Talking Through the Tough Times

For the first time in 17 years, and only the third time in Chick Hearn’s 34 seasons as the voice of the Lakers, the team isn’t going to the playoffs.

“A disappointing season?” Hearn said, repeating the question. “No, that’s not strong enough. Totally disappointing is a better way of putting it.

“I hate to say I’m glad it’s over, but . . . well, I’m glad it’s over.

“I really thought they’d be a decent team, but then came a mixture of injuries, the young players not coming through and some tough losses.”

Hearn is confident that owner Jerry Buss and General Manager Jerry West will right the ship.

“They have to,” Hearn said. “The fans won’t stand for anything else.”

Hearn foresees a total rebuilding.

“Only seven or eight of the 14 players now on the roster will be back,” he said. “The immediate needs are a power forward and a team leader, a Charles Barkley type. Someone like a Dominique Wilkins, a Kevin Willis, a Horace Grant, a Danny Manning.

“Another immediate need, of course, is a coach. That’s something that has to be taken care of right away. I think you’ll see a coach from the college ranks.”

Regarding Magic Johnson’s decision not to return as the Lakers’ coach, Hearn said, “I never expected him to come back.”

But, he said, he was still disappointed.

“I think Magic learned he just didn’t want to be tied down. Coaching is a 14-15 hour-a-day job, and that’s just not for him.

“I think, though, the youngsters learned a lot from him. He proved to be a great teacher.”

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It hasn’t been fun this season for Hearn, but he is proud that his consecutive-games streak is intact.

It will reach 2,692 by Sunday’s finale. He hasn’t missed a game since 1965.

There have been some close calls over the years, and this season was no exception.

After the Lakers had returned from a four-game swing in early March, Hearn contracted pneumonia.

He was in bed for two days, and on March 10, with a home game that night against Dallas, couldn’t talk.

Around noon, he went to a Beverly Hills specialist, Joseph Sugarman, who told him he wouldn’t be able to work that night.

Hearn, of course, didn’t take the doctor’s advice. He went to the Forum anyway, and thanks to the medication prescribed by Sugarman, was able to talk, or at least mumble.

The streak stayed alive--barely.

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Despite the tough season, Hearn isn’t thinking about retirement.

For a decade or so, Hearn answered questions about retirement by saying something like, “Maybe in three or four years,” or “I’ll retire when Magic retires.”

His wife, Marge, who knows him best, has said, “Chick will never retire. What would he do, play golf? He doesn’t play golf.”

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The Laker finale Sunday will be unusual for a reason other than the club’s not going on to the playoffs.

The home game against Utah won’t be televised, making it the first Laker game not carried by Prime Ticket, Channel 9 or a network in two seasons.

Prime Ticket passed because it is an afternoon game; NBC passed because the game isn’t as significant as was expected.

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Between NBC and TNT, all but 10 NBA playoff games were televised nationally last season.

With TBS also carrying first-round games this season, only five will not get national coverage, and the plan is to schedule every game next season.

The playoffs open Thursday and Friday with doubleheaders on both TNT and TBS. The TBS telecast will begin at 4 p.m. each day, the TNT programming at 5.

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Recommended viewing: The “NBA Playoff Preview” on TNT Sunday at 5 p.m. will offer an in-depth look at the teams involved and the matchups. Ernie Johnson, Hubie Brown and Doug Collins will serve as hosts.

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Draft coverage: Besides tonight’s pay-per-view heavyweight championship fight between Evander Holyfield and Michael Moorer at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, the big event this weekend is the NFL draft.

ESPN will devote 5 1/2 hours to Sunday’s first and second rounds, beginning at 12:30 p.m.

ESPN2 will wrap up the first two rounds in a 90-minute show at 6 p.m. Sunday and will have seven hours of coverage of the remaining rounds on Monday, beginning at 7 a.m.

XTRA will have six continuous hours of radio coverage Sunday, beginning at noon. Lee Hamilton will be the host.

KMPC will pick up ESPN’s radio coverage after Sunday’s 10 a.m. Angel game at Boston.

KNX will offer periodic reports by CBS radio at 46 minutes after the hour.

TV-Radio Notes

Tonight’s Evander Holyfield-Michael Moorer heavyweight title fight should be a good one, but the $35-$39 asking price is a bit steep. TVKO, for the first time, will use HBO’s award-winning broadcast team of Jim Lampley, Larry Merchant and George Foreman. Boxing judge Harold Lederman will be on hand to score the fight, and CBS’ James Brown has been hired as the host. The two-fight undercard begins at 6 p.m.

Fox has been on a roll and scored a coup Thursday by landing Jimmy Johnson as a studio host. But Pat Haden, one of the top NFL analysts in the business, will be staying with Turner Broadcasting. He has agreed to a new four-year deal. . . . Deion Sanders, a guest of Ann Liguori on her “Sports Innerview” show tonight at 9 on Prime Ticket, has this to say about baseball: “It’s hard to market baseball players. You see them out there with chew in their mouth and spitting every minute. You can’t market that to kids. I mean there are some things you just can’t market, and grabbing their crotches (is one of them). Baseball is boring. You could fall asleep up there in the stands.”

KMPC employees have been told that Capital Cities will take over the station on May 2. The station’s new non-sports talk format will feature Peter Tilden and Tracey Miller in the mornings and Tom Leykis in the afternoons. Tilden and Miller currently have an afternoon show on KABC and Leykis was with KFI. (For a complete list of the new lineup, see today’s Calendar section). . . . Joe McDonnell has been hired to be a part of the new morning show, filing reports and commentaries. He will also file reports after Dodger games when warranted. McDonnell will continue to use the vacation time he is owed by the old KMPC until May 2 but said he will return for one segment to say goodby to his afternoon listeners. . . . Bill Walton is scheduled to be on KMPC on Monday about 2 p.m. to discuss, among other things, his new CD, “Men Are Made in the Paint.”

With KMPC limping along, XTRA passed it in the Los Angeles winter rating book, which covers January through March. KMPC got an 0.7 share to an 0.5 in all people, 12-plus. In men 25-54, XTRA beat KMPC in Los Angeles, 0.6 to 1.5 in the midday slot, and 0.8 to 1.5 in the afternoon slot. In San Diego, XTRA, with significant increases for all shows, is now third in the market in men 25-54 with a 5.4 share of the audience.

ABC’s “Monday Night Football” this week won an Emmy for best live sports series, and ratings released this week for the 1993-94 television season showed that the series ranked No. 10 among prime-time shows. It has made the top 10 for four consecutive years. Before 1990, it made the top 10 only once--in 1983. . . . ABC’s Al Michaels did a nice job filling in for Charlie Gibson on “Good Morning America” for two days earlier this week. . . . Irv Kaze’s KIEV show tonight at 6:15 offers an audio tour of the Orange County Hall of Fame. Guests include Executive Director Don Andersen and John Hall, former Times and Orange Country Register columnist.

The Dodgers and Montreal Expos are featured on ESPN’s “Sunday Night Baseball” this weekend. Because of NFL draft coverage, the game will be on at 6 p.m. instead of the usual 5. . . . ESPN will use the “base cam” for the first time on a regular-season game. The base cam is a miniature camera embedded in second base that faces first base. It was used by CBS during the All-Star game last season, and ESPN used it on spring training games last year.

On the “UCLA Sports Magazine” show on Prime Ticket on Wednesday night, quarterback Wayne Cook was interviewed by Chris Marlowe. Edited out was a segment in which Marlowe, tongue in cheek, goads Cook by calling him “Wendy,” a take-off on Jim Rome’s calling Jim Everett “Chris.” UCLA nixed it. “We didn’t feel it was appropriate,” said Marc Dellins, UCLA’s sports information director. . . . TNT asked fans watching Tuesday night’s Houston-San Antonio NBA game to vote on their pick for MVP. Scottie Pippen got 52% of the votes, David Robinson 18%, Hakeem Olajuwon 17%.

Bill Welsh, a member of the Southern California Sports Broadcasters Assn. since its inception in 1958, has been elected the organization’s president. . . . Recommended viewing: “Blood, Sweat and Cheers” on Channel 28 on Sunday at 10 p.m. deals with some important issues in sports. . . . The Mt. San Antonio College Relays, taped last weekend and featuring a world record in the 800-meter relay, will be on Prime Ticket Sunday at 10 a.m. The meet is one of a series co-produced by Jim Risinger and Fred Baer, the founder and secretary of the Track and Field Writers of America. Bob Murphy and Nancy Ditz are the announcers.