FITTING RIGHT IN : Even Tim Brown Has a Little Bit of Raider in Him

Once, he rooted for America’s team, attended Notre Dame, became an All-American and won a Heisman Trophy, too, but you know what your mother said can happen if you don’t watch out. That’s right, the dark side of the force claimed him.

You guessed it. He’s Tim Brown, they’re the Raiders.

Their fourth Heisman winner arrived for Tuesday’s start of rookie camp but it didn’t seem like such a mismatch. At his introductory press conference, Brown showed the confidence of a lion tamer, described a controversial incident in which he was alleged to have beaten up an opponent in his final college game, and suggested that the Raiders would have to pay him top dollar.

Raider officials must have been winking and nudging each other in the ribs: You see? He’s really one of us.

Raider inside, Raider inside, every single one of us, a Raider inside.

Brown, of course, lasted until the sixth pick of the draft, when the Raiders gratefully claimed him, but let’s not forget who the No. 1 player really is. Top pick Aundray Bruce? Not in this lifetime, nor this bailiwick.

Tim Brown says it’s Tim Brown.

“Well, I think that is, without a doubt, true,” Tim Brown said. “You look on everybody’s list and I was the No. 1 player rated.

“I think we’re going to treat it like that going into negotiations.”

Actually, they’ve already started treating it like that.

“My agent did a good job of getting me here,” Brown said.

How?

“I think he just talked to them (the five teams drafting ahead of the Raiders) and said, ‘Hey, do you really want to do this? Do you really want to pay him the kind of money he wants?’

“And I think that pretty much scared a lot of teams off. I don’t know exactly what happened. I just told him I want to play for the Raiders--and here I am.”

Brown said his agent, Marv Demoff, also talked to Al Davis, so the Raiders presumably have an idea of the going rate for Heisman holders. Brown said that Davis and Demoff are friendly, and hopes there will be no holdout.

Since more than 90% of the No. 1 picks have been holdouts in recent seasons, we will know that when it’s time to go to camp in July.

This is only a mini-camp, which players can attend without signing, and learn which end is up, and in Brown’s case, start to deal with expectations.

Of course, any Heisman winner is a veteran of the expectations front. Brown managed to win his while playing wide receiver for a team with a quarterback problem and a vestigial passing attack, resulting in unsensational numbers--39 receptions, though he averaged 21 yards a catch--leaving him open to attack when he dropped several passes in a nationally televised game at Miami.

Then came the Cotton Bowl incident, when his halo got scuffed up. These popularity contests can take a lot out of you.

“It was difficult when it came down to the end because I thought I was getting a lot of undue criticism,” Brown said.

“People who’d spent 10 weeks building me up, calling me the best thing since cotton candy, after one bad game, all of a sudden I’m the bad guy.”

More badness awaited. After a kickoff return in the Cotton Bowl, a Texas A&M; player made off with the towel Brown had tucked into his pants.

Brown went after the player, apprehended him, reclaimed his towel--and made all the TV highlight shows that night.

Brown saw the replay, too, and on several occasions after that.

“Thousands of times,” he said laughing. “Thousands of times. Thousands of times.

“What happened, everybody said it was planned. It was a kickoff return. One guy held me down and one guy took my towel. People thought I jumped on him and started fighting him and hitting him and everything like that--which I didn’t.

“I just jumped on him and threw him to the ground and took my towel. (CBS broadcaster) Brent Musburger really did me in, saying a lot of different things.

“I ask (writers), ‘What would you do if someone came up to you and took your tape recorder out of your hands? Are you going to let him have it? If so, that shows something about you, not me.”

No Raider, of course, is giving up his tape recorder and the tale prompted speculation that the Raiders must have fallen head over heels in love with Tim Brown at that very moment. A wide receiver, 6 feet 2 inches, 195 pounds, runs 40 yards in the 4.3s, gets open deep and beats up Aggies? No price could be too high.

“The bad guy in me coming out?” Brown said, laughing.

“I used to look at the Raiders as one of the mean, nasty teams. Lester Hayes and guys like that. Thank God, he’s gone now.

“I was always with the good guys, so I was hoping the Cowboys (Brown is from Dallas) would beat them.

“I’ve been telling people, I think the Raiders are trying to change their image by drafting me. (Laughing) Everybody knows I’m always the good All-American boy.

“I was kidding the guys today--somebody broke into a fight out on the field. I’m like--that’s not me. I’m definitely going to stay away from that as much as I can. I haven’t made my living fighting and I definitely don’t plan to now.”

That remains to be seen. A Raider’s a Raider for all that.

Raider Notes

The Raiders’ second No. 1 pick, Tennessee cornerback Terry McDaniel, attended the mini-camp but their third No. 1, Illinois defensive end Scott Davis, didn’t. The team said he’s back on campus, taking final exams. . . . McDaniel underwent left shoulder surgery in January, says he’s progressing nicely, but won’t be allowed contact until the real camp in July. . . . Camp switches: the Raiders are trying once-promising, oft-waived halfback Ethan Horton at tight end and former USC halfback Zeph Lee at cornerback.