Bus driver’s past music to Gruden’s ear

Jon Gruden is back in the NFL with the Oakland Raiders, and he’s got his Monday Night

Football bus driver by his side. As Sam Farmer of the Los

Angeles Times puts it, Jeff Leonardo is Gruden’s right-hand man, as he’s picked up Gruden at his house to take him to the Raiders’ facility, organized his schedule and compiled video on players, among other things. “Jon,” Leonardo told the Los

Angeles Times, “is a rock star.” Leonardo was an ESPN bus driver for the Monday Night

Football crew for the past 13 years, including the past nine with Gruden. He also has been a bus driver for AC/DC, the Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, David Bowie, Ozzy Osbourne, Guns N’ Roses and Eric Clapton.

Gruden and Leonardo work well together, but it’s Leonardo’s rock connection that obsesses Gruden.

“No matter what I’ve done in life, he brings it all back to, ‘Hey, he drove the bus for AC/DC!’ ” Leonardo said. “I go, ‘Well, I’ve done a couple other things, too. I can recite pi to 100 places. I can tell you all the presidents. I own one of the coolest vineyards in central Europe, and it’s like, ‘He drove the bus for AC/DC!’ OK, I guess that’s what I am, then.”

Leonardo said the parallels between Gruden and AC/DC are undeniable.

“He’s AC/DC, 100 percent,” Leonardo said. “The same work ethic, the same grounded values. They think a lot like him. The same no-nonsense passion for their craft. The same confidence in their abilities to get it done.

“AC/DC is like, ‘Really? Play after us. Go ahead, put us on first. Play after us. We’ll see what happens.’ ”

Hopefully for Gruden’s sake, his second stint with the Raiders won’t be shot down in flames.

Detroit destruction

According to the Detroit Free

Press, a man damaged a door and smashed several windows at Comerica Park, the home of the Detroit Tigers, early Monday morning.

Detroit Police responded to a call at 2:25 a.m. EST and interviewed the security guard who discovered the damage. The suspect smashed glass doors and windows with a sledgehammer and then fled the scene on foot without taking anything.

The damage already has been done at Comerica Park this season by visiting players. The Tigers are 18-38 at home and 4765 overall entering Monday.

Shaq’s offspring

UCLA has landed forward Shareef O’Neal.

The son of retired NBA great Shaquille O’Neal signed a grantin-aid to attend UCLA this fall. He will enroll in summer school this month.

O’Neal, 6-10, 220 pounds, played the past two seasons at Crossroads High in nearby Santa Monica, Calif. As a senior last season, O’Neal helped the school win the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Division II state title for the first time since 1997. He had 29 points, 17 rebounds and 5 blocks in the title game. O’Neal averaged 27 points as a senior while Crossroads finished with a 25-9 record.

UCLA Coach Steve Alford said O’Neal brings a “terrific combination of size, skill and athleticism.”

O’Neal joins fellow freshmen Jules Bernard, Moses Brown, Tyger Campbell, Kenneth Nwuba and David Singleton in UCLA’s incoming class.

Shaquille O’Neal starred at LSU before going to the NBA, where he won four championships, including three with the Los Angeles Lakers.

AP/JEFF CHIU Jon Gruden, back in the NFL directing the Oakland Raiders, counts on a lot from longtime associate Jeff Leonardo, whom Gruden proudly praises for his stint as the bus driver for rock groups such as AC/DC.