ABC May Put Michaels on NBA

Doug Collins is headed for TNT and there is a strong possibility that Al Michaels will be ABC’s new NBA play-by-play announcer.

TNT announced late Thursday that Collins had signed a five-year contract, dropping a monkey wrench into ABC’s plan, which was to pair Michaels with Collins.

A partner for Michaels, assuming he accepts the NBA assignment ABC is expected to offer him? Bill Walton and/or Tom Tolbert, who worked with Brad Nessler on the ABC team last season, are possibilities.

But first comes the chore of convincing Michaels, the play-by-play announcer on “Monday Night Football” since 1986, to add to his workload.

There have been only preliminary talks regarding Michaels and the NBA, but there is little question he will get the job if he wants it.

TNT did not say who Collins’ broadcast partners would be. It seems likely he’ll be part of a three-man team.

“The way we look at it, we now have two A-plus teams,” said Jeff Behnke, senior vice president of production for Turner Sports.

TNT’s play-by-play announcers are Marv Albert and Kevin Harlan, and the game commentators are Mike Fratello, John Thompson, Steve Kerr, who was signed last week, and now Collins.

Collins said he was not concerned about who he’ll work with.

“For me, the company I’ll be working for is more important,” he said from Wilmington, N.C., where he was vacationing with his family.

Collins worked for Turner Sports for six seasons, 1989 to ‘94, before moving on to NBC and then back into coaching with the Washington Wizards, who fired him after last season.

“I’ve always said I could never repay Turner for what they did for me early in my career,” he said. “I had just been fired in Chicago [by the Bulls] and they stepped up to the plate. I’ll never forget that, and I’m very comfortable with the people there.

“It would have been nice to work the NBA Finals, but we have the NBA All-Star game and the Western Conference finals.”

Collins had an offer from ABC-ESPN that would have made him the lead NBA commentator. Losing him was a big blow to ABC-ESPN.

Now the focus there is on getting Michaels on board.

Pushing for it are Mike Pearl, a veteran who three weeks ago took over as ABC Sports’ executive producer, and Mark Shapiro, ESPN’s youthful but powerful production chief.

“Al is the voice and face of ABC Sports,” Shapiro said. “We’d be foolish not to reach out to Al to get a feel on his availability and interest.”

Pearl, who declined to offer any specifics, said he and Shapiro would sit down soon to talk about NBA on-air talent.

This is Pearl’s second stint at ABC, after tenures at CBS and TNT. Pearl worked with Michaels in the 1980s on “Wide World of Sports,” the Olympics and college football.

So it’s logical that Pearl would want Michaels to be ABC’s lead play-by-play announcer. Shapiro might be more inclined than Pearl to stick with Nessler. Shapiro was involved in Nessler’s getting the top job going into last season, ABC’s first under a new contract with the NBA.

Pearl came to ABC from TNT, where the NBA coverage, which includes the production, announcing and studio show, is widely regarded as superior to ABC’s. Pearl has an edict to improve ABC’s NBA coverage, and Michaels and Collins were at the top of his list.

But with Collins no longer available, Pearl and Shapiro will have to come up with a different plan. Both were interviewed before TNT made its late-hour announcement, and neither could be reached Thursday night.

Pearl and Shapiro work as a team because ESPN, besides producing its own NBA coverage, also produces ABC’s.

George Bodenheimer, the president of ESPN and ABC Sports, has the final say on any changes. But he will more than likely go along with what his lead production people recommend.

Pearl said he and Shapiro had talked, but only by phone.

“We haven’t talked much about talent,” Pearl said. “That isn’t something you talk about on the phone.”

Michaels said he knew nothing of an NBA assignment.

“This is news to me,” he said. “No one has talked to me, so I really don’t have any comment.”

Two sources said he and Pearl would be meeting soon.

If ABC persuades Michaels to take the NBA job, he will work only ABC telecasts. That means Nessler could end up as ESPN’s lead play-by-play announcer.

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Skate and Shoot

Who is the most fearless person involved in the X Games? It may be Todd Grossman, an ESPN cameraman who shoots on skates.

Grossman, 26, a graduate of the USC film school, will use a hand-held Steadicam mounted to his waist as he shoots the in-line skating, skateboarding and bike stunts held on the Park Course located in the parking lot across from Staples Center.

Holding the camera is the easy part. The hard part is skating along with the competitors, on all the jumps and obstacles.

Grossman, a former in-line competitor, has been doing this kind of camerawork for several years, shooting documentaries for his own production company. ESPN got wind of him and hired him for these X Games.

He is unique. ESPN has used cameramen on skis at the Winter X Games, but having a cameraman on skates is a first.

Of course, it’s dangerous work. Grossman says the first thing you learn in in-line skating is how to fall. That’s one thing. Learning to fall with the camera in your lap is another.

“I’ve been hurt a few times, and have the scars to prove it,” Grossman said. “But I’ve always managed to save the camera.”

At least he has his priorities in order.

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Huge Task

X Games competition began Thursday but the more than 20 hours of television coverage doesn’t begin until Saturday. Six hours of the ESPN-produced coverage will be on ABC this weekend, with the rest on ESPN and ESPN2 Monday through Thursday.

ESPN has 600 people working the X Games.

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Short Waves

Remember all the confusion during the first round of the baseball playoffs last season, when games were on Fox, FX and ABC Family? In Los Angeles, one Angel-New York Yankee telecast, produced by ESPN, was on ABC Family and Fox-owned Channel 11. This season, there will be more order, with ABC Family no longer being involved. ESPN and ESPN2 will televise at least nine games and a maximum of 14. Fox will have the rest, a maximum of six.

With Jimmy Kimmel now having his own late-night show on ABC, he is no longer available for his role on Fox’s NFL pregame show. Comedian and MAD-TV star Frank Caliendo has emerged as the leading candidate to replace Kimmel. Caliendo made cameo appearances on Kimmel’s segments last season, most notably impersonating John Madden. Coordinating producer Scott Ackerson said a final decision had not been made.

Dick Enberg will appear wearing formal attire during CBS’ PGA Championship coverage this weekend. Enberg got dressed up for a feature he has done on Walter Hagen that will air Saturday. Hagen, from Rochester, N.Y., used to show up for golf in formal attire after having been out all night partying.... Here’s an oddity about Enberg. He doesn’t have a personal e-mail address or a cell phone.

Del Mar’s Pat O’Brien Handicap Sunday will be part of TVG’s “Trackside Live” show on Fox Sports Net 2.... AVP volleyball, which drew respectable national ratings of 1.2 on Saturday and 1.8 on Sunday with coverage from Manhattan Beach, is back on NBC this weekend, this time from Huntington Beach.

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In Closing

ABC has been supportive of new “Monday Night Football” sideline reporter Lisa Guerrero, even though she did a sexy photo shoot for FHM magazine before she was hired. But maybe ABC officials are not aware that the lingerie she was wearing is see-through. The magazine is due out in mid-September.