CALLER 1: I heard the Raiders tried to hire John Madden and are going back for glory. What’s the deal with trying to hire Art Shell again? Don’t they know he’s washed up anyway? Thanks.
GREEN PHONE: Well, Caller 1, the best (and maybe the only) thing going for the Raiders is their glorious past. The team has been flailing in recent years and clearly needs much better leadership. While Madden would certainly be at the top of many teams’ lists should he express a desire to coach again, he certainly wouldn’t want to bring the Cruiser anywhere near the team’s Alameda headquarters. Do you blame him? With Davis at the helm, very few experienced head coaches will accept a job in which they know they won’t truly have the final call of on-field decisions. With that in mind, Shell seems about the ideal candidate for the job. He is Mr. Raider, having entered the Hall of Fame after starring on the team’s offensive line and having manned the head coaching position before. The Gruden Era excepted, Shell’s tenure brought the last hint of the old glory days to the organization. While it’s tough to project immediate success for Oakland, with salary-cap nightmares only the latest problem, Shell will at least command the players’ respect. Given the few alternatives, he was the right choice.
CALLER 2: I was just wondering if you guys were going to publish the girls and the boys All-League selections in the paper. I hadn’t seen it, so if you guys can put the All-League selections in the paper, I’d appreciate it. Thanks. Bye.
GREEN PHONE: We know you called before we ran them, Caller 2, but check out your Tuesday, March 7th edition of the Free Lance. Or read the re-cap at www.freelancenews.com. The All-TCAL rosters weren’t released simultaneously, so we waited until we could package them together to do a bit of a winter sports wrap.
CALLER 3: The reason why I’m calling is because I would like to say I think the Hollister Free Lance should put in more golf and do a whole golf section in sports. Local golf tips with Steve Janisch and Pat Larkins were good because I thought those articles were very interesting. You know, with local golf, I think more people would go out more for local golf. I hope to see local golf in the Hollister Free Lance. Thanks. Bye.
GREEN PHONE: Duly noted, Caller 3. Check out the stuff on the San Benito boys team in today’s edition. And we tried to give you up-close coverage of Gavilan’s John Ellis as he took on the field at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am last month. As far as a weekly golf page featuring local courses and tips from the pros, the Free Lance has run such sections in the past and will do so again as the weather warms up.
CALLER 4: I just called to say, what’s with the black and white sports section? It’s always been color, and now you’re going back to black and white!? What’s the deal, don’t you know that color looks better? Brighten it up!
GREEN PHONE: We couldn’t agree more, Caller 4. Color is better. Otherwise, the Green Phone can’t fully live up to its name! The colorless sports sections you’ve seen in the past couple of weeks weren’t done that way by choice. A press malfunction left black and white as the only option. But, as you can see by today’s edition, that problem has been fixed and the Free Lance sports section is back to printing in color.
