GRIESE IS THE WORD; FATHER WILL ANALYZE PLAY OF QB SON IN ROSE BOWL.

Byline: Kevin Modesti Daily News Staff Writer

These days, domestic drama so often is played out in public, the notion of keeping it in the family seems to have been replaced by ``let's tell it to Jerry Springer.'' The talk-show wars that pit sister against sister are only part of it. Not even Buckingham Palace can keep the window shades drawn anymore. So good luck to Kathie Lee Gifford.

In such a world, the father-and-son saga of Bob and Brian Griese looks almost normal. But think about it, this is pretty weird. A family affair that isn't only on TV, it's a product of it.

While Brian is playing quarterback for top-ranked Michigan against Washington State in the Rose Bowl on Thursday, Bob will be in the ABC booth analyzing the game next to Keith Jackson. So much for the disinterested reporter.

Broadcasting Michigan games, and thus being asked to assess his boy's performance with some degree of detachment, is a role Bob has filled five times already this season but hasn't gotten used to yet.

``It's been a magical year for him and Michigan. As a parent, I was thrilled to see five of the games,'' Bob said this week. ``As a broadcaster, it was a little harder.''

As fully functional as this family appears, it's a situation odd enough for Jenny Jones. Bob will be the proudest guy in Pasadena if Brian leads the Wolverines to their first national championship in 50 years. But Bob will be the one guy who can't say how proud he is. It isn't in the job description.

After the game, Bob might have to interview Brian. It happened after the Ohio State game, and Brian admitted, ``I couldn't really answer his questions seriously.''

Until 1996, the network wouldn't let Griese and Jackson call Michigan games. ``ABC decided there might be a perception of unfairness,'' Griese said.

Then, last fall, the pair was sent to the Michigan-Ohio State game, in which Brian wasn't expected to play. An injury to Wolverines starter Scott Dreisbach forced Brian into the lineup in the second quarter.

Brian led a come-from-behind victory. Bob offered muted praise and showed his bosses he could handle the ticklish assignment.

At first, he referred to ``Griese'' or ``the Michigan quarterback.'' Now, he'll call him ``Brian'' but he'll call the other quarterback by his first name too.

``You have to temper what you say about the good things he does,'' Bob said. ``If he does something bad, you call a spade a spade. Brian understands the position I'm in and the way I have to handle it.

``Fortunately, there's never been a game where Brian really had a bad game. He's kind of made it easy on me.''

Efficiency is the key for Brian, as it was for Bob, a Rose Bowl-winning quarterback for Purdue in 1967 and a Super Bowl-winning quarterback for the Miami Dolphins in the '70s.

The important statistic isn't Brian's 14 touchdown passes or 2,042 yards but his 63 percent completions and his five intercepted passes. He is the sixth quarterback in Michigan history to throw for 4,000 yards in a career - three of the first five played in the NFL - but he did it quietly.

Michigan's defense gets most of the credit for its 11-0 record. Washington State's Ryan Leaf is the quarterback everybody will be watching on New Year's Day. Archie and Peyton Manning are the best-known father-son phenomenon in college football.

``I think there's a lot of ways we're alike,'' Bob said, comparing Brian's low profile on the field to his own. ``I think Brian's strength is his intelligence, his decision making, (his) very few turnovers. I think I scrambled a little better. Of course, he wouldn't agree with that.''

Brian was 5 when Bob retired from the Dolphins, so he has trouble answering the comparison questions. His memories of Dad's passing arm come from father-and-son games of catch.

Brian got useful advice, though not as much as you'd imagine.

``We used to talk about things, as far as throwing the football, but we never talked about the fundamentals of how to play quarterback,'' Brian said. ``It was more about going out and having fun.

``He's been more supportive of me in the mental things that go on, like any father would do. I'd say he's helped me, but in ways other than playing quarterback.''

Except that without Bob's advice, Brian wouldn't be playing quarterback now. He'd have followed his plan to attend a graduate program in international studies.

It had been an up-and-down career - he walked on as a freshman, was suspended for kicking out a window in a bar as a sophomore, and was relegated to punter for most of last season. Before Dreisbach's injury gave Griese a chance to face Ohio State and Alabama in the Outback Bowl, he figured his football career was over.

After those games, Bob persuaded Brian that grad school could wait, that he should keep playing as a fifth-year senior, that he could be the starter and the Wolverines could go to the Rose Bowl.

`` `Since you've been here, that's been your drive, your goal,' '' Bob said he told his son. `` `Now that you're there you have to put all that aside.'

``This is drawing on my experience in a few Super Bowls. Even though there's a lot of hoopla, it's just a game. You don't have to throw any better or any worse. Just play the way you play.''

Father and son will have dinner in the days before the game and Bob will be at the locker room door when Brian comes out afterward. The whole thing will seem perfectly natural then. But not in the three hours when the world is watching.

CAPTION(S):

3 Photos

PHOTO (1--Color) ``It's been a magical year for him and Michigan. As a parent, I was thrilled to see five of the games. As a broadcaster, it was a little harder.''

- Bob Griese 

father of Michigan QB Brian Griese 

(2) ``If he does something bad, you call a spade a spade. Brian understands the position I'm in and the way I have to handle it.''

- Bob Griese

on the sensitive situation he's in

(3) Quarterback Brian Griese, who will guide Michigan in the Rose Bowl on Thursday, stretches out before practice at Citrus College.

Associated Press