This is the story of how Raiders’ new defensive end Richard Seymour pulled a guy’s hair during today’s game. To be specific, he pulled the hair of Broncos offensive tackle Ryan Clady, whose hair descended below the bottom of his helmet. Seymour got his team penalized 14 yards for the hair pull and two plays later Denver scored a TD to go ahead 20-3.

 

After the game I went over to Seymour in the locker room. Here is our dialogue.

 

Cohn: May I ask you a question? You were penalized for pulling a guy’s hair. I’ve never in my life been aware of anything like that. Can I trouble you to tell me what happened?

 

Seymour: Did you see the game?

 

Cohn: I was there. Was it a mistake?

 

Seymour? It was no mistake.

 

Cohn: You were pissed?

 

Seymour: It wasn’t no mistake, brother. Next question.

 

Cohn: Is there something wrong with the question? Why did you do it?

 

Seymour: You asked if it was a mistake and I told you no. Get out of here.

 

Cohn: Why do I get out of here? You don’t like to talk about that.

 

Seymour: Get out of here.

 

Cohn: I’m not getting out of here.

 

At this point Raiders public relations guy Mike Taylor, who had heard none of the dialogue between Seymour and me, came over and said, “Lowell, would you remove yourself? If you stay here he’s not talking.”

 

It was clear to me Seymour would talk to the group of reporters who had gathered to interview to him. I stood quietly so they could ask their questions. It seemed to me Taylor would not let them ask because I was there. Taylor said Seymour later told him he would not talk if I was there – Seymour may have said that. But I honestly believed he would speak until Taylor made a big deal and transformed a disagreement between two men into a major event.

 

You may ask why I did not leave when Seymour said, “Get out of here.” I do not like to be spoken to like that. I don’t believe athletes have license to be rude. Taylor said I incited Seymour. I believe Seymour incited himself. I believe he was answerable for what he did on the field. Taylor said I am not welcome around the Raiders. We’ll see about that.

 

Taylor later told me, “You did something wrong. I don’t know what you did; you did something wrong. It wasn’t cool. And that’s where it is.”

 

Taylor was in no position to know what I did as he was a latecomer to my conversation with Seymour. You’ve read the dialogue. Judge for yourselves.

 

By the way, I did leave. But Taylor still did not allow Seymour to talk to the other journalists. I apologize to my colleagues if I interrupted their work.

 

Later Taylor accosted me in the press box and berated me for about 10 minutes while I was attempting to write. He kept saying I had incited his player. He called me an unflattering name. I offered to tell him my side of the story but he didn’t listen, kept talking about my incitement. At a certain point I felt he was harassing me so I put in my ear pieces and began listening to my taped interviews while he kept telling other journalists, who were trying to work, that I had incited Seymour.

 

I can tell you I never have experiences like these with teams other than the Raiders. To read my column on JaMarcus Russell click here.