Olbermann May Be a Bit Too Slick for Channel 5 to Hold

This one is hard to figure. Sportscaster Keith Olbermann at Channel 5, who plays just about everything for laughs, is apparently a hot property.

That doesn’t say much for the wacky sportscasting business.

Anyway, Olbermann, who, a la Pat Riley, has been wearing mousse in his hair this week in his latest attempt at offbeat humor, may be taking his act from Channel 5 to Channel 2 later this year. At least, that old rumor is beginning to heat up again.

Channel 2 is looking for a third sportscaster, according to Andi Sporkin, a spokeswoman for the station. She said that the station is short-handed because Jim Lampley has outside commitments with the CBS network and HBO, and because Tony Hernandez is also working for Z Channel.

“We’ll be hiring someone later this year,” Sporkin said.

Sources say that Olbermann is among the leading candidates. His contract with Channel 5 expires Sept. 1.

Jeff Wald, Channel 5 news director, said: “Any such talk about Keith is premature. We haven’t even started negotiating with him yet.

“We have first negotiating rights and right of first refusal,” Wald said, meaning that Channel 5 gets first shot at dealing with Olbermann and then has an opportunity to match any other offer.

Channel 11 is also said to be interested in Olbermann.

Add Olbermann: It’s known that he has been looking for work elsewhere. For one thing, he wants more money. His Channel 5 salary reportedly is about $80,000 a year. He also wants more exposure.

His agent sent a week’s worth of his tapes to ESPN a few months ago, and they were very well received. But ESPN cooled on Olbermann after hearing from a number of people that he is difficult to work with.

The Madison Square Garden Network at one time was interested in Olbermann as a host of its half-hour “Sports Desk” news show, set to begin Oct. 8. Andrea Joyce, wife of Harry Smith of “CBS This Morning,” has already been hired as one of the hosts. But Olbermann’s name, an MSG Network spokesman said, has not been mentioned recently.

One source says that Channel 5’s Wald, who likes the attention Olbermann attracts--be it positive or negative--has been confiding to friends that he is growing tired of Olbermann’s demeaning attitude toward co-workers. Also, the source says, Wald would like more control over what Olbermann does on the air.

A source at Channel 2 said that Erik Sorenson, the station’s high-strung, 32-year-old news director, would welcome the challenge of controlling Olbermann. You can see the fireworks already.

Chick Hearn must have set a record Thursday night, putting Utah’s romp over the Lakers in the refrigerator midway through the third quarter, when the Jazz was leading, 74-47.

You knew that Hearn had given up when a few minutes earlier he said the Jazz could play Billy Barty and still win.

Game 7 will be televised by CBS at 12:30 p.m. Saturday, with Dick Stockton and Billy Cunningham reporting.

Fortunately, there will be none of that distracting switching back and forth, since the Dallas-Denver series ended Thursday night with the Mavericks winning.

NBC has given Vin Scully the weekend off because his son, Todd, is getting married. Jon Miller, the Baltimore Orioles’ announcer who does a great Scully imitation, will fill in for Scully, working with Joe Garagiola.

Michael Weisman, NBC sports executive producer, toyed with the idea of having Miller use his Scully voice and trying to pass him off as the real thing. “We decided against it because we didn’t want to interfere with the game,” NBC spokesman Kevin Monaghan said.

Miller and Garagiola will be working a Detroit-Chicago game that won’t be seen here. The West Coast will get the Angels at Boston at 12:15 p.m.

On the pregame show, Marv Albert will invite viewers to select their favorite and least-favorite baseball personalities by mailing in their votes. Results will be announced June 18.

NBC will bring back the announcing team of Curt Gowdy and Al DeRogatis to work a couple of National Football League games this season. They’ll be among the fill-ins while regulars such as Dick Enberg, Charlie Jones and Don Criqui are at Seoul for the Olympics.

Ray Scott, the former Green Bay Packers announcer, will also be in NBC’s temporary lineup.

Another old-timer, Don Dunphy, will announce a fight for NBC on May 29.

Merlin Olsen got word this week that his show, “Aaron’s Way,” is being dropped by NBC, meaning that he will continue as a full-time football commentator for the network. “It’s bad news for Merlin but good news for me,” said Enberg, Olsen’s partner.

CBS has hired two new football commentators during the off-season, Dan Fouts and Gary Fencik. The network has lost one, Dick Vermeil, who has switched to ABC, where he will work regional college games.

A source said that Ken Stabler, despite showing improvement while working with Jim Lampley last season, may not be back with CBS next season.

Al Michaels, who will be part of the ABC team covering Saturday’s Preakness, is a longtime horse racing fan.

It was reported in this space last year that his mother, Lila, used to send him to school with bogus excuses about dental appointments so he could go to Santa Anita.

Lila Michaels, who lives in Century City and is the talent coordinator for the daytime game show, “Win, Lose or Draw,” said she did that only once.

“It was one opening day,” she said. “I told him the night before he couldn’t go, then suffered from Jewish mother’s guilt. He was such a good kid, never stepped out of line. I changed my mind the next day. Can you imagine feeling guilty for not taking your son to the track?”

Said Michaels: “Now my son, Steve (a senior at Palisades High), thinks he should be allowed to skip school and go to the track.”

TV-Radio Notes

As a special promotion, Z Channel is offering the Dodgers’ game with the New York Mets tonight to all cable subscribers whose company carries the service. Even if you’re not a Z Channel subscriber, chances are you can watch the 7 o’clock game. . . . The sixth game of the Atlanta-Boston playoff series will be on TBS tonight at 5:05. Wednesday night, TBS showed mostly Detroit-Chicago, instead of the Hawks and Celtics, but at least switched back and forth. But the cable network should have stuck with the Hawks’ big victory in Boston once the other game was decided.

CBS will cover the National Basketball Assn. draft lottery during halftime of the Laker-Jazz game Saturday. Billy Packer will be in Colorado Springs, Colo., site of the Olympic basketball trials, to get reactions. . . . ABC’s Preakness coverage Saturday will begin at 1:30 p.m., with the race set for 2:40. Dave Johnson will call the race. . . . Len Berman’s annual sports fantasies show will be part of NBC’s “SportsWorld” Sunday at 1 p.m.

Steve Garvey, Bob Gibson and Tom Seaver have been added to CBS radio’s lineup of baseball commentators. . . . Recommended viewing: The first of four “Summer Olympic Greats,” a series of half-hour specials produced by Bud Greenspan, to be shown on the Disney Channel tonight at 8:30. The shows focus on past Olympic stars. At 9, following the Greenspan show, Disney will show the first part of “The First Olympics--Athens, 1896,” an excellent movie that NBC televised in 1984. Part 2 will be shown Saturday at 9 p.m.

Beginning tonight, “The Winner’s Circle,” a nationally syndicated horse racing show with Tom Hammond as host, will televised by Prime Ticket Friday nights at 6 and repeated Saturdays at 5:30. The show used to be carried by Channel 56. . . . With Paul Page, the longtime radio voice of the Indianapolis 500 working the race for ABC-TV May 29, former ESPN sportscaster Lou Palmer will take over Page’s former radio spot.