At Least, Laker Fans Won’t Have to Hear Heinsohn’s Analysis

Complaints, observations and opinions: Here’s some news that should brighten your day. Tom Heinsohn isn’t working the Laker-Phoenix series. It will be Dick Stockton and Hubie Brown on Game 1 Saturday. Game 2 Tuesday night will be on Prime Ticket and TBS, and Game 3 Friday night will be on Channel 9 and TBS. CBS will televise the rest, using Stockton and Brown or Brent Musburger and Bill Raftery. . . .

Game 5 of the Laker-Phoenix series, if there is one, will be played Tuesday, May 30, at 8:30 p.m. at the Forum and will be televised throughout the country at 11:30. But the good news is that it will be televised live in Los Angeles, according to a Channel 2 spokeswoman. . . .

Why did CBS have to jam in four commercials and a promo last Sunday before switching from the Chicago-New York game to the Lakers and Seattle? More than a minute was missed. . . .

Couldn’t Lesley Visser have come up with someone better to interview after the game last Sunday than Kareem Abdul-Jabbar? He was hardly the star of the game. . . .

Why do directors continue to force-feed viewers with floor-level and behind-the-basket camera angles during live action? TBS is the worst offender. . . .

Does Oscar Robertson of TBS ever have anything insightful to say? The other night, after Rod Hundley had mentioned that Manute Bol is 7-foot-7, Robertson offered one of his typical comments: “He’s a tall man.” . . .

Chuck Daly, Detroit Piston coach, will attend tonight’s New York-Chicago game and will be wearing a TBS microphone so that he can make periodic comments. . . .

CBS has been using a lot of reporters during the playoffs, but none are as good as the master, Pat O’Brien. . . .

A reminder to all announcers and producers: You can’t give the score too often. . . .

Attention, hockey fans: There will be one more delayed Stanley Cup telecast. Game 5 of the finals next Tuesday will be on late because of a Dodger telecast that night.

It seems that for public-relations reasons, Z Channel, despite contractual commitments, could have gotten the Dodgers and Angels to change telecast dates to avoid these irritating delayed hockey telecasts.

In any event, Z Channel is making an effort to appease hockey fans. Program director Rockey Flintermann said that a few cable companies with the channel capabilities have agreed to show Game 5 live on a separate channel, free to all subscribers. So check with your cable company. . . .

Congratulations to Channel 2 and Keith Olbermann on the new look for the Sunday night sports wrap-up show. It’s an improvement. Olbermann comes across as softer and more relaxed and comfortable around all his sports memorabilia. He seems to have slowed down his rapid-fire delivery, which is a big plus.

Olbermann originally invited viewers to submit possible names for the new show, saying the person who submitted the best name would be interviewed live. But the station decided to simply call it, “The Keith Olbermann Show.” Said Olbermann: “It’s the one my mother liked.” It was a nice touch on Mother’s Day. . . .

There has been speculation that Merlin Olsen may be out at NBC. Terry O’Neil, the new executive producer at NBC Sports who used to produce football for CBS, has been publicly critical of Olsen in the past.

But O’Neil, along with Dick Ebersol, the new division president, met with Olsen this week, with positive results. O’Neil reportedly told Olsen he likes his work ethic.

O’Neil and Ebersol also met with Vin Scully while Scully was in New York with the Dodgers this week to discuss his future with the network. Scully has already signed to continue doing golf for NBC after CBS takes over baseball in 1990, and there may be other assignments as well.

O’Neil, in his book, “The Game Behind the Game,” says it would be a mistake for CBS to use Brent Musburger as the primary host during the 1992 Winter Olympics. Then whom should CBS use? Channel 2 news anchorman Jim Lampley is the most logical candidate, but we’ll probably get Musburger anyway. . . .

ABC will again take 1 1/2 hours, 1:30 to 3 p.m., to cover a two-minute horse race, the Preakness, Saturday. That’s a lot of time to fill. The race is expected to start about 2:30. . . .

Attention, boxing fans: Nigel Benn of England faces Michael Watson in the second fight of a doubleheader in London on NBC’s “SportsWorld” Sunday at 1 p.m. Benn has fought in 22 fights, and has 22 early-round knockouts. None of his fights have gone beyond seven rounds and his last 10 all ended in the first or second round. Benn is nicknamed the Dark Destroyer. His bout Sunday is scheduled to start at 2 p.m. If you tune in late, you may miss it.

Roy Jones Jr., the victim of one of the worst judging decisions in Olympic boxing history, is scheduled to fight Stephan Johnson June 11 on NBC.

Evander Holyfield is scheduled to meet Adilson Rodrigues of Brazil at Caesars in Lake Tahoe July 15 in a heavyweight bout to be televised by Showtime. . . .

Sixty-seven cable systems representing 1.1 million homes in the Los Angeles market have signed up to carry the pay-per-view telecast of the July 12 Thomas Hearns-Sugar Ray Leonard fight at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Most are charging $39.95, with the price going to $44.95 the day of the fight. Cable systems in San Diego County are charging $34.95 and $39.95. . . .

Who’s the best boxing commentator on television? Our candidate is ESPN’s Al Bernstein.

Speaking of Bernstein, he’s shooting a show, “Al Bernstein Sports Party,” next Thursday at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas that will be syndicated at a later date. Bernstein and Tony Rome are the hosts, and Michael Nunn and Roy Firestone are among the guests. . . .

Updates: Chet Forte, the guru of sports directors when he was doing “Monday Night Football” for ABC, was most recently working indoor football telecasts and this fall will be directing something called “RollerGames,” a futuristic version of roller derby. . . .

Former Laker Kurt Rambis will file reports on the Lakers for Scott St. James’ sports segments on the Channel 9 news through the remainder of the NBA playoffs.

St. James, by the way, will be the emcee on the first tee of the 19th Police Celebrity golf tournament at Rancho Park in West Los Angeles Saturday, beginning at 10 a.m. . . .

Joe Buttitta, former Channel 5 sports anchor and Angel play-by-play announcer, is doing a morning sports show for radio station KGIL and writing for a golf magazine. . . .

Buttitta is an outstanding golfer, and so is Channel 11 sportscaster Tom Nettles, who came to Los Angeles from the NBC affiliate in San Francisco last year. Nettles, a star wide receiver at San Diego State in the 1960s, is planning to join the Senior PGA Tour when he turns 50 in about seven years. Nettles, by the way, is Graig Nettles’ cousin. . . .

An up-and-coming radio star is Steve Hartman, now working with Bud Furillo on KFOX-FM. Hartman, a UCLA graduate and former Raider public-relations man, is a whiz with sports trivia. . . .

KFI is now calling its sports talk show, which runs weeknights from 7:05 to 8, the “Chris Roberts KFI Sports Call.” It used to be called “KFI Sports Magazine.” Said Roberts: “We want to get our callers more involved in the show.” . . .