Barking Up Right Tree : After Leaving the Dog Pound, Golic Gets a Chance to Prove Self With Raiders

Bob Golic figured he had already been through the dog days. After all, he had spent seven years as a defensive lineman for the Cleveland Browns, dog biscuits bouncing off his back and barking by fans in the Dog Pound section of Cleveland Stadium reverberating in his ears.

But the early weeks of this year gave new meaning to the term dog days.

Golic lost:

--His coaches.

--His job.

--His self-esteem.

Several months ago, the National Football League instituted limited free agency, allowing each team to protect 37 players. The rest became unconditional free agents.

Golic wasn’t worried. At 31, he had three Pro Bowl seasons at nose tackle behind him and a lot of life, he figured, still ahead at the position.

The Browns figured differently. After several years of falling short of winning the Super Bowl, it was time for a change. Lots of changes. First, Coach Marty Schottenheimer left, followed by defensive coordinator Dave Adolph.

Then, finally, it was Golic’s turn. When the list of protected players came out, his name was among the missing.

“Initially, it was strange,” Golic said. “An ego thing. You react emotionally. Why of the 47 guys on the roster was I one of the 10 who wasn’t protected? Professional athletes have big egos anyway. You need them. You’ve got to believe every time that you’re better than the guy across from you. So you feel bad about it.

“Then you realize, hey, it happened. You’ve got to make the best of it.”

So why is Golic wearing such a big smile these days? Because he figures he has gone from the doghouse to the penthouse. Six weeks ago, Golic became a Raider and has spent the last few days getting acquainted during the club’s spring mini-camp at its training site in El Segundo.

Golic signed a two-year contract for $600,000 the first season and $650,000 the second after talking with a dozen clubs.

“That was exciting,” he said. “I’ve played 10 years in the league and, once you get past that emotional letdown of being left unprotected, it almost felt like I was being recruited for college again. I thought I was going to start going on recruiting trips.”

Golic was originally recruited at Cleveland’s St. Joseph’s High School, where he was not only an excellent football player, but also a state champion wrestler with a 67-14-2 record. From there, he went to Notre Dame, where he was an All-American as both a linebacker and a heavyweight wrestler.

A second-round draft pick of the New England Patriots in 1979, Golic returned to Cleveland in ’82 after being waived by New England.

“When I first got there,” he said of the Browns, “they said, ‘Your job is to occupy the center and both guards, to keep them away from the linebackers, because they make more money than you do.’ I asked them about tackles and they said, ‘You don’t have to make tackles. Just let people hit you.’ ”

Sound like fun? Golic thrived on it until last winter, when the Browns spent another Super Sunday in front of the television.

“Things were changing in Cleveland,” Golic said. “I was getting the indication the position I had and the way I played it wasn’t going to be needed any longer with the defensive scheme over there. So it gave me an opportunity to find a place where my talents would be appreciated.”

How appreciated will Golic be?

He doesn’t have to impress a new defensive coordinator. His old boss, Adolph, preceded him to the Raiders by several months, hired to shore up the defense.

“It’s going to be exciting to be a part of it,” Golic said of the Raider defense. “This was the original attack-type defense and I think we can get back to that.”

His main competition at nose guard will come from Bill Pickel and Malcom Taylor. But Golic appears to be the strongest, especially against the run.

Besides, this is a man who always seems to fit in, whatever the requirements. How many other defensive linemen can boast that they’ve spent their free time working in both the pits at the Indy 500 and above the orchestra pit at an opera?

Golic can.

A friend, race car driver Scott Brayton, persuaded Golic to join his pit crew for several races, including a couple of Indy 500s.

“Hell, I couldn’t change the oil in my own car,” Golic said. “But they basically taught me to change the right rear wheel. That was my job.”

Was he ever tempted to get behind the wheel?

“I couldn’t fit in the car,” he said. “They were going to throw a little motor oil around the edges of the cockpit to slide me in, but I was worried about getting back out.”

Golic also had a role in the Cleveland Opera’s production of “Turandot,” playing an executioner.

That was frustrating.

“They didn’t let me sing,” Golic complained.

But now he’s got a chance to howl in the new-look Raider defense. Every dog has his day.

Raider Notes

The team invited 90 players to the mini-camp. Under a new NFL rule, there can be no more than 80 on the roster after June 1. . . . Running back Marcus Allen is not in camp. After additional surgery on the wrist he broke last season, he still is wearing a cast. Allen is hoping to be ready by the start of summer camp.

Don Mosebar, shifted from center to tackle last season, is back at center. . . . Defensive lineman Greg Townsend is working at an outside linebacking spot. . . . Raider rookies must report to Oxnard for training camp on July 20, veterans on July 28.