Jackson Isn’t Ready for Rocking Chair

Call it the week of the Jacksons, although the return of Keith Jackson was overshadowed by the return of Phil Jackson.

The Keith Jackson story began to develop six weeks ago, when Jackson and new ABC Sports President Howard Katz talked informally at a party the night before the Sports Emmy Awards in New York.

Katz started in television as a production assistant at ABC 28 years ago, when he first met Jackson. The two have remained friends, and Katz knew the main reason Jackson retired after January’s Fiesta Bowl was because of the cross-country travel.

“What if you just did Pac-10 games and the Rose Bowl?” Katz asked Jackson.

Jackson, talking with reporters on a national conference call this week after his return was announced, said, “Once it was presented that way, that I would be able to sleep in my own bed, it was a relatively easy decision.”

Jackson, 70, who lives in Sherman Oaks, said he figures he can drive to about half of the 11 or 12 regular-season games he will do, including ones in the Bay Area.

He said he plans to work at least two or three more years before retiring again.

“I look at a couple of guys in the town where I live, Vin Scully and Chick Hearn,” he said. “Scully will go on forever, and they’re going to have to shoot Hearn.

“I’m not about to begin to think I’m in their class, but I would like to be.”

Jackson said he still loves announcing college football. “You need to squeeze as much as you can out of every day,” he said.

Philosophizing a little, he said, “The main problem with being a legend, as people would want to call you, is that it also means you’re not far from being an ancestor.”

Jackson will still work with his old partner and friend, Bob Griese, which means Griese will be flying cross-country from his home in Florida each week.

Steve Bornstein, the former president of ABC Sports before Katz came over from ESPN in March, was asked by the New York Times why he hadn’t thought of having Jackson only do West Coast games. “I wasn’t smart enough to come up with Howard’s West Coast solution,” Bornstein was quoted as saying.

Jackson said his wife, Turi Ann, at first thought her husband should stay retired. “We talked about it and I convinced her it was what I wanted to do,” Jackson said.

Both Jacksons were probably a little embarrassed about all the fuss made last season. During the conference call, Jackson, asked what he planned to do with the gifts he received, sort of flippantly said, “I’m going to give them to Bernie Kish.”

Kish is the executive director of the College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend, Ind.

Reached at his home Thursday, Jackson said he was serious and he has already given Kish a lot of items that will be used in a special display at the Hall of Fame.

“I’m going to keep my rocking chair [presented by Penn State],” Jackson said.

“I don’t think I misled anybody, because at the time I truly was going to retire.”

THE OTHER JACKSON STORY

The Keith Jackson unretirement story came as a surprise. There had been no hint, even though things had been in the works since early May. One reason it didn’t get out is because Jackson doesn’t have an agent and he and Katz were the only ones involved.

Meanwhile, news of the Phil Jackson-to-the-Lakers story, long rumored, broke on Fox Sports News six days before the deal was announced.

Fox Sports News executive producer John Torenzio said he got a tip--he wouldn’t say from whom--at about 4 p.m. June 10, and had the story nailed by 9. They went with it as the lead story on the 10 o’clock edition for maximum exposure on the West Coast.

Keith Olbermann and Kevin Frazier reported the story, but Torenzio said Chris Myers and two producers did most of the leg work. “It was a team effort,” Torenzio said. “We ended up with four sources before going on the air with it, but Chris is the one who came up with the key source.”

It was Myers who later reported that Shaquille O’Neal was close to a seven-year, $151-million deal with the Lakers and that at one point Donald Sterling talked to O’Neal’s college coach, Dale Brown, about putting together a package that had O’Neal, Jackson and Jerry West all coming to the Clippers. Myers also got Dennis Rodman to say he would like to play for Jackson again.

Kurt Rambis surfaced on Channel 4’s NBA finals postgame show Wednesday night in his annual role as an analyst, and he told Fred Roggin that he couldn’t blame the Lakers for going after Jackson and he would love to be a part of Jackson’s staff. Rambis also said he would welcome other coaching offers but that the Lakers have offered him a front-office job.

SHORT WAVES

Game 1 of the NBA finals between New York and San Antonio got an 11.5 rating, down from an 18.0 for Game 1 last year between Chicago and Utah. The 11.5 is the lowest rating for an NBA finals game since the 1980s. . . . Curious about Ocean Trails before the 18th green slid into the ocean? The Michael Douglas and Friends Celebrity golf tournament, played there before the mishap and shown on ABC April 11, will be rebroadcast Saturday at 3:30 p.m. on Channel 7. . . . ABC and ESPN will use field microphones to pick up byplay among players during the Women’s World Cup.

IN CLOSING

Riviera is trying to land the U.S. Open in 2005 or 2006, and NBC golf commentators Johnny Miller, Gary Koch and Roger Maltbie were asked about the possibility.

“I don’t think there would be any problem with that,” Miller said. “It’s a great course with great tradition, and the players would love it.”

Koch: “They might not love it if the Kikuyu grass is as tall as it was for the Senior Open.”

Maltbie: “I don’t think the concern is the course, it is if Los Angeles will support an Open.”

Kathy Schloessman, the president of the Los Angeles Sports and Entertainment Commission who is leading the effort to get an Open at Riviera, said: “The USGA is not concerned about attendance. They are convinced L.A. will support a U.S. Open.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

What Los Angeles Is Watching

A sampling of L.A. Nielsen ratings for June 12-13, including sports on cable networks:

SATURDAY

*--*

Over-the-air Channel Rating Share Baseball: Dodgers at Oakland 11 3.9 13 Golf: FedEx St. Jude Classic 7 2.4 8 College World Series: Florida St.-Texas A&M; 2 1.8 7 Pro basketball: WNBA, Washington at Houston 11 1.4 5 Golf: Senior BellSouth Classic 4 1.2 4 Bowling: Tucson Open 2 1.0 3 Boxing: Diego Corrales vs. Manuel Arellano 34 1.1 3 Boxing: AdanVargas vs. Jorge Reyes 52 1.0 2

*--*

****

*--*

Cable Network Rating Share Baseball: Arizona at Angels FSW 1.4 3 Hockey: Stanley Cup finals, Dallas at Buffalo ESPN2 1.2 3 College World Series: Stanford-CS Fullerton ESPN2 1.0 2 Auto racing: NASCAR Busch Grant National TNN 0.6 2 Horse racing: Stephen Foster Handicap FSW 0.5 2 Auto racing: ARCA Michigan 200 ESPN 0.5 2 Golf: LGPA Rochester International ESPN 0.4 1 Arena football: Tampa Bay at Orlando ESPN2 0.3 1 Boxing: Frankie Liles vs. Byron Mitchell SHO 0.2 0 NFL Europe: Rhein at Barcelona FSW 0.1 0

*--*

****

SUNDAY

*--*

Over-the-air Channel Rating Share Baseball: Dodgers at Oakland 5 3.8 12 Auto racing: Winston Cup Kmart 400 2 2.7 8 Golf: Senior BellSouth Classic 4 2.2 7 Soccer: U.S. men vs. Argentina 7 1.9 5 Track and field: Pontiac Grand Prix 2 1.4 4 NFL Europe: Amsterdam at Scotland 11 1.2 4

*--*

****

*--*

Cable Network Rating Share Baseball: Baltimore at Atlanta ESPN 1.2 2 Auto racing: Formula One Canadian Grand Prix FSW 0.6 2 Boxing: Antonio Hernandez vs. Joel Casamayor FSW 0.4 1 College World Series: Alabama-Miami ESPN 0.4 1 College World Series: Rice-Oklahoma State ESPN2 0.3 1 Baseball: Chicago White Sox vs. Chicago Cubs WGN 0.3 1 Golf: LPGA Rochester International ESPN 0.3 1 Soccer: MLS, Washington at Columbus ESPN2 0.1 0

*--*

WEEKDAY RATINGS: Tuesday--NHL Stanley Cup finals, Dallas at Buffalo, ESPN, 1.4/3. Wednesday--NBA finals, New York at San Antonio, Ch. 4, 11.7/21.

Note: Each rating point represents 51,350 L.A. households. Cable ratings reflect the entire market, even though cable is in only 63% of L.A. households.