Talk of the Town : Quartz Hill’s Matros Brings Fellow Athletes Together On His Popular Cable Television Sports Show

It’s the end of a Thursday afternoon football practice, and Quartz Hill High guard Matt Matros is jogging off the field toward his car.

Few offensive linemen move so fast at the end of a long school day, but Matros has no time to waste.

His teammates, moving at a more leisurely pace, head to the locker room, shower and go home, where, at 6 p.m., most will tune their television sets to KPAL Channel 35 for a weekly, half-hour high school sports talk show.

“Welcome to Sports Scene with Matt Matros,” says the fast-talking, broad-shouldered senior, who wears baggy jeans and a collarless dress shirt. “And I, of course, am your host, Matt Matros.”

He is smooth and calm. Hey, how many high school football players have their own TV show?

No one would guess that only an hour before arriving at the studio, Matros was sweating on the practice field.

The program, which focuses on Golden League football, was the brainchild of Craig Ginsburg. He and partner Jay Jay Wilson recently took control of KPAL with plans to beef up programming for youths and seniors.

Matros, a two-sport athlete and honor student, was tabbed by Ginsburg mainly because of a family connection. But Matros has been a pleasant surprise. Sports Scene has become a popular, if not spicy, show since Matros started inviting players from other teams as in-studio guests.

“At first it was just another thing to put on my college application,” said Matros, who aspires to be a sports agent rather than a sportscaster. “But it’s interesting. Visiting with all these guys, I’m building camaraderie and bringing the community together.”

For Golden League players, viewing is practically required.

“I don’t know if they watch it for bulletin-board material or they’re looking to put a hit out on me,” said Matros, who has discovered Thursdays in the studio can be more wild than Friday nights on the field.

But on the eve of league openers, Matros set a spirited tone.

“This is the week when you stop talking the talk and start walking the walk,” he said.

A caller identifying himself as Highland quarterback Camy Smith, a previous studio guest, called in to pose a question to Matros’ guests--Tony Walker and Sal Medina of Antelope Valley.

“How do you think you guys are going to score against us?” the caller asked.

Walker and Medina paused, knowing Antelope Valley has scored plenty against Highland over the years, and diplomatically said they would try to run the ball.

The two fielded several questions from Matros, who showed a keen knowledge of their team. Walker and Medina also handled their share of prank calls.

Until this week, when KPAL upgraded its equipment and moved to a bigger site, the station did not have a five-second delay or a censoring device.

Profane remarks by a couple of callers were included in last week’s telecast.

Medina didn’t mind the flack, however. He considered it an honor to be on the program and he left the studio with greater respect for Matros, who navigates through the show without the aid of a teleprompter or cue cards.

“It’s a nice experience to see . yourself on TV,” Medina said. “[Matros] gives good views and he doesn’t put anyone down. He’s like a small celebrity.”

Indeed, Matros often can’t go out in public without being recognized.

“At the mall, I bump into a lot of players from other teams,” he said. “They like the show.”

But Matros has no plans to be another Rick Garcia, a former Quartz Hill quarterback who is a sports anchor on Channel 11, the local Fox affiliate.

This is volunteer community service for Matros. The only payoff is it should enhance his application to USC if his 4.0 grade-point average fails to carry him through.

With football and wrestling topping off a heavy academic load that consists of college-level government, psychology and English, as well as honors anatomy and physics, Matros has little time to devote to the show.

But he reads the newspapers daily and benefits from a keen memory.

“I can tell you that the running back for Harvard-Westlake is Sam Hornblower and the leading rusher in the area is Justin Fargas of Notre Dame,” Matros said. “I read it and I just suck it all in.”

His knowledge of sports goes beyond high school, too. Walker and Medina looked astonished when Matros offered quick and in-depth responses to callers’ queries about Heisman Trophy candidates and the World Series.

“Matt is a sports encyclopedia,” Ginsburg said.