He’s Long Retired, but Laker Fans See Heinsohn in Green

Tom Heinsohn, a fairly accomplished artist whose works have been sold in New England galleries, spends much of his free time painting.

There are plenty of people in Southern California, and elsewhere as well, who’d like to see Heinsohn paint himself into a corner and never come out.

The CBS pro basketball commentator isn’t too popular around here, and he just doesn’t understand why.

“People think I’m pro-Celtics and anti-Lakers,” the former Celtic player and coach said the other day. “Well, before the playoffs, I picked the Lakers to win it all. Also, Pat Riley is my coach of the year and Magic Johnson is my player of the year.

“You can’t get any more pro-Lakers than that.”

Heinsohn, before the start of the Eastern Conference finals, wasn’t even picking the Celtics to make it to the National Basketball Assn. championship series. He said it would be the Lakers and Detroit, and, if you can believe it, he said that’s the matchup he’d prefer seeing, anyway.

“Lakers-Pistons would be the most entertaining series,” he said. “The Celtics have already been through Guadalcanal and Hiroshima, and now they’re invading mainland China. Their starters are beat up and tired. They’re a gutty bunch, but I don’t think they’d give the Lakers much of a battle.”

Add Heinsohn: Bias, real or perceived, isn’t the only complaint heard about Heinsohn. His heavy New Jersey accent--Heinsohn grew up in Union City, N.J.--grates on some.

And some are bothered by Heinsohn’s habit of putting the subject at the end of a sentence. He says things such as: “There’s no question he’s the key player for the Lakers, Magic Johnson.” “He’s done a great job for the Sonics, Bernie Bickerstaff.”

Another problem is that in Los Angeles, most basketball fans like their announcing Chick Hearn-style. Hearn is technically the Lakers’ play-by-play man, but he also does more commentating than anyone this side of Johnny Most, the Celtics’ colorful announcer.

As commentators, Heinsohn and Hearn are as different as Los Angeles and Boston.

Heinsohn says that the criticism doesn’t bother him. He figures he’s doing something right, since he’s been CBS’ No. 1 commentator on the NBA for four seasons.

Also, his CBS co-workers, such as play-by-play announcer Dick Stockton and producer Mike Burks, have only good things to say about him.

See, there are people who like Heinsohn.

Boston’s Most, on objective reporting: “I don’t hold back. I am a fan. I’ve always said objectivity is baloney. If you are with the same people all of the time, you form affections. I may praise someone like Michael Jordan but I’m not going to be happy if he wins.”

That philosophy may be OK for Boston, but such blatant cheerleading wouldn’t work in a melting pot such as Los Angeles, where there are fans of so many teams.

Game 3 of the Laker-Seattle series Saturday will be televised by both Channel 9 and WTBS at 4 p.m. CBS is unable to televise the game because of other programming commitments, mainly the Atlanta golf tournament.

Game 4 Monday will be televised by CBS at noon, with Brent Musburger and Billy Cunningham reporting. The Stockton-Heinsohn team was scheduled to work the entire Western Conference final series, but CBS did some re-assigning earlier this week.

That’s good news for Laker fans who prefer Cunningham to Heinsohn, but bad news for those getting fed up with Musburger and his out-of-control ego.

Again last Sunday, while working Game 7 of the Boston-Milwaukee series, Musburger spent too much time attempting to draw attention to himself rather than just calling what was an exciting game.

Cunningham offers good insight, when Musburger gives him a chance. But Musburger often gets wrapped up in things that have nothing to do with the game--as he did last Sunday, when he started trying to name the starters on teams that had come back from the 3-to-1 deficits--and he ends up dominating the telecast.

Musburger is a capable announcer, but for some reason he’s been getting into the Howard Cosell syndrome--the game is important because he is announcing it.

Bobby Unser is back at Indianapolis, but Sunday he’ll be behind a microphone instead of behind a steering wheel. Hired away from NBC by ABC earlier this year, he’ll be announcing Sunday’s Indy 500 with Jim Lampley and Sam Posey.

In show business, when they say, “Break a leg,” it means “Good luck.” As things turned out, a broken leg was good luck for Unser. That’s what kept him out of action for a while in 1974, enabling him to work the Long Beach Grand Prix as a broadcaster.

“That got the slow ball rolling,” Unser said from Indianapolis this week. “Before that, I’d never given broadcasting a thought.”

Unser signed with ABC in February after spending four years as an NBC auto racing commentator.

“There were two reasons why I signed with ABC,” he said. “More live races, and Indy.”

Add Unser: His brother and nephew, Big Al and Little Al Unser, will be driving in Sunday’s race. How will Bobby handle the situation?

“I’ll play it straight,” he said. “When Al and I raced against each other, we had to separate the fact that we were brothers and be professional. I do the same thing as a broadcaster.”

Although Unser, 52, has retired from Indy-car racing, he’s still involved in other kinds of racing. “Everyone thinks I’m retired, but that’s not true,” he said.

Unser won at Indy in 1968, ’75 and ’81.

TV-Radio Notes ABC’s Indy coverage begins at 8 a.m. Sunday. The race is scheduled to begin around 9. . . . This is the second year the race will be televised live. . . . Besides Jim Lampley, Sam Posey and Bobby Unser in the booth, ABC will have Al Trautwig, Jack Arute and newcomer Jerry Gappens, assistant editor of Chris Economaki’s National Speed Sport News, working the pits and garages. Gappens, 26, also works for the CART radio network and is the track announcer for the Michigan 500, the Cleveland Grand Prix and the Meadowlands Grand Prix. Jim McKay will host the telecast. . . . Simi Valley’s KWNK (760) is the only Southern California radio station offering coverage of the race.

The Rams and KMPC have signed a new multiyear agreement. There had been a rumor that KMPC and the Raiders might make a deal, but apparently it was only a rumor. . . . Veteran play-by-play announcer Lon Simmons and commentator Wayne Walker, former star linebacker for the Detroit Lions, will be the San Francisco 49ers’ radio announcers this season, replacing Don Klein and Don Heinrich. The 49ers have switched from radio station KCBS to KGO. . . . Recommended viewing: “Long Gone,” an HBO movie about a 1950s minor league baseball team, which will be televised for the first time Saturday night at 8. It drags at the start but improves later on.