Filling In the Blanks: Raider Broadcasts to Be Triple-Teamed

The Raiders will have plenty of new faces on the field this season and plenty of new voices in the radio booth.

The team’s new radio rights holder, Nederlander Sports Marketing, took some heat when it let longtime play-by-play man Bill King slip away in a salary dispute, but it has rallied nicely.

Joel Meyers, a proven pro with network experience, will replace King. And now comes word from Roger Blaemire, the president of Nederlander, that Meyers will have not one but two new commentators.

They are former Raiders Bob Chandler and Mike Haynes, both of whom should do well. Chandler is a polished broadcaster who has had a variety of jobs, and Haynes has potential.

Chandler, a wide receiver from USC, had some outstanding years with the Buffalo Bills before finishing his career with the Raiders. He retired after the 1982 season.

He has since done football for NBC and local sportscasting for Channel 7, was at one time the co-host of Channel 2’s “2 on the Town” and is the host of an outstanding show on ESPN, “Amazing Games,” a job that takes him around the world.

Chandler has also been involved in hotel and business ventures with his longtime friend, Leo Hart, a former Duke quarterback who was a teammate of Chandler’s on the Bills.

Haynes, a cornerback from Arizona State, came to the Raiders in 1983 from the New England Patriots and retired after the 1989 season.

Sometimes three-man teams don’t jell, but this one should. Chandler will be there to analyze the offenses, with Haynes zeroing in on the defenses.

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The bad news is that Rich Marotta will no longer be the Raider commentator. But Marotta will still be part of the broadcast team.

He and Jim Plunkett will serve as co-hosts of the pregame and postgame shows, which will run for 90 minutes each.

Blaemire said he also plans to find roles for up-and-coming Mike Lamb, a former USC offensive lineman who worked well with Plunkett on postgame shows last season, and versatile Randy Rosenbloom, a finalist for the play-by-play job.

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New golf league: Chandler and Haynes are also involved in a new golf venture.

Haynes is the director of player relations for the Professional Athletes Golf League, and Chandler is one of the new league’s top players.

The inaugural event, held at the Legends in St. Louis last weekend, will be televised by ESPN Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. The 27-hole, no-handicap tournament features eight two-man teams competing in a better-ball format for $220,000.

This will be the first of 36 PAGL events to be televised by ESPN, with purses totaling $10 million.

George Brett is the commissioner of the league, and competitors, besides Chandler, include Bret Hull, Walter Payton, James Worthy, Jim Brown, Rick Barry, Ricky Sanders, Grant Fuhr, Gorman Thomas, Kenny Easley and Joe Theismann.

Some of the top names in sports are expected to join the league. All participants are expected to have a handicap of 10 or below, and all must have competed at the major league level for at least five years and been voted all-pro or an all-star at least once.

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Golfing partners: Mayor-elect Richard Riordan, who went jogging with President Clinton on Wednesday, took time last Friday to play a few holes of golf with a foursome that included his business partner, TNT pro football analyst Pat Haden, in the Ricky Bell Memorial Scholarship Fund Golf Classic at Brookside in Pasadena. Riordan contributed some nice shots and dropped a long putt before more pressing business called.

Riordan, Haden and former USC tennis star Chris Lewis are partners in an L.A. investment firm, and Haden is the host of the annual Ricky Bell tournament, which provides scholarships for economically disadvantaged students.

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NBA draft: One of the more intriguing NBA drafts in years will be televised live by TNT on Wednesday, beginning at 4:30 p.m.

This will be the ninth NBA draft televised by Turner sports and the fourth shown in prime time in the East.

Bob Neal will serve as host of the coverage, flanked by analysts Hubie Brown and Doug Collins. Craig Sager will serve as roving reporter, and Ernie Johnson will be with Golden State Coach Don Nelson in Oakland.

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The NBA and NBC will become business partners next season, when their new revenue-sharing television agreement goes into effect, but that didn’t keep Bob Costas from holding his ground during an interview with Commissioner David Stern last Sunday.

When Costas said it is the perception that the league is reluctant to discipline Michael Jordan, Stern retorted: “Is that your perception?”

Costas pressed on as Stern remained vague.

“The league takes care of a variety of problems,” he said, adding, “There are some people who think we shouldn’t even let players go into casinos. Well, that just can’t be.”

The question--Is Jordan getting favorable treatment because of who he is?--was never answered.

TV-Radio Notes

Pete Rose will be inducted into the the Victor Awards Hall of Fame on Saturday. The annual awards show at the Las Vegas Hilton, which benefits the City of Hope, will be televised live by Prime Ticket, beginning at 8 p.m. . . . For the second year, ABC will televise the “Jim Thorpe Pro Sports Awards,” to be held July 12 at the Wiltern Theatre. Mark Curry, star of ABC’s “Hangin’ With Mr. Cooper,” will serve as host, and Joe DiMaggio will receive the Thorpe lifetime achievement award.

Boxing beat: Saturday night’s pay-per-view fight between Evander Holyfield and Alex Stewart highlights the weekend fare, and on Tuesday night at 9 the USA network offers 42-year-old Roberto Duran against Jacques LeBlanc at Bay St. Louis, Miss. This show will also have a feature on Marvin Hagler, now an actor in Italy. . . . Oscar De La Hoya’s next fight, against Renaldo Carter of Detroit at Bay St. Louis on Aug. 14, will be televised by HBO. Roy Jones Jr., the International Boxing Federation’s middleweight champion, will fight South African light-heavyweight Thulane (Sugar Boy) Malinga on the same card. . . . A sequel to the award-winning HBO documentary, “In This Corner: Boxing’s Legendary Heavyweights,” called “In This Corner: Boxing’s Little Heroes,” will be shown in December.

Fred Roggin hits the big time next month when he serves as host of an NBC prime-time show, “Totally Television,” on July 28, at 9 p.m. The show, co-produced by Roggin and Phil Olsman, who are also the co-producers of the nationally syndicated “Roggin’s Heroes,” will feature zany and bizarre segments from television shows around the world. . . . Howard Katz, president and chief operating officer for Ohlmeyer Communications since 1988, has been named senior vice president in charge of production by ESPN, which recently bought Ohlmeyer Communications.

The new Continental Indoor Soccer League, which consists of seven teams and says it will grow to 10 next year, began play last week and, beginning Aug. 1, will have a national game of the week televised by Prime Network on seven successive Sundays. The first televised game will feature the 10-time indoor champion San Diego Sockers against Jerry Buss’ new team, L.A. United, at the Forum. At least three playoff games will also be televised.

Among those attending Roy Englebrecht’s sportscasters’ camp at Christ College in Irvine July 7-12 will be for former NBA players Walter Davis and Reggie Theus; J.B. Cantey, the 13-year-old son of horse racing commentator Charlsie Cantey, and Nina Matties, Pepperdine women’s volleyball coach. Englebrecht says there are still some vacancies. Details: (714) 760-3131. . . . Roy Firestone will be at Sportsbooks, 8761 Beverly Blvd. in West Hollywood, on Saturday, noon to 2 p.m., to sign the book he and Scott Ostler wrote, “Up Close.”

Irv Kaze, who did a nice job with a special on sports music on his KIEV show last Friday, will have Joe Garagiola and artist-former football player Ernie Barnes as his guests on tonight’s show at 6:30. . . . XTRA’s entertaining and popular nighttime “Too Much Show,” with Rick Schwartz and Steve Mason, moves to mornings next week while “Loose Cannons” Steve Hartman and Chet Forte are on vacation through July 5.

TNT will televise 10 hours of the U.S. Olympic Festival at San Antonio July 23-Aug. 1. . . . A new monthly show, “Thoroughbred World,” with Tom Durkin serving as host, will make its debut on Prime Network next month. The show is a joint venture between Phoenix Communications of New Jersey, which produces “This Week in Baseball,” “Power Stick Hockey Week” and other weekly shows, and Thoroughbred Racing Communications of New York.