Worthy Stays Busy--but Not Too Busy

James Worthy, the son of a minister and blessed with a basso voice, is a broadcasting natural.

He had a two-year run as the NBA analyst on Fox Sports News, he’ll be working the NCAA tournament as a game analyst for CBS and he’s serving as a spokesman for DirecTV.

He also will be hosting a chat room on CBS Sportsline Tuesday at 9 p.m. to talk about the NCAA tournament.

DirecTV hired Worthy to help promote its tournament pay package. The satellite service is offering 34 out-of-market games during the first three rounds for $39, or individual games for $14.95.

Worthy worked regular-season games for CBS the last three weekends, and the brass at CBS was pleased. He’ll be paired with play-by-play announcer Tim Brando during the tournament.

Worthy doesn’t need to work. He’s financially set. After he retired from the Lakers in November 1994, owner Jerry Buss paid out the remaining two years of his contract--$7.2 million for the 1994-95 season and $5.15 million for the next season.

One of his problems when he worked for Fox Sports Net was that he wasn’t your typical willing-to- work-14-hour-days-for-nothing employee that the Fox people like. After a good run, there was a mutual parting of the ways.

“I showed up every day and sat in my cubicle like everyone else,” Worthy said. “But I wasn’t going to be a workaholic. I wanted time to spend with my kids.”

Worthy said another problem was that producers wanted him to get exclusive interviews with people such as Michael Jordan, his college teammate, and Pat Riley, his former coach.

“I didn’t want to use friendships like that,” he said. “But I’m not going to say anything bad about anyone at Fox. I’m too old and wise to make enemies.

“The only time in my career I let everything out was when a reporter from the old Herald Examiner called me [in 1986] and told me I’d been traded to Dallas [for Mark Aguirre and rookie Roy Tarpley].”

The trade never happened, and Worthy regretted his outburst.

John Terenzio, Fox Sports Net vice president in charge of Fox Sports News, said, “James was nothing but a gentleman, and he did good work. Had he been willing to work five days a week, he would still be here. But we also think Marques Johnson [his replacement] is doing a great job.”

Worthy, asked about his former team, said he liked the addition of Dennis Rodman.

“When I was playing, there were two players I hated to go up against, that I hated to even see,” he said. “Kevin McHale was one, Rodman was the other.”

Of Kurt Rambis, his former frontcourt mate who is now the Lakers’ coach, Worthy said he’d come a long way.

“You know, the Lakers have a dress code now because of Kurt,” he said. “This hippie surfer from Santa Clara wore the same torn jeans every day.

“I think Kurt is going to do well. He fits the mold of a Riley or a Phil Jackson--scrappy players without great natural ability, guys who are forced to become a student of the game.”

And Worthy fits the mold of someone who is going to make it in broadcasting.

A NEW CAP FOR ALBERT

Kenny Albert, better known as a football, baseball and hockey announcer--and for being Marv Albert’s son--delves into horse racing Saturday on Fox’s coverage of the Santa Anita Handicap. He will host the telecast.

“We were looking to put Kenny on a sport his father never did,” quipped Ed Goren, Fox’s executive producer.

Albert said, “I enjoy horse racing, I used to go to Pimlico when I lived in Washington, but I’m not going to pretend to be an expert. I’ll leave that up to the rest of the crew.”

The rest of the crew consists of Jay Privman, national correspondent for the Daily Racing Form, trainer Ron Ellis, working his third race for Fox, and Florida commentator Caton Bredar.

The Big ‘Cap is the second of the National Thoroughbred Racing Assn.’s five-race “Champions on Fox” series. Puerto Madero, winner of the Donn Handicap on Jan. 30, can win $5 million if the 5-year-old Chilean-bred can sweep the series, which ends with the Pacific Classic at Del Mar on Aug. 29.

SHORT WAVES

Fox Sports News has settled on anchor pairings. It will be Keith Olbermann and Kevin Frazier at 10 p.m. with the Chris Myers-Steve Lyons and Jeanne Zelasko-Van Earl Wright teams sharing the 11 p.m. slot. Fox Sports News this week went to a 6 p.m. time slot, with Jon Kelley as the host. . . . An innovation called LucentVision will be used by ESPN and ESPN2 on the $2.45-million Newsweek Champions Cup tennis tournament at Indian Wells next week. The computer-enhanced technology will help commentators show such things as how far and how fast players are running. . . . There has been some confusion over the time of UCLA women’s final regular-season game against Arizona on Saturday at Pauley Pavilion. The game will be televised at 1 p.m. on Fox Sports West.

Tiger Woods and other top-20 golfers were gone before the weekend, but the Match Play Championship at La Costa still got a 3.6 national rating Sunday, when Jeff Maggert beat Andrew Magee in a playoff. . . . With CBS busy with college basketball, NBC begins a five-week golf run this week with the Doral-Ryder Open. . . . Recommended viewing: “Mark O’Meara’s 1998 Masters: In His Own Words” on the Golf Channel at 6 p.m. Monday. . . . Fox Sports Net begins its second season of Formula One racing with taped coverage of the Australian Grand Prix Sunday at 10 a.m. . . . Joe McDonnell will serve as a guest host on the One on One network tonight, 11 p.m.-3 a.m., and can be heard on KCTD (1540).

IN CLOSING

Leave it to someone in talk radio to do something really dumb. This time it is Allie MacKay, sidekick of John Ireland and Derrick Hall on XTRA 1150’s morning show. She is going to live atop an XTRA billboard at the Universal Bar and Grill in Universal City until the Clippers win a game. She could be up there the whole season.

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What Los Angeles Is Watching

A sampling of L.A. Nielsen ratings for Feb. 27-28, including sports on cable networks:

SATURDAY

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Over-the-air Channel Rating Share Figure skating: Four Continents Championship 4 4.1 14 Golf: Match Play Championship 7 3.9 9 Track and field: U.S. Indoor Championships 4 2.4 7 Skiing: World Nordic Championships 4 2.1 7 Hockey: Mighty Ducks at San Jose 9 1.6 3 College basketball: New Mexico at Utah 2 1.3 4 College basketball: St. John’s at Villanova 2 1.2 4 College basketball: Missouri at Texas 2 1.2 3

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Cable Network Rating Share Boxing: Cesar Bazan vs. Stevie Johnston HBO 2.4 4 College basketball: Washington at UCLA FSW 1.3 3 Pro basketball: Charlotte at Chicago WGN 0.4 1 Track and field: U.S. Indoor Championships ESPN 0.4 1 College basketball: Duke at North Carolina ESPN2 0.3 1 Soccer: Women, Finland vs. U.S. ESPN2 0.3 1 College basketball: Arizona at Stanford FX 0.1 0 College basketball: Washington State at USC FSW2 0.1 0 Pro basketball: Atlanta vs. Clippers FSW2 0.1 0 Tennis: ATP Guardian Direct FSW2 0.1 0

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SUNDAY

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Over-the-air Channel Rating Share Pro basketball: Houston at Lakers 4 10.3 26 Pro basketball: Utah at San Antonio 4 4.6 13 Pro basketball: New York at Miami 4 4.5 12 Golf: Match Play Championship 7 3.8 11 Soccer: Guadalajara vs. Morelia 34 2.0 5 Hockey: Kings at Dallas 11 1.0 3 College basketball: Kentucky at Tennessee 2 0.8 2 College basketball: Connecticut at Syracuse 2 0.5 2 College basketball: Michigan State at Purdue 2 0.5 1

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Cable Network Rating Share Hockey: St. Louis at Chicago ESPN 0.5 1 Horse racing: San Rafael Stakes FSW 0.5 1 Golf: Senior Ace Group Classic ESPN 0.5 1 Golf: Touchstone Energy Tucson Open CNBC 0.3 1 Skiing: World Nordic Championships ESPN2 0.2 0 College basketball: WCC tournament semifinals FSW2 0.1 0

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WEEKDAY RATINGS: Monday--Lakers at Phoenix, Ch. 9, 7.5/14.

Note: Each rating point represents 50,092 L.A. households. Cable ratings reflect the entire market, even though cable is in only 63% of L.A. households.