THE NFL / BILL PLASCHKE : Chuck the Sideline Boors, Knox Is Our Kind of Guy

Chuck Knox watches football games in a living room now, with a remote control at his feet and grandchildren in his lap.

He knows how to work the kids, to use those giant hands to gently hug and tickle.

But for an old coach removed from the game for the first time in 50 years, the remote control is not so easy.

“I had to leave early for work, so my wife sat in there with him and showed him how to use it,” said Dr. Mike Norman, his son-in-law who had Knox at his Redlands home on the first long Sunday of the season.

“I think he finally figured it out,” Norman said. “I know he watched games all night.”

One of the early games involved the St. Louis Rams, and Chuck Knox cheered.

Last winter the Rams had escorted him from the premises as if he were an intruder, as if he had wandered into a era where he no longer belonged. Still, he cheered.

You knew he would.

Another game involved the Seattle Seahawks, another former employer that should cause Knox’s stomach to churn. Again, he cheered.

“I never had trouble with anybody, I don’t wish bad things on anybody,” Knox said. “Everywhere I left, it was on good terms. No hard feelings for anybody. Why be like that?”

Maybe because everybody else is like that?

Sam Wyche of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers rips opposing coaches. Tom Coughlin of the Jacksonville Jaguars is continually at open war with his players.

Mike White of the Raiders breaks league rules by refusing to talk to the media. Buddy Ryan of the Arizona Cardinals recently referred to his players as “a bunch of dead guys.”

The coach in Minnesota is battling sexual harassment allegations. The coach of the New England Patriots publicly taunts star rookies after games.

Knox was never like that, like any of them. He never publicly criticized a player or a colleague. He never caused a sideline scene.

He was terrible copy. He was as much of a sound bite as that chair.

He was never the morning news. He was the football coach.

For 22 years, his style was ridiculed.

But now that he is gone--now that nearly everyone like him is gone--the NFL sidelines are increasingly lacking in decorum and integrity.

Knox is missed.

He might not have always called plays or handled players like an ideal coach. But he always behaved like one.

He behaves like one still.

“He’s not bitter toward anyone. . . . It’s amazing,” Norman said.

Knox is spending his first year out of football in half a century as if he won’t be gone for long.

In the mornings, he takes long walks near his Orange County home to stay in shape.

“No, I don’t wear headphones,” he said. “How can you do that and think?”

He watches football tapes in the afternoon. He talks on the phone with former coaches throughout the day and night.

The only time he is agitated is when he listens to NFL announcers live--for the first time in his adult life--and picks up obvious mistakes.

“The other day I listened to somebody say that a defense just dogged, sent the linebackers after the quarterback, but then they said that same defense was playing a zone,” Knox said. “Blitzing with a zone?”

He paused. “But hey, it’s show business.”

And he is not.

He can be difficult to reach these days because his Palm Springs home, where he spends much of the winter, does not have an answering machine.

He is also thrilled that people still recognize him throughout Southern California. Many still tentatively approach him for his autograph.

He wants them to know it’s OK.

“I sign, and I don’t even charge,” he said.

The word around the league is that Knox and a group of investors could one day be prepared to buy the Seahawks. Once there, Knox, 63, would be a nice fit as a general manager.

The writers would hate him. The players wouldn’t always understand him.

But the game could use him.

WHITE MEAT

Did anybody else catch the delicious irony of the doings at the Oakland Raider camp this week?

Under probable orders from boss Al Davis, Raider Coach Mike White broke league rules and damaged his reputation by refusing to answer any questions about Sunday’s game against the Kansas City Chiefs.

The reason? Davis was worried that too many people would ask questions about Art Shell, Chief offensive line coach and former Raider head coach who was treated shabbily when fired last spring.

Among other things, Shell was forced to grovel to lawyer Amy Trask before Davis would pay him any portion of the final year’s $750,000 salary he was owed.

So White bit the bullet to protect Davis from facing the fact that he treats his head coaches like dirt.

As if White won’t soon feel the back of that same shovel.

Wake up, Mike. As certainly as Davis claims that he made you--and you can bet he is saying that behind your back--he will also destroy you.

Stand up to him now, while you’re winning. Or be his pull-toy forever.

NAME GAME

With Reggie White, the New England Patriots’ new defensive tackle, actually playing decently--”He could be all right,” Coach Bill Parcells said in a somewhat amazed tone--the time has come for:

THE ALL OTHER-GUY TEAM

Tony Bennett, defensive end, Indianapolis Colts: Too often leaves his heart in the locker room.

James Brown, tackle, New York Jets: Can’t feel good while sitting the bench for a team that hasn’t won a game since last November.

Mark Carrier, safety, Chicago Bears, and Mark Carrier, receiver, Carolina Panthers: Our problem here is, which one is the other guy?

Eric Davis, cornerback, San Francisco 49ers: Not afraid to make the easy play look hard. Does that remind you of anyone?

Henry Ford, defensive end, Houston Oilers: After a terrible rookie season, he’s pounding his way into the luxury class with the league’s top-rated defense.

Michael Jackson, receiver, Cleveland Browns: An underrated thriller.

Eddie Murray, kicker, Washington Redskins: Two weeks ago he kicked his 300th field goal. And he talks.

Sherman Williams, running back, Dallas Cowboys: When he grows tired of sitting the bench, one supposes he can always paint it.

Reggie White, defensive tackle, Patriots: Autograph-seeking fans still mail him football cards of the other Reggie White. What are they, blind?

GO FIGURE

* The Miami Dolphins have decided that the only way to win a Super Bowl is to behave like an NFC East team, so last Sunday Dan Marino threw fewer passes--20--than he has in any full game in 15 years.

* Once a Raider, always a . . . Ferric Collons, a New England defensive end whose penalty gave the Dolphins an important first down early in last week’s game, is playing for his fifth team since the end of last season.

He was released by the Raiders, released by Jacksonville for fighting, signed by Atlanta, traded to Green Bay, then traded to the

Patriots.

* Relocation update: When owner Ken Behring bought the Seahawks in 1988, they had sold all 62,000 season tickets and had a 30,000-name waiting list.

This year they have sold 46,000 season tickets with, obviously, no waiting list.

Nothing like having 46,000 fans simply lose interest.

* The expansion Jacksonville Jaguars and Carolina Panthers have combined to record 47 first downs.

The Cowboys, 49ers and Colts each have recorded more first downs.

* The Panthers, with two rookies and three wanna-bes in their offensive line, have lost 100 yards in sacks.

That is more than the yardage lost by the Cowboys, Chiefs, Browns, Patriots, Bears, Buffalo Bills, Arizona Cardinals and New York Jets combined.

* A clause was written into San Francisco safety Tim McDonald’s contract rewarding him with a $650,000 bonus if he returned two interceptions for touchdowns this season.

He earned that bonus in the first two weeks.

* One of the more intriguing aspects of this weekend’s game between the Cowboys and Minnesota Vikings will occur on the sidelines.

Jerry Jones, Cowboy owner, is trying to change the way the league rules on sharing of merchandising revenue.

Roger Headrick, president of the Vikings, is chairman of the league committee that determines and enforces those merchandising rules.

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QUICK KICKS

* HE’S EVERYWHERE: Dallas Cowboy quarterback Troy Aikman thought the furor over the hiring of Deion Sanders had died until he stepped outside the locker room after the Cowboys’ victory over Denver on Sunday and . . . encountered his 7-year-old niece wearing a Deion do-rag, and a 3-year-old nephew wearing Neon Deion sneakers.

“Just when I thought it was safe to go back into the water,” Aikman said. “I guess I better get used to it.”

* ADD DEION: Was anyone surprised that within a week of the Sanders deal, Emmitt Smith was saying he expects his contract to be renegotiated?

Smith, who will make barely more in four years ($13.6 million) than Sanders was given as a signing bonus ($12.999 million), will be asking for something that Jerry Jones cannot give him under the salary cap.

So because Sanders has arrived, Smith is gone. It is that simple.

The only question is whether Jones will try to trade him next summer or let him remain on the team and whine his way through the last year of his contract in 1996.

* NEW MATH: The Arizona Cardinal coaching staff credited its defense with making 79 tackles against the Washington Redskins in the first week of the season.

Problem was, the Redskins ran only 69 plays.