Macdonald Enjoys His Schoolwork

Bill Macdonald is known around FSN West for his versatility. He has been at the regional sports network since its inception as Prime Ticket in 1985, and has done every possible on-air job.

Macdonald has done play-by-play on college sports, served as a pregame host, worked as a field reporter and sports-news anchor, won a local Emmy for his work on Special Olympics shows, and made lots of friends.

When somebody needs an emcee for a charity event, Macdonald is often the first person called. He rarely says no.

With the departure of Mike Lamb to do sports-talk radio in Sacramento, Mike Connelly, FSN West’s executive producer, needed a new play-by-play announcer for high school football. He knew what the answer would be if he asked Macdonald.

Macdonald not only accepted the assignment, he handled it with the same enthusiasm he handled a Laker, Dodger or Angel pregame show.

“First of all, my favorite thing to do in broadcasting is call games, and that’s what I get to do here,” he said. “Secondly, and I’m not one to really pay attention to ratings, but I know a lot of people watch our high school telecasts.

“The third thing is, it’s my job. They ask me to do it, so I do it.”

Macdonald, known to friends as Billy Mac, and his commentating partner, John Jackson, the former USC receiver known as J.J., wrap up the season tonight and Saturday night with the Southern Section Division I and Division II championship games at Angel Stadium.

“It has been a fun season,” Macdonald said. “We’ve had some great games, and I’ve really enjoyed working alongside J.J.”

Preceding the game coverage each night will be half-hour pregame shows at 7, with co-hosts Lindsay Soto and Sean Farnham.

Ideal Situation

Al Michaels and his new ABC partner on NBA telecasts, Hubie Brown, were courtside at Staples Center on Wednesday night calling the Laker game against Phoenix. But it was only for practice.

“It went very well,” Michaels said afterward. “We were thinking about doing another rehearsal game, but there’s really no need for it. We’re ready to go. Hubie is great.”

Michaels and Brown will be doing their first game for real on Christmas Day when ABC televises the much-anticipated game between the Lakers and Miami Heat at Staples Center.

Brown said he wasn’t even thinking about a broadcasting job when he quit as coach of the Memphis Grizzlies on Thanksgiving Day. He emphasized that he quit because of health concerns. Declining to go into specifics, he said he kept feeling worse and worse.

Now Brown is feeling better and has a job that is less time consuming, less stressful.

“This is perfect for me,” he said.

And it’s good for ABC too. From the time he first went to work for CBS in 1986 until he left TNT in 2002, Brown was always one the best basketball commentators in the business.

Short Waves

The City high school championship game between Dorsey and Birmingham at the Coliseum tonight at 8 will be televised delayed at 10 by LA Channel 36 and repeated several times over the weekend. KLCS 58 will show the game Saturday at 8 a.m. Announcing will be Randy Rosenbloom and Dave Marcus.

The Target World Challenge at Sherwood Country Club, featuring PGA Tour player of the year Vijay Singh and tournament host Tiger Woods, will be televised on the USA Network again today and on ABC Saturday and Sunday.

ESPN’s Heisman Trophy show will be on at 5 p.m. Saturday, followed at 6 by the much-ballyhooed movie, “3,” about Dale Earnhardt. It’s worth watching, but the problem with dramatizations is that it’s hard to tell what is factual and what isn’t.

ESPN’s promotion mechanism has been in high gear for “3.” Besides all the promos on ESPN’s networks, ESPN Classic on Thursday morning began 60 hours of continuous programming devoted to Earnhardt. And ESPN Classic will have a live panel discussion and call-in program after the movie.

“The Curse of the Bambino,” HBO’s award-winning 2003 documentary about the frustration of Boston Red Sox fans, has been remade into the “Reverse of the Curse of the Bambino.” The first airing is tonight at 8.... Another outstanding documentary is “Hardwood Dreams: 10 Years Later,” about the starting five of the 1993 Inglewood Morningside High basketball team. It will be on Spike TV tonight at 9.

A crew from “NBA Inside Stuff” recently spent six days with the Clippers, filming a behind-the-scenes feature. The first of two installments will be on Sunday’s show on Channel 7 at 3 p.m., the second the following Sunday.

TVG offers live coverage of the Grade I $1,509,324 Los Alamitos Million Futurity tonight on “The Quarters” at 7 p.m. FSN West 2 will show it at 11 p.m.... The opening match of the Mexican league soccer finals between UNAM and Monterrey on KFTR Channel 46 drew a 22.9 rating in Latino households, the station’s highest rating for any program.... CSTV will televise the four women’s regional volleyball finals Saturday, beginning at 1 p.m.

Former Miami Dolphin coach Dave Wannstedt has been hired as an NFL commentator by Fox. But he isn’t starting out with a very big assignment, drawing San Francisco at Arizona with play-by-play partner Dan Miller. That game is going to only 5% of the country.