Griese Working Through Tough Times

Bob Griese appeared to always have it made.

He was a star quarterback at Purdue. He was a star with the Miami Dolphins, leading them to a 17-0 season in 1972 and consecutive Super Bowl victories. And now Griese, who will work Saturday’s USC-UCLA telecast with Keith Jackson, is ABC’s star college football commentator.

But, as we all know, nobody’s life is perfect.

Griese’s wife, Judy, died last February. She had breast cancer for 5 years, and then late last year, the cancer spread to her liver. She died 4 months later, leaving 3 sons.

Last season, when it was discovered that Judy’s cancer had spread, Griese missed a couple of assignments, then went back to work.

“It was very difficult,” he said from his home in Miami before flying to Los Angeles. “You try to do your work, but subconsciously you’re always aware of it, because it’s more important than anything you’re doing.”

Griese said his wife’s illness was hardest on his oldest son, Scott, a sophomore at the University of Virginia.

“Scott had to be away at school,” he said. “The other two saw every day what was going on, but Scott couldn’t be here. I’d call him to let him know what was going on, but it wasn’t the same.”

Griese’s two other sons are Jeff, a senior in high school, and Brian, an eighth-grader. Griese has a housekeeper to help with the kids.

“They’re doing fine, they really are,” Griese said. “My father died of a heart attack when I was 10, and I turned to sports and athletics. And that’s what my sons have done.”

Scott is a walk-on defensive back at Virginia, and Jeff is a linebacker-running back for his high school team.

“Because of me, they purposely stayed away from playing quarterback,” Griese said. “But Brian said, ‘To heck with that.’ He’s the quarterback of his eighth-grade team. And a pretty good one.”

Like any good commentator, Griese prepares extensively. He says he approaches his assignments in much the way he approached games when he was a quarterback.

Sound familiar? That’s what CBS commentator Dan Fouts was quoted as saying in this space last week. It’s not just a coincidence.

They were both outstanding quarterbacks because of preparation and intelligence as much as natural ability. And they are both outstanding football commentators.

Pat Haden of CBS fits into the same category. Joe Namath is at the other end of the spectrum--a natural athlete, a bad announcer.

Name and number game: On Thursday morning’s Rick Dees show, KIIS-FM sportscaster Charleye Wright gave out a room number at St. Mary’s Hospital in Long Beach for Rodney Peete, as well as two names Peete was using, Willie Jackson and Steve Brown. Peete was there being treated for measles.

This didn’t set too well with some people at USC, but Wright said: “To my knowledge, he had moved from room 411 the night before and was using a third name. No way would I have given out his actual room number or the actual name he was using.”

Assist, Daniels: The Kings are hot, and you can thank Wayne Gretzky for that. You can also thank Prime Ticket owner Bill Daniels for helping bring Gretzky to Los Angeles.

Without Daniels and Prime Ticket, there would have been no trade. Daniels, speaking at a pay-per-view seminar in Los Angeles this week, told a reporter about his role in the trade.

“Bruce McNall called me and said he was with Gretzky, and he needed my help (financially) in making the trade,” Daniels said. “I don’t know a thing about hockey, so I said, ‘Well, I’ll have to think about it.’ Bruce said, ‘OK, I’ll call you back in 10 minutes.’ Nothing like giving a guy a lot of time.”

Anyway, Daniels said yes, agreeing to pay McNall a yearly rights fee of about $2.28 million a year, an increase of $760,000.

It had previously been agreed that the number of Prime Ticket telecasts would be increased from 37 regular-season games to 60.

Add Daniels: After making the deal with McNall, he wasn’t sure he had done the right thing. A few days later, in mid-August, Daniels, who lives in Denver, went out to dinner with Bronco owner Pat Bowlen.

“Pat is Canadian and knows more about hockey than he does football,” Daniels said. “So I asked him, ‘How good is Gretzky?’

“He said, ‘You know how good Magic Johnson and John Elway are in their sports. Just double that.’ ”

Last add Daniels: He and Jerry Buss’ former wife, Joanne, are the Lakers’ only two minority owners. Daniels owns 5%, acquired when he and Buss formed Prime Ticket in 1984.

Daniels and Buss were 50-50 partners in Prime Ticket, but Daniels became the majority owner of Prime Ticket on July 1, acquiring 83% of the company and leaving Buss with the other 17%.

Why the buyout?

“Jerry was a great partner, but we think differently,” Daniels said. “To put it simply, Jerry is a cash guy, I’m an assets guy.”

Buss was concerned because the company wasn’t turning a profit. But that doesn’t bother Daniels, who said the company will lose $4 1/2 million in 1988-89.

“Our losses can more than be made up in years to come,” Daniels said. “We can’t do things cheap and dirty.”

Daniels said the losses are the result of additional hires, among them a new president, John Severino; construction of new offices in West Los Angeles; program acquisitions, and improved production.

Baseball beat: Jay Johnstone has been hired as a New York Yankees radio announcer. Tommy Hutton and the popular Hank Greenwald are out because of new management at radio station WABC. Hutton is job-hunting, and Greenwald, who is loved in the Bay Area, is going back to the San Francisco Giants.

Greenwald will replace Ron Fairly, who will go from play-by-play announcer to commentator. Wayne Hagin, the former commentator, is out. Most San Francisco fans probably would have voted to drop Fairly, the former Angel announcer who has been hammered by the media up north.

Don Sutton, who is applying all over the country for a baseball announcing job, is one of four candidates for a TV commentator’s job with the Milwaukee Brewers.

The Brewers switched channels, and Mike Hegan did not have his contract renewed, but he is said to be one of the candidates. Another is former pitcher Pete Vuckovich.

TV-Radio Notes

A mediocre pro football Sunday will follow the best college football Saturday of the year. There will be no Ram or Raider telecasts, because both are home, and neither is sold out. The CBS game is Phoenix-Houston at 10 a.m., with Verne Lundquist and Terry Bradshaw, another quarterback who has become an outstanding commentator. The NBC game is Denver-New Orleans at 1 p.m., with Dick Enberg and Merlin Olsen, who, for some strange reason, haven’t been seen much in Los Angeles this season. The Monday night game is a good one, Washington at San Francisco. . . . The Rams, whose game with New Orleans last Sunday went directly against the Raiders and San Francisco, won the Los Angeles ratings battle, 12.5 to 9.1. . . . Bob Costas and Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda will be reunited Monday when Lasorda appears as a guest on “Later With Bob Costas” at 1:30 a.m. . . . Ted Turner’s new TNT network has made a deal to televise soccer’s 1990 World Cup.