Finding a New Comfort Zone

Television is often a stopgap for out-of-work coaches and managers, a halfway house of sorts.

Joe Torre and Buck Showalter took that route. So did Pat Riley and Doug Collins. Mike Fratello has been back and forth. Hubie Brown went back to coaching after 13 years in television. Jeff Van Gundy might be headed back to coaching.

The list goes on and on.

Coaching is hard to get out of your blood. The highs can’t be duplicated, and the lows become a faded memory.

But sometimes, coaches realize that broadcasting isn’t such a bad gig and stick with it. John Madden is a prime example. He has grown more rich and famous in broadcasting than he ever was in coaching.

Kevin Kennedy and Barry Melrose are comfortable as broadcasters.

Kennedy, former manager for the Texas Rangers and Boston Red Sox, resumes his role as a studio analyst Saturday when Fox begins its weekly baseball coverage. The game to be seen in this part of the country at 10 a.m. is the Angels at Boston.

Kennedy has been in broadcasting since he was fired by the Red Sox in 1996.

Melrose, who was the Kings’ coach when they went to the Stanley Cup finals in 1993, may be involved in another Southern California Stanley Cup finals, this time as a ESPN studio commentator. He has been full time with ESPN for eight years. Still, a little of the itch to coach remains.

He had been a guest analyst for ESPN during the 1994 playoffs. When he was fired by the Kings in 1995, with eight games left in the season, he got a call from ESPN the same day.

“Three days later, I’m working a game in Anaheim,” he said.

He was full time by the start of the next season.

With the Mighty Ducks on the verge of a Stanley Cup final appearance, Melrose said, “It’ll be nice to be returning home, although you can never count Minnesota out.”

A native of Canada, Melrose still calls Los Angeles home. It certainly holds fond memories for him. The Kings played the storied Montreal Canadiens in the 1993 finals at the Forum, winning Game 1 there, and Melrose was in the spotlight.

“I’ve said this before, that for two months, Los Angeles was the greatest hockey place in the world,” he said.

He recalls all the Hollywood celebrities who were suddenly King fans.

“I remember [owner] Bruce McNall saying he had 300 rinkside tickets and he needed 500,” Melrose said. “Sylvester Stallone and Steven Spielberg were coming to games. The limos were around the block on Prairie Avenue.

“Ronald and Nancy Reagan came to a game. I remember having to walk through all the Secret Service agents to get to my spot on the bench.”

Melrose said he turned down three coaching offers.

“I had just gotten into broadcasting and wasn’t hungry enough [to return to coaching],” he said. “I was too picky and turned down some opportunities.”

Now, he wouldn’t be so picky.

“I’d love to coach again,” he said.

“My sons are grown and in college. Now would be the perfect time.”

But he realizes he has been away from coaching for so long, it’s unlikely any offers are going to be coming his way. And that’s OK. He enjoys what he is doing.

Ray Ferraro, who played for the Kings for most of four seasons beginning with the 1995-96 season, is usually Melrose’s commentating sidekick on the ESPN studio show. They seem to have a good time.

“I’m always a foot away from that laugh,” Ferraro said.

Melrose, who also works the ABC studio show with John Saunders, is headed back to Southern California for a Stanley Cup final if the Ducks beat the Minnesota Wild one more time. The ESPN and ABC studio shows will be done from the game sites, and Melrose wouldn’t mind if Anaheim were one of those sites.

“It was magical in 1993, and I hope it’s similar to that in Anaheim,” he said.

Defining Moment

Kennedy said he realized he was a broadcaster, not an out-of-work baseball manager, when he didn’t get the Dodger managing job in 1998.

“That was my defining moment,” he said. “I thought I had a real chance at getting the job. It’s the job I really wanted, having grown up in Los Angeles. But I got knocked out at the last second.”

Kennedy said Kevin Malone, who was then the Dodgers’ general manager, had indicated the job was his.

“Someone higher up than Kevin decided to go with someone else,” Kennedy said. “I’ll just leave it at that.”

Kennedy attended Taft High in Woodland Hills, where he was a teammate of Robin Yount, then went on to San Diego State. He spent eight years in triple-A ball as a catcher, then worked for the Dodgers and as minor league manager and catching instructor for 10 years.

After his major league managing stints ended, he went to work for ESPN for two years.

In 1998, Fox didn’t hire Kennedy as a manager but did hire him as a broadcaster. One appealing aspect of the job was that Kennedy could live in his native Southern California. He and wife Kathy reside in Tarzana.

Kennedy has been on Fox’s national pregame show for the last three years, working alongside host Jeannie Zelasko under the tutelage of producer Gary Lang. Twice, Kennedy has been nominated for a sports Emmy as best studio analyst.

He lost this year to Cris Collinsworth. At the Sawards banquet in New York last month, Zelasko was the presenter.

“I thought about just saying, ‘And the winner is, Kevin Kennedy,’ and then just let them sort things out later,” Zelasko quipped.

“Kevin deserved the award.”

Local Emmys

Local Emmy nominations were announced this week, and Fox Sports Net was not only the sports leader but the leader overall with 16. Channel 9 was second with 15, getting sports nominations for its Laker and boxing coverage. Channel 13’s “Dodger Dugout,” which is produced by Fox Sports Net, was among the nominations.... Some Emmy winners, selected by a jury of peers, have already been named. One winner was Shaquille O’Neal. He is listed as one of the producers of a Fox Sports Net sports tease titled “The Return of Shaq.”

Short Waves

It will be a busy weekend for NBC’s Tom Hammond. He’ll be in Baltimore for the Preakness on Saturday, then in Grand Rapids, Mich., announcing an Arena Football League game with Pat Haden.... Haden will be at Riviera Country Club on Monday to be honored at the L.A. Sports & Entertainment Commission’s fourth Celebrity Golf and Tennis Classic.

NBC producer David Michaels said one feature during the 1 1/2 hours of Preakness coverage Saturday will be a review of the charge that Kentucky Derby winning jockey Jose Santos had a battery in his hand. Michaels called the charge “ridiculous” and said it took a horrible toll on Santos’ family.

For its regular-season baseball coverage this season, Fox will be putting microphones on players for the first time. Also, viewers can e-mail comments and questions to the announcers. “Maybe we’ll get some comments on the new All-Star game format,” quipped Fox Sports President Ed Goren.... Have you noticed? The omnipresent Jim Gray is now doing features and interviews for ABC’s NBA coverage.

ABC will cover the NBA draft lottery next Thursday before either Game 2 or 3 of the Eastern Conference finals.... ABC sideline reporter Melissa Stark, expecting her first child in September, will miss the entire “Monday Night Football” season. Lisa Guerrero is among the candidates to fill in.

In Closing

In a taped interview, Jerry Seinfeld, appearing on HBO’s “On the Record With Bob Costas” tonight at 11:30, tells a horse racing joke that he told on the night of the Kentucky Derby on stage at Caesars Palace.

“Do horses know they are racing?” asks Seinfeld. “What do they think is going on? They must get to the end and go, ‘We were just here. What’s the point of that?’ The horse says, ‘If we had just stayed here, we would have been first.’ ”