‘Lakers Live’ Is Now Dead

The decision is final. Tonight’s Laker-Houston playoff game will not be televised live, despite pressure from CBS sports, Channel 2, the Houston CBS affiliate and the public in general.

According to CBS’ Ted Shaker, executive producer of NBA telecasts, the decision was made by the CBS Broadcast Group, which oversees the sports, entertainment and news divisions and is made up of executives in CBS’ New York office.

“They operate like a traffic cop,” Shaker said. “In this case, they have decided that the prime-time programming has the right of way.”

All along, tonight’s game was scheduled for 11:30 p.m. But because of public outcry, the network considered showing it live in Houston and Los Angeles. In Houston, it would start at 8:30 p.m., thus knocking off “Dallas” and “Falcon Crest.” The network decided it didn’t want to do that, and it didn’t want to show the game live in Los Angeles and not in Houston, the logic of which is hard to decipher.

Furthermore, a Houston Post phone poll taken Thursday indicated that CBS made the wrong decision all the way around. Asking readers to vote on what they’d rather see, the basketball game or “Dallas,” basketball won big. The paper received a record 6,896 calls, with 4,976 voting for basketball and 1,920 for “Dallas.”

In Los Angeles, meanwhile, Frank Gardner, Channel 2’s general manager, fought hard to get the game live. “He’s very disappointed and upset,” the station’s Andi Sporkin said. “There was one more round of talks (Thursday), but the network wouldn’t budge.”

One consolation for L.A. fans is that there is always Chick Hearn on radio.

The amazing thing about Hearn is that he is better now than ever. He seems to improve with age.

Oh, sure, he at times goes overboard, at times is outrageous and at times exaggerates.

But for sheer entertainment, Hearn is the best.

He is so quick and his knowledge of the game so phenomenal that he rarely misses a thing, but it’s his enthusiasm that sets him apart. And he is showing more now than ever in his long career.

“The enthusiasm is something that comes naturally,” Hearn said. “It’s partly because of my love for my profession and my love of sports.

“Also, the talent in this league is greater now than it’s ever been, and the Lakers are an exciting team that is tailor-made for my style of broadcasting. And the fact that, year in and year out, they are winners keeps me up.”

There has been much speculation as to Hearn’s age, but no one seems to know it for sure. “I’m secretive about it but I’ll tell you this,” Hearn said. “I’m not as old as Ostler said I was.”

Times columnist Scott Ostler recently wrote that Hearn was 70, give or take a couple of years.

But some longtime L.A. sportswriters insist that he is at least 70, although he looks about 55 and his vocal cords are still in their prime.

“He won’t tell you how old he is because people think he is a lot younger than he really is,” one veteran sportswriter said.

Said Susan Stratton, the producer-director of Laker telecasts for Channel 9 and Prime Ticket, who travels and works closely with Hearn: “What’s amazing about Chick is the kind of physical shape he is in. What he does, all that traveling and everything, is very taxing, but Chick never shows it. He’s always fresh.”

Hearn said he plans to continue announcing for five more years. But don’t believe him. He’ll probably still be going strong 20 years from now, and still not telling anyone how old he is.

People connected with Dodgervision aren’t complaining about tonight’s delayed Laker telecast, because it presumably means that more people will sign up to watch the pay-per-view telecast of tonight’s game between the New York Mets and the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium, with Dwight Gooden and Orel Hershiser pitching.

It would have been Gooden against Fernando Valenzuela had Rick Honeycutt not missed a start Tuesday because of tightness in his shoulder. That meant Valenzuela had to pitch Wednesday.

O.J. in limbo: ABC, which earlier this week announced that Frank Gifford had accepted his role as commentator on “Monday Night Football,” has also announced its college football broadcasting teams. Notably absent is O.J. Simpson, who had been offered a position as commentator after being removed from the Monday night team.

The No. 1 team will be Keith Jackson and Tim Brant. The No. 2 team will be newcomer Corey McPherrin and Lynn Swann. Sideline reporters will be Al Trautwig and former New York Jet Mike Adamle, a one-time NBC announcer. Jim Lampley will report from the studio.

Simpson has talked to CBS about working pro football telecasts, but if that doesn’t work out, Simpson might take the season off, according to his agent, Ed Hookstratten.

“He has decided he just doesn’t want to do college football,” Hookstratten said. “He doesn’t need the money.”

The local scene: Fred Roggin is expected to sign a new contract soon with Channel 4, making him the station’s No. 1 sportscaster. A source said the station had held off promoting Roggin while it continued to try to lure George Michael from Washington. But, the source said, Michael recently told Channel 4 that he had no desire to relocate. He now works for the NBC station in Washington, where he does the popular, nationally syndicated show, “George Michael’s Sports Machine.”

The source said that Michael’s decision has cleared the way for Roggin to be promoted, leaving Stu Nahan’s status in doubt. There have been rumors that Nahan’s contract will not be renewed when it expires in August. A month ago, a report had Nahan leaving the station as early as June, but all parties denied it at the time.

Notes

NBC is offering an Angel-Dodger doubleheader Saturday. The Angels are at Detroit, the Mets at Dodger Stadium. . . . ABC, operating with a baseball contract inferior to NBC’s, will televise Sunday’s Dodger-Met game to most of the nation, but L.A. will get Cleveland at Toronto. . . . ABC’s Preakness coverage Saturday will begin at 2 p.m. The announcing team is the same one ABC used for the Kentucky Derby two weeks ago, which includes Churchill Downs race caller Mike Battaglia. ABC had tried to hire Dave Johnson to call the Triple Crown races, but reportedly did not want him to continue working the Breeders’ Cup for NBC. Johnson chose to stay with NBC. . . . Saturday afternoon’s Pepsi Invitational track meet at UCLA will be televised by Prime Ticket Saturday night at 7:30. Outside L.A., it will be televised by the USA network at 4 p.m., a delay of three hours. . . . A feature on NBA players and coaches coming out of Brooklyn will be shown at halftime of Game 4 of the Lakers-Houston Rockets series Sunday. The 2 1/2-minute piece was produced by Boston Globe sportswriter Leslie Visser, wife of CBS announcer Dick Stockton.