NFL MEETINGS : A Heads-Up Ruling on Using Radio

By BILL PLASCHKE

March 24, 1994 12 AM PT

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ORLANDO, Fla. — Despite claiming it was not turning football into Star Wars technology, the NFL took a space-age step Wednesday by ruling that a coach-to-quarterback radio would be used on a one-year trial basis beginning this season.

The device will allow a sideline coach to communicate with the quarterback for up to 15 seconds before the start of each play.

The device features a microphone on the coach’s headset and tiny speakers inside the quarterback’s helmet. When the play clock reaches 15 seconds, it will be shut off by an official in the press box. The messages from the coaches will be scrambled with more than 268 million codes.

NFL Notes

The four main realignment ideas proposed by the NFL were released Wednesday. The Rams and Raiders remain in their respective NFC and AFC West Divisions in all scenarios. In two scenarios, Houston is added to the AFC West and Seattle is moved to the NFC West. Also joining the NFC West in different scenarios are Jacksonville, Phoenix or Minnesota.

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Bill Plaschke

Bill Plaschke, an L.A. Times sports columnist since 1996, is a member of the National Sports Media Hall of Fame and California Sports Hall of Fame. He has been named national Sports Columnist of the Year nine times by the Associated Press, and twice by the Society of Professional Journalists and National Headliner Awards. He is the author of six books, including a collection of his columns entitled “Plaschke: Good Sports, Spoilsports, Foul Balls and Oddballs.” Plaschke is also a panelist on the popular ESPN daily talk show, “Around the Horn.” He is in the national Big Brothers/Big Sisters Alumni Hall of Fame and has been named Man of the Year by the Los Angeles Big Brothers/Big Sisters as well as receiving a Pursuit of Justice Award from the California Women’s Law Center. Plaschke has appeared in a movie (“Ali”), a dramatic HBO series (“Luck”) and, in a crowning cultural moment he still does not quite understand, his name can be found in a rap song “Females Welcome” by Asher Roth.

NFL MEETINGS : A Heads-Up Ruling on Using Radio

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