Raider Moves Enough to Make Your Toes Curl

Consider how much follow-up fanfare there would have been in the newspaper today had it been team owner Michael Ovitz at the podium Monday afternoon to make the ESPN-televised announcement that the Los Angeles Stars’ first selection in the NFL expansion draft was former USC tackle Tony Boselli.

Or imagine the buzz at work today had Al Davis won his lawsuit last summer freeing his team to return, everyone waking up Monday to learn Los Angeles Raider Coach Jon Gruden had left to take a job in Tampa.

Instead we got eight pages of Olympic coverage today and Plaschke doing a column on curling.

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THE NFL might not be in Los Angeles, but Sunday San Francisco Coach Steve Mariucci was in Beverly Hills, where Edward Glazer--son of Buccaneer owner Malcolm Glazer--maintains a home and office, to discuss becoming Tampa Bay’s new coach and general manager.

When I called Tampa to inquire why the team’s executive VP makes his home and works here, the Bucs’ publicity director became extremely agitated and wanted to know if I was suggesting the Bucs were thinking about moving to L.A.

I hadn’t given that any thought, although I’ve heard the Glazers are trying to sell their team. But now that I am thinking about it, wouldn’t you like to see the look on Davis’ face if Gruden returned to L.A. walking the sidelines in a new Hollywood Park Stadium that was originally planned for the Raiders?

By the way, the same 99 acres adjacent to the race track that had been set aside for a new stadium for the Raiders eight years ago remain unsold. There have been inquiries--as recently as last week--from investors interested in buying the land to build a football stadium here. But R.D. Hubbard, who is overseeing the sale, said he expects the land to be sold in the next two weeks for a retail complex.

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OVITZ HAD said he would deliver a football team to L.A., and today would have been a big day. Of course, he had also promised to introduce me to Lara Flynn Boyle and Salma Hayek, and I had to do that myself. I called him Monday to find out what he was doing while Texan owner Robert McNair announced the selection of Boselli and to remind him he had failed to deliver Boyle and Hayek.

“I think about it a lot, and it’s painful,” he said, and I told him to get over it; Boyle, Hayek and I are now old chums.

“I’m talking about the football team,” he said. “I still have interest in getting a football team for L.A., but I’m not sure that feeling is shared by a lot of other people.”

Ovitz was a guest of NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue at the Super Bowl--I presume because he helped jack up the price for the expansion franchise that went to Houston--and said he has come to the conclusion, “There’s just too much apathy here to make this happen.”

I didn’t have the heart to tell him I really wasn’t listening.

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WITHOUT FOOTBALL, though, some of the best stories are happening elsewhere. The last-minute shift from Mariucci to Gruden, for example, was a stunner.

Gruden used to work in the kitchen at Hooters in Tampa, so it’s understandable why he was so interested in going back there.

But why would the Raiders allow him to leave?

The Raiders, never known for being responsive or forthcoming, were in a rush to be both Monday in explaining Gruden in December was offered a $9.5-million three-year contract extension-- that Gruden declined to accept.

In typical Raider fashion, they failed to mention what was in small print. They were insisting on another three-year commitment beyond the three-year extension, but refusing to guarantee it if he was dismissed before the end of the deal.

He signed a guaranteed $17.5-million five-year deal with Tampa.

Gruden has been at odds with Davis for some time, which probably speaks to the Raiders’ success the last few years. Davis fired Mike Shanahan, and Shanahan went on to win Super Bowls in Denver. Defensive coordinator John Fox quit because of Davis’ mettlesome ways and is now head coach of Carolina.

The next head coach of the Raiders will be the same head coach the Raiders have had for decades--Al Davis.

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IT’S PROBABLY going to be more difficult than ever to prop up some puppet to stand-in for Davis a la Mike White and Joe Bugel.

This is a concern, because a very important golf match has become a tradition the last three years on the first day of the NFL owners’ annual March meetings. Coliseum GM Pat Lynch and I have taken on Raider GM Bruce Allen and the team’s head coach--with the winners claiming the football rights to Los Angeles.

The last three years Allen has teamed with Gruden, which explains why the Raiders are still in Oakland. Maybe his golf game will improve in Tampa.

Since it really doesn’t matter who is coaching the Raiders, I suggested Allen get in contact with James Bum Garner, although I wouldn’t ask Ovitz to help with introductions. Bum’s a logical choice, given his experience walking the Raider sidelines when they played here, and the fact he’s used to taking direction.

Anyone who has watched his new TV show about the Supreme Court knows he’ll be available soon, and I’ve seen him swing a golf club....

Besides, Plaschke has convinced me we need a curling franchise.

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T.J. Simers can be reached at t.j.simers@latimes.com.