Rams and Raiders Make It a Big Day

Here is how a heavy-duty NFL draft went down Sunday in Southern California, home of the 300-and-a-quarter-pounder whoppers.

It began on a Malibu morning with the bulletin that run-for-bucks running back Eric Dickerson not only was about to become a Raider, but was willing to take a cut in pay. Stop the presses.

Then came more big news.

Accent on the big.

Choosing third, the Rams drafted Sean Gilbert, an extra-extra-large defensive end--accent on the end--out of Pittsburgh who said he currently goes around 320 pounds.

The Rams’ phone rang.

It was Don Shula of the Miami Dolphins, whose team would pick seventh and 12th.

Shula said Miami would take Troy Vincent, a cornerback from Wisconsin, with the seventh pick. “We’ll trade you Vincent and the 12th pick for Gilbert,” Shula proposed.

No, thanks, said the Rams.

They decided to hang one of those OVERSIZED LOAD signs on Gilbert and hang onto him.

Pro Football Weekly’s scouting assessment of draft prospects said of Gilbert: “He looked like King Kong in shoulder pads.”

Already having made bigger news, the Raiders quickly tried to one-up the Rams by drafting a bigger human.

Selecting 16th, they chose Chester McGlockton, one of those hundred-sandwich-eatin’ football players from Clemson, the school that must have college football’s greatest cafeteria.

William (the Refrigerator) Perry also went to Clemson, where new meaning has been brought to “heavily recruited.”

Listed at 330 pounds, McGlockton must go more like 350. Art Shell could hide behind Chester at practice and never be seen. His shoulders are so wide, when the left one is in El Segundo, the right one will be in Hermosa Beach.

The McGlockton report of ESPN analyst Mel Kiper Jr. called them “the widest shoulders these eyes have ever seen.”

Well, by the time it was San Diego’s turn to land a defensive lineman, toward the end of the first round, you half-expected the Chargers to draft the NFL’s first 400-pounder, if only to have California’s largest rookie.

Instead, the Chargers went for Chris (Too Slim) Mims, who must not have gotten enough to eat when he played junior college ball at Pierce in Woodland Hills and Southwest L.A.

A mere 263 pounds, Mims should have spent more time stuffing his face in his dorm room at the University of Tennessee instead of shooting off fireworks, which got him suspended for the ’91 season opener.

Meanwhile, in another part of California, the Rams’ phone rang again.

This time it was Georgia Frontiere, the owner, calling from New York, about to board a ferry leaving Ellis Island.

From there, perhaps Frontiere could see the Statue of Liberty’s offer of welcome to “your tired, your poor, your huddled masses.” Since football players are huddled masses, Frontiere volunteered to welcome one.

“Who did we get?” she asked.

“Sean Gilbert,” the boss was told. “He’s over at the Marriott.”

“Great. I’ll go say hello,” said Frontiere, who had to grab a cab to a dinner at the Waldorf anyway.

She had received an award along with a mixed assortment of distinguished Americans that included Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf, George Steinbrenner, “Roots” author Alex Haley (posthumously), TV’s Phil Donahue and baseball’s Johnny Bench, all of whom accompanied her to Ellis Island.

Frontiere went to the NFL draft headquarters hotel and said hello to ner newest Ram and also to his mother, to whom Sean Gilbert credited both his appetite and his speed.

“She used to chase me around the house,” Gilbert quipped.

In younger, leaner days, Gilbert rumbled 70 yards with a fumble and 47 yards with an interception for touchdowns in high school in Aliquippa, Pa.

Then there is this sudden Raider penchant for employing former Ram running backs, now that Dickerson is going the Greg Bell route. If the Raiders sign Robert Delpino in 1993, you will know Al Davis is up to something.

In his life, Dickerson has never made a niftier cutback than the one he made in announcing that he will take a pay cut to play in L.A.

As a reward, the Raiders went right out and got Eric an offensive lineman in the second round, Greg Skrepenak from Michigan, who once weighed as much as 360 pounds but reportedly has wasted away to something like 319.

Skrepenak already has his nickname for rookie camp. “Skinny.”

Ram Draft Picks

Round Player Position School 1. Sean Gilbert DL Pittsburgh 2. Steve Israel DB Pittsburgh 3. Mark Boutte DL LSU 3. Todd Kinchen WR Washington 4. Shawn Harper OL Indiana 5. Chris Crooms DB Texas A&M;

Raider Draft Picks

Round Player Position School 1. Chester McGlockton DT Clemson 2. Greg Skrepenak OL Michigan 3. Derrick Hoskins DB Southern Mississippi