The Spirit of Wild Raiders Past Lives in the Body of Bob Golic

OXNARD â€”  Tired of being mistaken for Lyle Alzado, Raider nose tackle Bob Golic struck back.

Golic stole Alzado’s stall in the locker room and wore Alzado’s jersey to practice.

“I formed the Golic Liberation Front for the capture of Alzado’s locker,� Golic said. “I’m going to get a T-shirt made up and on the front it will say, ‘I’m not Lyle Alzado,’ and on the back it will say, ‘but I hope to be when I get older.’ �

Like Alzado, Golic often camps on the edge of reality.

“Bob has a few screws loose in his head, but anybody who’s going to play nose guard in the NFL has to be crazy,� Raider linebacker Jerry Robinson said.

Said Howie Long: “Bob’s the biggest ham I’ve ever seen in my entire life. He’d talk to a wall if it had a note pad on it.�

Asked if he would be able to adjust to Southern California after spending most of his life in Cleveland, Golic said, “Yes, because I tan well.�

Asked why he became a nose tackle, Golic calls it evolution. “First I was an upright, thinking linebacker, then I became a four-legged nose tackle playing in the mud,� Golic said.

Raider Coach Art Shell thinks Golic would have fit in perfectly with the Raiders of old.

“He’s from the old Raider mold,� Shell said. “He’s a character. I could imagine him and Ted Hendricks and Dave Dalby at the same time. It would have been unbelievable.�

Golic appreciates Shell’s comments.

“That’s the biggest compliment I’ve ever had,� Golic said. “I know the type of players they were. They played the game aggressively, and you can’t play that way unless you love the game.�

Golic was a fixture with the Browns, making the Pro Bowl three times in seven seasons. But Cleveland let him go as a Plan B free agent last year because he didn’t fit into the plans of new Coach Bud Carson, who planned to install a four-man defensive front.

The Raiders quickly signed Golic to a two-year, $1.25-million contract and Golic repaid them by leading the team’s defensive linemen in tackles.

Did Golic feel he had something to prove last season?

“Any time somebody loses faith in you, you want to prove, if only to yourself, that you can still play,� Golic said. “I got my confidence back last year.�

Golic worked even harder to prepare for the upcoming season.

He resumed his daily weightlifting sessions three days after the end of last season and increased to twice-daily workouts before training camp.

The Raiders respect Golic for his work ethic.

“Unless he’s in a cast, you can count on Bob Golic being out there on the field,� Robinson said.

Golic learned that work ethic from his father, Robert, who played seven seasons in the Canadian Football League, playing both ways at tackle.

Football runs in Golic’s family.

Brother Mike, 27, is a defensive tackle for the Philadelphia Eagles and brother Greg, 25, played offensive tackle at Notre Dame, but a back injury ended his career.

At 6 feet 2 and 280 pounds, Bob is the shortest of the bunch. Mike is 6-5, 275; Greg is 6-8, 285, and Robert was 6-3, 265 when he played.

“I don’t think we had a door on the refrigerator,� Golic said. “It was pretty interesting watching us eat. Mom would cook and make tremendous amounts of food and we’d just eat. And then we’d ask to be excused from the table and we’d go and make sandwiches.�

Golic’s father didn’t push him into football.

“When I was 10, my dad asked me to promise him that I’d walk away from football the day I stopped having fun,� Golic said. “As a 10-year-old I said, ‘Sure Dad.’ But as a grown-up, or close to it, I think back on those words and that’s pretty much the way I’ve been my whole career.�

Football is still fun for Golic, 32.

“It’s kind of scary because I’m going into my 12th year, and I can’t see a time when I can’t enjoy playing this game,� Golic said. “I know I won’t be ready to leave this game when it’s ready to leave me.

“I’m going to be in therapy after I’m through. I’m going to need some professional counseling because it’s not going to be an easy transition for me.�

Golic may become an actor after football. He already has some acting credits.

Golic played an executioner in a Cleveland Opera production of “Turandot,� but complained that he didn’t get to sing.

Golic also had a small part in “The Taking of Beverly Hills,� which was filmed during the off-season.

“They needed a guy who looked like a football player at a postgame charity fund-raising party,� Golic said. “So I had to stretch to get into that character. They asked me to act like I’d had a few beers. I’m thinking, ‘Wow, I don’t know if I can do this.’

“But hopefully I won’t have to (become an actor) too soon, because I’d like to play another three or four years.�

Raider Notes

Coach Art Shell said that Steve Beuerlein’s contract dispute has cost him his job as the Raiders’ starting quarterback. “Right now Jay Schroeder is the starting quarterback,� Shell said. “Steve is behind right now. He’s missed a lot of time in training camp. If we had to open the season right now and he came in here, Jay Schroeder would be our starting quarterback.� Although Beuerlein says he’s eager to get into camp, his agent, Ralph Cindrich, said there has been no progress in negotiations. . . . Guard Newt Harrell injured the medial collateral ligament in his right knee in practice and will undergo surgery to determine the extent of the injury. Harrell, who had just recovered from an ankle sprain, was a backup behind Steve Wisniewski. “Before he got the ankle sprain he was having a good camp,� Shell said. “He was just starting to come around and all of a sudden . . . boom.�