Collins Becomes a Laker Expert by Habit

Doug Collins never thought he’d be a Laker broadcaster. But that essentially is what he has become in his second year as an NBC analyst.

He and play-by-play partner Bob Costas are the national version of Chick Hearn and Stu Lantz. With NBC again televising the Lakers on Saturday night, when they play at San Antonio, NBC’s C-C boys will be working their 10th Laker game since Feb. 7.

NBC has made the Lakers its marquee team, and Collins sees nothing wrong with that.

“They’ve been the story of the year in the NBA--good, bad or whatever,” he said from his home in Scottsdale, Ariz., before leaving for San Antonio. “With this team, there’s always a story to be told.”

Collins has been an outspoken critic of Dennis Rodman and his selfishness, attitude and disregard for the team concept. Collins disagreed with the signing of Rodman in the first place and agreed with letting him go.

But Collins hasn’t always been a Rodman critic. He has seen the other side.

“When I was coaching the Chicago Bulls, Rodman was my son Chris’ favorite player,” Collins said. “Rodman was with the Pistons then, and whenever they would come to town, Rodman would go out of his way to be nice to Chris.”

Chris went on to become a starting point guard at Duke, graduating in 1996, and is now an assistant coach at Seton Hall.

“When Chris signed to go to Duke, we had a party and invited Dennis,” Collins said. “He couldn’t come but sent along an autographed warmup suit. I think that shows Dennis can be a very thoughtful person.”

But Collins sees the changes in Rodman and realizes things are mentally not right with Rodman.

“I just hope he can get the help he needs to ease the pain he is feeling,” he said.

Collins also has compassion for new Laker Coach Kurt Rambis. Collins, who knows something about tough coaching situations, said, “Kurt couldn’t have been put in a more difficult position. I hope Jerry West sees fit to bring him back next year and let him start out with a clean slate.”

MORE ON COLLINS

NBC brought in Collins late last season, about seven weeks after he was fired as coach of the Pistons. He joined the No. 1 team of Costas and Isiah Thomas, and with Thomas moving into the studio this season, NBC has gotten the desired result--cleaner NBA telecasts.

Collins worked as a broadcaster for Turner for six seasons before taking the Piston job in 1995. Now, he says, he’s strictly a broadcaster.

“I’ll never coach again,” he said. “I’ve got the perfect job, and I plan to keep it as long as NBC will have me.”

That should be a long time. Collins was among network analysts nominated for an Emmy this year, along with John Madden, Johnny Miller, John McEnroe and Tim McCarver. Madden got the nod at a dinner in New York on Wednesday night, winning his 12th Emmy.

NBC will have Bill Russell in studio as a guest analyst Saturday at 5 p.m., preceding the 5:30 Laker game, and Collins will do double duty this weekend, working in the studio on Sunday. He is subbing for Thomas, who asked for the day off. NBC is doing four games on Sunday, with two shown here--Houston at Phoenix at noon and Seattle at Utah at 2:30 p.m.

The sideline reporter on the game at Phoenix will be Channel 4’s Fred Roggin.

“Doing so many games gives us an opportunity to use some of the people in our NBC family,” said spokesman Ed Markey.

SAY IT AIN’T SO

Well-liked Ed Arnold may be on his way out at Channel 5. His contract is up July 1, and word is the station is looking to replace him, preferably with a young female. Claudia Trejos, who does sports for Channel 22, is said to be among the candidates.

If Channel 5 does let Arnold go, it should brace itself. There will be a public outcry.

SHORT WAVES

More on Sports Emmys: CBS won nine, with seven relating to the 1998 Winter Olympics, and Fox and HBO tied for second with eight apiece. It says a lot about HBO that it was in there with the big boys. “Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel” led the way for HBO with three Emmys. NBC’s Dick Enberg won two Emmys, both for writing. . . . Recommended viewing: NBC and the Sporting News have joined up to present “The Sporting News 100 Greatest Baseball Players,” which will be on Channel 4 Saturday at 1:30 p.m. Bob Costas hosts the 90-minute special from the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. The list was printed in last week’s Sporting News, and there are plenty of opportunities for debate. “The modern players get short-changed,” said Costas during a conference call the other day. “Johnny Bench, at No. 16, is the highest rated player who played after 1954.” Mickey Mantle, Costas’ favorite player, is No. 17, and Barry Bonds, at No. 34, is the highest rated active player. Mark McGwire and Ken Griffey Jr. are No. 91 and 93, and one reason for that is the list was put together by Sporting News editors before the ’98 season. . . . Speaking of lists, Walter Payton is profiled on the 39th greatest athlete of the 20th century on ESPN’s “SportsCentury” series tonight at 7:30.

IN CLOSING

Dodger flagship station AM 1150 is still doing a lot of dumb things--have you heard Vic “the Brick” Jacobs asking people in Dodger Stadium concession lines what they were going to order?--but the station is starting to get some ratings. The Arbitron winter book that came out Thursday showed the morning show got a .9 share and a No. 25 ranking in the market in men ages 25-54, and the afternoon show got a .8. Those time slots did not get a blip in last year’s winter book.

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What Los Angeles Is Watching

A sampling of L.A. Nielsen ratings for April 17-18, including sports on cable networks:

SATURDAY

*--*

Over-the-air Channel Rating Share Pro basketball: Lakers at Utah 4 6.3 14 Baseball: Dodgers at San Diego 5 4.9 9 Golf: MCI Classic 2 2.5 8 Golf: Seniors Championship 4 1.5 5 Bowling: Empire State Open 2 1.2 4 Hockey: Mighty Ducks at San Jose 9 1.1 2

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****

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Cable Network Rating NFL draft (9 a.m.-4 p.m.) ESPN 1.9 Auto racing: NASCAR Craftsman Trucks ESPN 1.1 Baseball: Seattle at Angels FSW 1.1 Boxing: Shane Mosley vs. John Brown HBO 1.1 Auto racing: Grand Prix of Long Beach (qualifying) ESPN2 0.7 Horse racing: Hialeah Turf Cup ESPN2 0.7 NFL draft (4-7 p.m.) ESPN2 0.5 Baseball: St. Louis at Houston FX 0.3 Hockey: Detroit at Chicago ESPN 0.3 Soccer: Galaxy at Chicago FSW2 0.2 Tennis: Fed Cup, U.S.-Croatia ESPN2 0.2 NFL Europe: Berlin at Frankfurt FSW 0.2

Cable Share NFL draft (9 a.m.-4 p.m.) 6 Auto racing: NASCAR Craftsman Trucks 3 Baseball: Seattle at Angels 3 Boxing: Shane Mosley vs. John Brown 3 Auto racing: Grand Prix of Long Beach (qualifying) 1 Horse racing: Hialeah Turf Cup 2 NFL draft (4-7 p.m.) 1 Baseball: St. Louis at Houston 1 Hockey: Detroit at Chicago 1 Soccer: Galaxy at Chicago 1 Tennis: Fed Cup, U.S.-Croatia 1 NFL Europe: Berlin at Frankfurt 1

*--*

****

SUNDAY

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Over-the-air Channel Rating Share Pro basketball: Houston at San Antonio 4 5.1 12 Baseball: Dodgers at San Diego 5 4.3 11 Figure skating: Hershey Kisses Challenge 7 3.9 9 Auto racing: Grand Prix of Long Beach 7 3.7 10 Pro basketball: Detroit at Orlando 4 3.5 10 Golf: MCI Classic 2 3.4 9 Golf: Seniors Championship 4 2.6 8 Hockey: Pittsburgh at New York Rangers 11 2.0 5 Boxing: Manuel Medina vs. Victor Polo 34 0.9 3

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****

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Cable Network Rating Share Baseball: Seattle at Angels ESPN 2.4 5 Auto racing: NASCAR Goody’s Body Pain 500 ESPN 1.4 4 NFL draft (8-10 a.m.) ESPN 1.3 4 NFL draft (10 a.m.-2:45 p.m.) ESPN2 0.7 2 Horse racing: San Juan Capistrano ‘Cap FSW 0.7 2 Pro basketball: Denver at Clippers FSW2 0.2 0

*--*

WEEKDAY RATINGS: Monday--Vancouver-Lakers, FSW, 3.9/6; Clippers-Sacramento, Ch. 9, 2.3/3; Atlanta-Dodgers, FSW2, 1.4/2. Tuesday--Lakers-Golden State, Ch. 9, 5.9/9. Wednesday--Lakers-Portland, Ch. 9, 9.5/14. (The Dodger rating on FSW2 for April 11 was incorrect last week; that game was rained out.)

Note: Each rating point represents 50,092 L.A. households. Cable ratings reflect the entire market, even though cable is in only 63% of L.A. households.