Reality Adds Spice to Raider Telecast

The spat between Raider quarterback Jeff Hostetler and his coach, Art Shell, last Sunday in Miami was unfortunate and disappointing. It was also bizarre in that the combatants had to be aware of NBC’s presence.

But they carried on as if it didn’t matter, providing millions of viewers with a stunning mini-drama.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” NBC commentator Bob Trumpy said from his home in Cincinnati, echoing the sentiments of many who witnessed it.

There have been player-coach tiffs caught on camera before. You may remember the one between Reggie Jackson and Billy Martin, or last season’s battle between Scottie Pippen and Phil Jackson.

And, earlier this season, Fox’s cameras caught Steve Young voicing his displeasure with Coach George Seifert when he was yanked in the third quarter of the San Francisco 49ers’ 40-8 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.

But never before has a player-coach spat gone on as long as Hostetler-Shell. And NBC was there to cover this soap opera as it unfolded.

Viewers couldn’t hear what was being said, but some of the words weren’t fit for national television, anyway.

“We got one close-up of Shell but we couldn’t use it,” said game producer John Faratzis. “It was too obvious what he was saying.”

Faratzis said his crew had been aware of a possible volatile situation.

“I had read in the clippings the team sent us that Tim Brown had displayed his displeasure during the San Diego game when a running play was called on fourth and three from the six just before halftime,” Faratzis said. “Making matters worse, the Raiders ran from a passing formation, with three wideouts.”

Harvey Williams was stopped after a two-yard gain.

Faratzis said that during a production meeting with Shell the day before the game, the coach had complained that Hostetler was holding the ball too long and also relying on Brown too much.

On game day, things came to a head late in the second quarter. In the huddle, Hostetler changed two running plays to passes. And after a series of mistakes and two dropped passes by James Jett, Hostetler, who was drilled by Dolphin linebacker Bryan Cox, was fuming when he came to the sideline.

“We had a camera on him,” Faratzis said. “What (director) John Gonzalez and I saw in the (production) truck was Shell say something to Hostetler when he got to the sideline. Hoss may have said something back and then went to get a drink of water. But he came back to have more words with Shell. That’s when things got heated.

“At one point we saw Hostetler saying, ‘I don’t need this.’ ”

NBC dispatched sideline reporter Hannah Storm to get what she could. She reported after halftime that Hostetler had said he and Shell had not spoken in the locker room and that he didn’t know if he was starting the second half or not.

Hostetler started and played superbly despite the circumstances, but the Raiders lost their halftime lead and the game.

“I think this is just the tip of the iceberg,” Faratzis said. “I think Shell’s outburst stems from the heat he’s feeling from Al Davis.

“This is an offense that has no imagination. They make it easy for a defense to shut it down.”

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NBC’s one flaw was Trumpy’s jumping to the wrong conclusion.

Trumpy said the dispute between Hostetler and Shell stemmed from an earlier argument, caught on camera but not put out over the air, between Hostetler and offensive lineman Bruce Wilkerson.

Trumpy assumed incorrectly that that argument had led to the later one.

“I still think the two may have been connected,” Trumpy said this week.

But there’s been no indication that they were, even though Wilkerson was demoted on Wednesday.

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Almost as bizarre as Hostetler vs. Shell is Tom Watson vs. Gary McCord. It was learned recently that Watson sent a letter to McCord’s CBS boss, golf producer Frank Chirkinian, after last April’s Masters, with a copy going to Masters chairman Jackson Stephens.

Watson didn’t like some of McCord’s comments, and in the letter to Chirkinian said, “Get rid of him, now.”

McCord later was taken off future Masters at the request of Masters officials.

Efforts to reach Watson through his Kansas City management company were not successful, but McCord was contacted at his new home in the Phoenix area.

“I knew about the letter two days after the Masters,” McCord said. “We had gone from the Masters to Hilton Head (S.C., the site of the HCI Heritage), and on Tuesday I was emceeing a 10-player shootout (a charity event). I saw Tom working on his chipping at a practice green, and we had a pleasant conversation.

“A few minutes later, I see Frank and he calls me into the (production) truck and closes the door and shows me the letter. I couldn’t believe it.

“It’s OK if someone doesn’t like my work and OK if he voices an opinion, but what got me was Tom tried to get me fired.

“And Tom, out on the practice green, didn’t even have the decency to say, ‘Hey, I didn’t like some of your comments on the Masters telecast and I even sent a letter to your boss.’ I could have dealt with that.”

Watson appears to be in the minority. A poll in Golf Weekly had 84.7% disagreeing with McCord’s removal from the Masters, and mail to The Times has been all pro-McCord.

He’s the type of commentator golf needs, despite what Watson or the Masters people think.

TV-Radio Notes

Los Angeles gets a look at the undefeated San Diego Chargers on Sunday, with Channel 4 showing their home game against the Denver Broncos at 1 p.m. Charlie Jones and Randy Cross are the announcers. The Fox game Sunday is the Rams at New Orleans at 10 a.m., with Joe Buck and Tim Green calling the action. . . . The ABC college game Saturday at 12:30 p.m., UCLA at Arizona, isn’t much unless you’re a die-hard Bruin fan. But there are some attractive pay-per-view games, including Utah-Colorado State and Michigan-Illinois. The UCLA-Arizona announcers will be Roger Twibell and Todd Blackledge, with Harry Carson working the sidelines. . . . California at USC is the Prime Network Pacific 10 Conference game of the week, with Phil Stone and Rodney Gilmore calling the action and Paul Sunderland working the sidelines. . . . Stanford-UCLA at 3:30 p.m. Oct. 29 is not scheduled to be televised live. The Prime Network game that day is Washington State at California.

The Clippers have hired Channel 2 sportscaster Rory Markus as Rich Marotta’s replacement on the radio broadcasts. Markus, who had been the Clippers’ PA announcer and is also the Milwaukee Brewers’ television play-by-play announcer, will be Ralph Lawler’s commentator on most games but will do the play-by-play when Lawler switches over to do one of the Clippers’ 35 Channel 13 telecasts. Despite the Clippers’ efforts to keep Marotta, he chose to leave because of a growing number of boxing commitments. . . . Dan Goossen, Top Rank vice president who coincidentally is also Marotta’s agent, Thursday was added to the broadcast team for Saturday night’s pay-per-view card from Hong Kong. The four-bout card, featuring Rafael Ruelas defending his IBF lightweight title, begins at 7 p.m. Goossen is a fill-in for commentator Colin Cowherd, who was battling a 105-degree temperature.

Add boxing: Saturday night’s Forum-promoted card at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas will be simulcast in English and Spanish by Channel 9. Tom Kelly, Marotta and Fernando Paramo will be the English announcers, with Jaime Jarrin and Ricardo Jimenez doing the Spanish. The main event on the 8 p.m. card has unbeaten super bantamweight Marco Antonio Barrera facing Jesus Sarabia. . . . Jarrin, since the baseball strike, has been doing a sports-talk show for radio station KWKW, and it has become a big hit among Latino listeners.

The final match of the 1995 Newsweek Champions Cup in Indian Wells will be played on Monday, March 13, and televised by ESPN. It is the first time since the inception of the ATP Tour in 1990 that a tournament final has been scheduled for a Monday. . . . Because of the success of “Sportstalk” as fill-in programming at KABC radio during the baseball strike, the station has made it a permanent 5-8 p.m. fixture on weekdays, beginning Monday. The co-hosts are Steve Edwards and Eric Tracy. Gloria Allred’s show has been moved to 3-5 p.m. . . . Brian Golden and Doug Krikorian, beginning this weekend, will do a regular Sunday show on KMPC, 2:30-5 p.m., whenever the Rams play an early road game. Joe McDonnell will continue doing his Saturday night show. . . . Willie Mays and Johnny Unitas will be the guests on a special “Up Close” show on ESPN today at 4:30 p.m. . . . Former UCLA gymnast Maura Driscoll joins John Nabor on the taped World Gymnastics team trials on ESPN Sunday at 5 p.m.