Johnson Is Fan of L.A. Coliseum

SAN DIEGO — Keyshawn Johnson: the miniseries.

It’s impossible to avoid quoting the talkative and opinionated wide receiver, who manages to find new topics to expound upon every day.

Thursday’s topic was why Los Angeles -- where he was born and enjoyed two stellar seasons with USC -- doesn’t have an NFL team and where an L.A.-based team should play if there ever is another.

“It’s sad,” said Johnson, who wore a Joe Montana jersey to the interview session. “L.A. desperately needs football.

“The Coliseum is the only place in L.A. there should be a football team. What would the costs be to fix it up, $200 million or something? People would go. If you go to some of these new ballparks, they’re all in urban areas. People aren’t going to go to Orange County. They’ll go to the Coliseum and Rose Bowl.

“It helps the area. It creates jobs for people.

“In the NFL, players feel more comfortable in urban areas. That’s where I live. I live in Tampa, in downtown Tampa. I don’t live at a nice country club. I live in an urban environment.”

Asked if Oakland wide receiver Tim Brown will be remembered as one of the game’s greatest receivers even if the Raiders lose the Super Bowl, Johnson began another soliloquy.

“I don’t like to use the word ‘great,’ like people say he goes down as one of the greatest because he’s got 1,000 catches,” Johnson said. “Art Monk didn’t have 1,000 catches, but he’s got [Super Bowl] rings. Tim wants a Super Bowl ring, and if he doesn’t get it, I know it’s going to sting and hurt. It took 15 years to get there and I know he ain’t got 15 more.

“ ‘Great’ is used by journalists too much. You guys [reporters] are too quick to say a guy is great. Great, to me, is taking your team to the next level.

“I’m good. I’m going to be, hopefully, after Sunday -- well, not Sunday, but hopefully when my career is over, I’ll be considered great.”

He also said winning a Super Bowl ring by beating the Raiders wouldn’t carry any special weight. “I want to win a ring in general,” he said. “As I said before, I don’t care if it’s against the Cincinnati Bengals if they somehow slip in here on Sunday.”

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Quarterback Brad Johnson credited his sturdy build and down-to-earth attitude to his upbringing in Black Mountain, N.C., where his mother was a school principal and his father ran summer camps for kids.

“I lived on a dirt road up on a mountain, and if it snowed, you had to walk up the mountain,” he said. “If you’re shooting basketball and you missed it you had to retrieve it pretty fast or it was going down the hill.

“I’ve got some big legs, and that’s probably why, climbing those hills.

“Black Mountain is a great town. Actually, [former NBA center] Brad Daugherty was the main guy there, and my whole goal there was to get my jersey framed on the wall with Brad Daugherty’s. And I finally did.”

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Brad Johnson is among the few players who doesn’t want the season to end Sunday because he believes Coach Jon Gruden has helped him improve so much.

“His love for the game is contagious, and all of the things I thought I knew, I’m beginning to understand, as far as what defenses do to you, how you attack them, what they want to do to you, and how to prepare,” Johnson said.

“I always talk about how you see the guy in the [Dunkin’ Donuts] commercial saying, ‘It’s time to make the doughnuts. It’s time to make the doughnuts,’ and he’s got his eyes closed and he’s just trying to get to work. When I wake up I’m ready to go to work and I just can’t get there fast enough.

“I’m excited to hear the guy and learn from him.... It’s late January and I wish we could keep on playing all through February and March and get ready for mini-camp. I love being with the guy. I love learning from him, and I just want to get better as a quarterback.”