numbers printed in The Times--which were compiled by the NFL in compliance with a court order to be used as evidence and are now being studied by a jury--bear no resemblance to reality, then Tagliabue should be bound for Oz.

WHO GOOFED, I’ve got to know?

Well, it started with the NFL. A spokesman for the league, reacting to The Times’ report, said the information was “an incomplete and therefore misleading presentation of NFL economics.”

The Raiders pounced on that as if it was a fumble--something they are very familiar with--and quoted an NFL source, as if it wasn’t someone employed by the Raiders, as saying this “amazing admission could lead to severe, possibly criminal sanctions against” Tagliabue.

The “lying creep” was not in court Wednesday. But Raider attorney Joe Alioto said, “These documents better be accurate and better not be misleading. If the NFL gave us incomplete documents, they have a real problem with the court . . . they’re playing with fire by fooling around like that.”

Alioto said he could ask for a mistrial, but would not.

NOW IF the NFL really did provide incomplete, misleading or inaccurate information, the Raiders would throw a fit. They’d want the whole darn league tossed in jail--which is really their best shot of making it to a Super Bowl again.

Let’s face it, they have an owner, better known by some as the “lying creep,” who has more courtroom experience than almost anyone else in the NFL and a keen eye for Ts that have not been crossed. You know he studied those financial numbers for days, and we heard of no problem with them during the trial.

The NFL provided the financial information the Raiders requested, which demonstrated the impact a new stadium might have on a franchise’s bottom line. The numbers worked in the Raiders’ favor, showing higher profits for teams before factoring in expenses--such as money spent on stadium construction.

A Pittsburgh newspaper reported the league sent a memo to 31 teams, labeling the operating-profit numbers inaccurate.

The NFL’s memo to those 31 teams, however, did not say that.

In the memo, the NFL described the financial information that was made public in The Times as “incomplete and misleading” because it did not include the expenses reported by many teams--thereby inflating the operating profits.

Apparently it was also misleading to several NFL owners, who don’t want it to appear as if they are ripping off the local citizenry. That’s supposed to be a secret.

Now if the judge comes back, which is unlikely, and thinks the NFL should have provided more complete information to the court, he has the power to make Tagliabue & Co. very uncomfortable.

I’d suggest leg shackles--maybe hooked to the “lying creep” for a day.

ALVIN GENTRY makes his home in San Antonio and works down the hall from the Lakers in Los Angeles.

Now most people would dodge the question: Who’s going to win?

But Gentry, much like his spirited Clippers, who refused to back down to some of the league’s best teams down the stretch, said this series will go seven games and will be won by the Lakers with Kobe Bryant taking control.

IN A column for the SportsBusiness Journal, Kevin Malone wrote that The Times, “serving as an instrument of negativity, has single-handedly berated the Dodgers and caused a discernable decline in revenue streams.”

Malone wrote that merchandise revenue has remained stagnant because of the team’s inability to make Kevin Brown and Gary Sheffield more popular.

“The low figures are not indicative of these athletes,” writes Malone, “as there may not be any two finer gentlemen in baseball than Brown and Sheffield.”

TODAY’S LAST WORD comes in an e-mail from APG:

“Count me as one of the billions that don’t read you.”

Liar.

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T.J. Simers can be reached at his e-mail address:

t.j.simers@latimes.com