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Kiffin: Camp Won't Be An Issue For Waylaid Walker
According to reports out of Oakland tonight, the Raiders expect receiver Javon Walker to be ready for training camp when he recovers from injuries incurred during a robbery in Las Vegas last weekend.

Head coach Lane Kiffin spoke to Walker by phone on Wednesday morning, more than two days after Walker was discovered unconscious and beaten on a back street near the Las Vegas Strip following a night of partying.

Walker was released from a hospital after treatment for a concussion and facial injuries.

"The info that I have is he's going to be fine," Kiffin said. "Training camp won't be an issue. ... But until our guys look at him, I don't want to say [the extent of Walker's injuries]."

And that's the key. ... Kiffin left considerable wiggle room with that last caveat.

That said, Oakland Tribune staffer Jerry McDonald reminded readers today that it's still not clear whether Walker suffered an orbital fracture as was initially reported.

Kiffin said Walker was scheduled to fly to Oakland on Wednesday evening in time to attend the final session of the Raiders' organized team activities on Thursday, though he obviously won't suit up with quarterback JaMarcus Russell and his new teammates.

Oakland opens training camp July 25 in Napa.

A Las Vegas police spokesman said a large amount of cash and expensive jewelry were taken from Walker, who was photographed earlier in the fateful evening spraying a nightclub crowd with champagne (see for yourself here).

The Milwaukee Sentinel Journal reported Tuesday that Las Vegas police said he was robbed of $3,000 in cash and $100,000 in jewelry, including a large jewel-encrusted watch.

The Milwaukee paper said police indicated the robbers put him in a car and beat him.

Still, details of Walker's party night still were sketchy and we probably shouldn't expect the wideout to explain his actions tomorrow. The Associated Press reports the Raiders weren't expected to make Walker available to the media on the final day of workouts.

But a story printed by TheDirty.com, which describes itself as a "friend" of Walker, attributed a wild, hard-to-believe-account of what happened to the wide receiver, who was staying at the Bellagio, to Walker himself.

"I was just back at my room and at about 5:30 in the morning, I got a knock at the door, I opened it and three guys with guns were there, they cracked me in the head a few times knocking me unconscious," Walker supposedly told the site. "They then robbed me of everything I had, my watch, money, everything!

"Somehow they got me to the car and dropped me off in the street. That's what happened."

While I'm not putting much stock in that report, I will suggest that Walker should understand the dangers of nighttime partying better than most athletes.

On Jan. 1, 2007, a still-unidentified gunman targeted a car carrying Walker and several Broncos teammates in a drive-by shooting outside a downtown Denver nightclub. Darrent Williams, a defensive back, died in Walker's arms in their rented limousine after an apparent altercation between a handful of athletes and other partygoers.

It should be noted that incident started when then-teammate Brandon Marshall and Marshall's cousin drenched some patrons during a New Year's Eve party in Denver.

Also worth noting, representatives from seven Las Vegas nightclubs told the Las Vegas Review-Journal on Tuesday they do not permit champagne to be sprayed because of the potential problems.

"It's just lighting the fuse," a club operator said. "Things can flare up quick."

Another club executive said, "We consider it the same as throwing your drink on someone. When it happens at our club, they are escorted out immediately."

At best, Walker's actions that night -- while certainly not warranting a beating and the apparent loss of property -- demonstrated a horrible lack of judgement. It's safe to say it's a chapter the Raiders could have done without.

Walker signed a six-year, $55 million deal with the Raiders after the Broncos released him in February. The 29-year-old former Packers star has participated in some offseason work with Russell, though Kiffin said two weeks ago that Walker was "a little heavy" for workouts.

Now he's at least a little hurt, too.

"All we can do is educate [players] the best that we can," Kiffin said. "We can't baby-sit them. ... Not many good things happen after midnight, and this is another example of that, another reminder of how dangerous it is out there."

Russell said it was a lesson for players to "watch your surroundings, it could happen to anybody," and recommended "that you always (take) somebody with you when you go places. ..."

Somebody smart enough to put the kibosh on activities that draw the attention of scurrilous ne'er-do-wells. ... You know, things like spraying $15,000 worth of Dom Perignon on a room full of strangers while flashing enough bling to float a battleship.

Anyhow. ... I'll continue to follow this story closely in coming days; those interested will want to keep an eye on the News & Views section of the site for more details -- including hopefully the actual extent of Walker's injuries -- as they come to light.