Jackson Faces Knee Surgery

As a news event it might not rank up there with Chick Hearn’s streak-ending, open-heart surgery, but what Keith Jackson is facing certainly isn’t a minor operation.

Jackson is having both knees replaced Jan. 16 at Centinela Hospital in Inglewood. Jackson, 73, said the cartilage is gone in his knees.

“It has gotten to the point where I can’t play golf, I can’t do anything,” Jackson said before announcing Thursday night’s BCS championship game at the Rose Bowl for ABC.

Having both replaced at the same time is quite an ordeal. Generally, patients opt to have one knee done at a time.

“The way I look at, I’ll only have to go through the agony once,” he said.

Jackson said it will take his doctor, Lawrence Dorr, an hour-and-a-half to do the surgery and it will take him three months to recover.

“The way he explained it, I’ll have two weeks of agony, two weeks of pain and then two months of discomfort,” Jackson said.

Jackson was encouraged by his friend Will Perry, former sports information director and associate athletic director at Michigan, to have the surgery.

“Will said he had [one knee] done and the only thing he can’t do now is lay tile,” Jackson said. “Well, I don’t think I’ll be laying any tile.”

He’s Returning

Jackson, who has been announcing college football for ABC since 1966, retired among much ballyhoo after announcing the BCS championship game at the Fiesta Bowl three years ago.

But a few months later, after new ABC Sports President Howard Katz suggested Jackson just work West Coast games and the Rose Bowl, Jackson announced he was not retiring.

Jackson is happy with the current arrangement of working Pacific 10 games and the Rose Bowl with partner Tim Brant, and ABC has announced Jackson will be back for at least one more season.

How much longer would he like to go?

“Chick Hearn is my idol,” Jackson said.

Hearn is also a neighbor. Well, almost.

The two legendary announcers live a couple of Tiger Woods tee shots apart, Jackson in Sherman Oaks on the east side of the 405 Freeway and Hearn in Encino on the west side of the 405.

Ratings Decline

During the first three years of the BCS bowls, there was a ratings increase. The trend is reversing itself this year.

The three BCS bowls played through Wednesday averaged a 9.8 national rating. The average for the four BCS bowls a year ago was a 13.9. Thursday’s night’s Rose Bowl would have to get a 26.1 to avoid a decline, and that’s not going to happen.

Last January’s Orange Bowl, which was the national championship game, got a 17.8. The Rose Bowl will be lucky to get a rating that good.

Remembering Schaap

Roger Kahn tells a story about Dick Schaap that helps explain why he was such a highly regarded reporter.

Schaap, who died recently at 67 of complications from hip-replacement surgery, early in his career worked for Kahn at Newsweek.

Kahn says after Pancho Gonzalez moved to the top of tennis, he requested a story on him. Gussie Moran, the flamboyant women’s star of that era, had warned Kahn that he wouldn’t want to interview Gonzalez because he tended to be sullen and hostile.

“I said to young Schaap, my deputy, that means you have to do the interview,” Kahn said.

“‘How can I get him to talk?’ Schaap said, his tone approaching a whine.

“I told him, ‘Go to Forest Hills when he’s working out and volunteer to be his ball boy, if he’ll give you an interview.’ Schaap did and got the interview. He took notes and fetched balls for several hours.

“I suspect ever since after a small part of him hated me, but when I was done with him he knew how to report.”

Hockey News

ABC begins its Saturday NHL regional coverage this weekend, showing Colorado at Detroit to 60% of the country, including the West Coast.

ABC will have five regular-season telecasts on various Saturdays through March 16, plus the All-Star game from Staples Center Feb. 2.

Now that ABC and ESPN have acquired the rights to the NBA beginning next season, there has been concern that those networks might drop the NHL. But apparently that is not a factor.

“If anything, one complements the other,” ABC spokesman Mark Mandel said. “The NBA would give the NHL a bigger platform and more promotional time.”

Recommended Viewing

“The Olympic Show” on CNBC Saturday at 3 p.m. features Bob Costas interviewing Jim McKay, who will work as a special correspondent during NBC’s coverage of next month’s Winter Olympics. “Having you with us in Salt Lake City, I imagine, must be a little bit like if you were with the Yankees in the ‘60s and [Joe] DiMaggio decided to come back and play a season with you,” Costas tells McKay. Saturday’s show will be repeated on CNBC Sunday at 3 p.m.

“Vintage NBA,” a one-hour ESPN Classic series produced by NBA Entertainment and hosted by Robin Roberts, tips off its fourth season Thursday at 5 p.m. with a look at the life and playing career of Michael Cooper. Pat Riley, Kurt Rambis, Brian Shaw and Lisa Leslie will be among those talking about the former Laker star and current Spark coach.

Bad Signs

EchoStar’s Dish Network has dropped ESPN Classic because of a rate-hike dispute with Disney, ESPN’s parent company. “This is a huge disservice to consumers,” ESPN President George Bodenheimer said. This also could be a bad sign for sports fans who have DirecTV because EchoStar is in the process of taking over DirecTV, although that deal still may not go through. ... Another bad sign: Are we going to see digital billboards like the ones Fox gave us during the World Series on football telecasts? A blue America Online billboard popped up several times on the field during the second half of CBS’ coverage of the Sun Bowl Monday. While the game was sponsored by Wells Fargo, America Online sponsored the yellow first-and-10 maker.

Short Waves

Charley Steiner, who has been with ESPN since 1988, is leaving the network to do New York Yankee radio. ... Former New York Knick coach Jeff Van Gundy, on a tryout with TNT, will work as a guest analyst on a game between Orlando and Philadelphia on Wednesday. ... Leo Gerard, president of the United Steelworkers union, goes after the NCAA on CBS’ “60 Minutes” Sunday. He calls the NCAA a sweatshop because of the way it treats athletes.

Radio Daze

Fred Roggin begins his weekday, 2-3 p.m. show on KMPC (1540) on Monday. His first guest will be T.J. Simers. ... Beginning Jan. 28, Roggin will have a new lead-in. The Sporting News Radio network is replacing the loud and often obnoxious Nestor Aparicio with Tim Brando. The move is definitely a step up. Brando, who will continue working for CBS, is a proven pro. ... Keith Olbermann has found radio work. He’ll host 31/2-minute vignettes featuring Howard Cosell commentaries twice a day for ABC Radio beginning Jan. 21. The commentaries will come from two old Cosell shows, “Speaking of Sports” and “Speaking of Everything.” ABC is looking for a Los Angeles station to carry the vignettes.

In Closing

Talk about politically incorrect. This was heard on Fox Sports Net New England via an NBA League Pass telecast of a game between Boston and Sacramento this week: Celtic commentator Tom Heinsohn, after a call by referee Dee Kantner went against Celtics, said that Kantner “ought to go back to the women’s league.”