==TNT's Marv Albert, who'll be on Lakers' games this playoff season through the Western Conference finals, admits that Kobe Bryant did gesture to him and Reggie Miller at one point in the fourth quarter of Wednesday's Game 2 against Denver at Staples Center, shaking his head after hitting a 3-pointer in route to a 49-point effort. Bryant scored 19 points during a 4 1/2-minute period in that quarter.
His reaction was much the same way Michael Jordan shrugged his shoulders at Albert, Magic Johnson and Mike Fratello at the NBC broadcast courtside position when Jordan went 6-for-6 on 3-pointers in the first half of the 1992 Finals Game 1 contest as the Chicago Bulls were whipping the Portland Trailblazers.
Albert says the TNT producers are planning to replay Kobe’s reaction in comparison to Jordan’s and show it as part of the Game 3 telecast.
“The Czar (Fratello) still thinks Jordan was looking at him,” said Albert. “It was Magic.”

**SPECIALS

==After some extensive housecleaning and archiving at its New Jersey warehouse, NBC has cobbled together a special called "Icons from the Archives" that airs Sunday at 2 p.m. and hopefully doesn't get bumped if coverage of the Rangers-Penguins Stanley Cup playoff game goes into overtime (with an 11 a.m. start).
Mixed in among the Beta tapes of "Supertrain," "Hello, Larry" and "The Waverly Wonders," the network guys excavated footage of Muhammad Ali, Hank Aaron, Joe Namath and Howard Cosell that it found compelling enough to splice into this Jimmy Roberts-hosted event.
An NBC Sports production crew led by producer John Gilmartin went through hundreds of hours of 16mm film and one and two-inch tape, then dusted off an old Steenbeck Flatbed film-editing machine to splice it together for modern viewing.
The segment on Cosell, the ABC iconic broadcaster, is one we're going to focus on most, and shows up in the third part of this show. He was interviewed by Pete Axthelm in 1985 for an "NBC SportsWorld Special" called "The Great Communicators," and talks about a 1978 live interview he did with Cuba leader Fidel Castro that was, to his horror, cut short because he was told he had to go to Jim McKay at a speed skating event in Lake Placid.
"The television industry (he says, shaking his head)," on the segment.
Don't miss an original commercial that aired during the 1977 Ali-Shavers fight in which Cosell interviews a representative from General Electric's CB Radio division on why consumers should buy GE's Citizen Band radios. Breaker, breaker ... looks like we got us a bad toupee.
Bob Costas is also brought in to talk about his first meeting with Cosell: "I work up my nerve and I extend my hand and I say, 'Mr. Cosell, my name is Bob Costas and it's a pleasure to meet you.' He says, 'I know who you are. You're the child who rhapsodizes about the infield fly rule. I'm sure you'll have a fine career.' And he turned and walked away. And because it was Howard Cosell, I was greatly amused and oddly honored by the encounter."

The show starts with Aaron on NBC's "The Baseball World of Joe Gargiola" as well as a Tom Brokaw documentary called "The Long Winter of Henry Aaron." It includes a clip of NBC News "Special Report" breaking into a daytime soap opera when he tied Babe Ruth's all-time home run record with No. 714 at Cincinnati. Segment two is Namath is on a 1978 interview with WNBC's Tony Guida that aired on an NBC NFL pregame show. It concludes with Ali talking about the last rounds of his 15-round 1977 fight against Earnie Shavers, which was called by Dick Enberg, Larry Merchant and Ken Norton. If this special flies, expect NBC to do more digging. Hey, it could even launch a Classic Sports channel that .... oh, ESPN has one? How's that workin' for 'em?

==Speaking of Costas:
The lineup for Tuesday's HBO "Costas: Now" special on sports and the contemporary media runs live (in the East/delayed in the West) from 10-to-11:30 p.m., and it has "must see TV" all over it for those who've watched the sports media growing pains over the last few years.
Five segments will explore the different aspects of the subject. It lays out like this:
Segment One: Sports Talk Radio. There are taped interviews with Chicago radio host Mike North, Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward, Chicago Sun-Times columnist Jay Mariotti, WFAN radio hosts "Mike & The Mad Dog." Then a live panel with New York Giants defensive end Michael Strahan, author and radio host Mitch Albom and WFAN radio host Chris “Mad Dog” Russo.
Segment Two: The Internet and impact of bloggers. Taped interviews with deadspin.com editor Will Leitch, TV writer and media critic Michael Schur and Washington Post columnist and ESPN's "PTI" co-host Michael Wilbon. The live panel includes Leitch, author Buzz Bissinger and Cleveland Browns wide receiver Braylon Edwards.
Segment Three: Sports TV. On video, Al Michaels, former ABC and NBC executive and producer Don Ohlmeyer and columnist/ESPN poker analyst Norman Chad. Live: Joe Buck, Mike Tirico and Dan Patrick.
Segment Four: Athletes and the Media: A Complicated Marriage. On video, Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling, Miami Dolphins defensive end Jason Taylor, former NBA star and Turner Sports analyst Charles Barkley, Chicago columnist Sam Smith and Al Michaels. Live: NBC’s Tiki Barber, Sports Illustrated columnist Selena Roberts and former tennis star and current TV analyst John McEnroe.
Segment Five: A Discussion on Race. Video: Wilbon, former NFL star Kellen Winslow, Sr., and espn.com editor-in-chief Rob King. Live: Former NFL star and current ESPN commentator Cris Carter and Kansas City Star columnist Jason Whitlock.
This comes on the heels of a 1,600 word piece in Monday's New York Times called "Tension of Sports Blogging" by Tim Arango that spells out many of the power-stuggle issues that sports teams are trying to get a handle on as the definition of mainstream media seems to take on a new definition every day.
One professional hockey executive said the situation was volatile, and that he thought the issue would eventually have to be resolved by the Supreme Court, Arango writes.
APSE President and K.C. Star Managing Editor for Sports and Features Mike Fannin said that the dispute was the "result of traditional news organizations redefining themselves in a changing technological environment."
MLB President & COO Bob DuPuy says: "I'm all for selling newspapers and magazines. What I'm not for is them branching off in to other enterprises."

**FOOTBALL

==Your starting lineups for this weekend's NFL Draft coverage on Saturday (spilling into Sunday, possibly Monday):
ESPN: For the four-hour preview show, there's Trey Wingo, Cris Carter, Mike Ditka, Tom Jackson, Merril Hoge, Todd McShay and Michael Smith in Bristol, Conn. (8 a.m. to noon). On one set at Radio City Music Hall in New York, mssrs Chris Berman, Keyshawn Johnson, Mel Kiper Jr., Steve Young and Chris Mortensen. On the "other" set, there's Mike Tirico, Ron Jaworski and Kirk Herbstreit. Plus new mom Suzy Kolber runs around doing interviews. Hank Goldberg (at Miami Dolphins), Rachel Nichols (Atlanta Falcons), Sal Paolantonio (New York Giants) and Ed Werder (Dallas Cowboys) are embedded with those four teams.
Colin Cowherd does the ESPN Radio show version with John Clayton.
Oh, how we miss Sean Salisbury right about now.
Somehow the NFL Network didn't scoop him up.

The NFL Net: The pregame show (8 a.m. to noon) takes on the theme: Is the draft an art or a science? Steve Sabol and Mike Mayock have three features taking historical looks at various draft strategies. Once it begins, the "main" set has Rich Eisen, Mike Mayock, Marshall Faulk and Steve Mariucci, with Charles Davis, Jamie Dukes and Brian Billick at the kid's table and Deion Sanders and Adam Schefter are walking the floor. All of them are in New York. But at the Culver City studios, there's Fran Charles, Alex Flanagan, Charley Casserly, Mike Lombardi and Tom Waddle. At team facilities, they've also dispatched Michelle Beisner (at Atlanta Falcons), Paul Burmeister (Oakland Raiders), Scott Hanson (Miami Dolphins), Kara Henderson (New England Patriots), Derrin Horton (Dallas Cowboys) and Solomon Wilcots (Cincinnati Bengals).

And why should viewers stick with ESPN’s coverage instead of venturing over the NFL Network?
“Because we’ve been the voice of record for some time and our talent is unmatched,” said ESPN producer Jay Rothman. “Those guys do a great job -- I respect and know all of them -- but I stand by our guys.”

==The cover story for the current issue of Sports Illustrated deals with "The Best Game Ever." It's the name of a new book by Mark Bowden on the 50th anniversary of the Baltimore Colts-New York Giants NFL title game at Yankee Stadium that "launched pro football into the stratosphere of billion-dollar franchises and multimillion-dollar player salaries," says everyone. For the record, that game was played on Dec. 28, 1958, so it's a very premature celebration. Why do it now?

This spins off a story in the New York Times this week where media/business writer Richard Sandomir tries to figure out why so many sports books lately have to resort to using "best ever" or "greatest ever" to describe an event from the past.

“I just like the sound of ‘best,’ ” said Bowden, who thought first of calling his book “23-17.” He added: “I think the game is defensibly the best, but if it makes people debate it, that’s fine. It had strategy, sheer excitement and historical importance.”
Another book about the game, written by the Giants’ Frank Gifford with Peter Richmond, is being published in the summer. Dave Hirshey, the executive editor of HarperCollins, said that book’s working title had been “The Greatest Game Ever.”
“I was horrified,” he said. “There were 17,000 books of the same name on Amazon. So I changed it to ‘The Glory Game.’ ”

==Keith Rivers, the USC linebacker headed to some NFL team this weekend, will blog his experience about waiting through the draft process on Yardbarker.com. He will supposedly post video clips, photos and a diary from his draft party in Lake Mary, Florida, as well as interact with emails. He has been posting items since USC Pro Day on April 2.
"There is only so much you can control during the draft so I am just enjoying the process," Rivers said. "I am excited to find out where I will be playing and I am looking forward to sharing this moment with the fans. It's going to be a fun experience."

==Derek Hagen, the Northridge-born former Arizona State wide receiver from Palmdale High who went to the Miami Dolphins in the third round of the 2006 NFL Draft, is one of four players who star in a new 90-minute documentary, "Two Days in April," that debuts this weekend on The Documentary Channel. (Yes, we're not too familiar with the channel either, so get up to speed by going on their website and finding out more about how it's on the Dish Network but not DirecTV yet). The flick, financed by Netflix's Red Envelope Entertainment, airs Saturday and Sunday at 10 p.m. Directed by Don Argott and produced by L.A.-based 25/7 Productions, “Two Days In April” also had access to New Mexico running back DonTrell Moore, Oklahoma linebacker Clint Ingram and Oklahoma receiver Travis Wilson -- all signed by agent Tom Condon, as they are brought to the IMG Academy to get their game together before they hit the scouting combine. Moore went undrafted (but was signed by the New York Jets as a free agent); Ingram was picked in the third round by Jacksonville and Wilson was a third-round pick by Cleveland. Here's a link to a trailer on the doc's official website, www.twodaysinapril.com. The Documentary Channel, headquartered in Nashville, Tenn., with offices in Studio City, launched on the Dish Network in 2006 and reaches 21 million homes.

**BASEBALL:

==MLB has finally announced that Tony Petitti, who has been CBS Sports' executive vice president since 2005 and executive producer since '02, will leave to run the new MLB Network as president and CEO, scheduled to launch in January. "There are not too many executives that have the programming, production and business affairs experience that Tony has," CBS Sports and News chief Sean McManus told the Sports Business Journal. "There isn't a better executive in my mind to take on a challenge like the MLB Network." The MLB Network board consists of White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf, Red Sox chairman Tom Wener, Mets co-owner Jeff Wilpon, A's owner Lewis Wolff and Royals owner David Glass, as well as DirecTV president Chase Carey and Comcast COO Steve Burke , plus MLB president Bob DuPuy and MLB exec Tim Brosnan.

==More on FSN's “Amazing Sports Stories" series: The next episode (Sunday, 8 p.m., FSNWest) focuses on Ralph "Blackie" Schwamb, known as the greatest prison baseball player of all time. The story: Schwamb, born in Lancaster and an L.A. native, was kicked out of the Navy for going AWOL. He supposedly left the mob behind to become a pitcher in the St. Louis Browns organization (pitching in 12 games in the 1948 season). But his addiction to drinking and crime got him into San Quentin on a murder rap at age 23. In his 10 years there, he worked on his pitching and, upon his release, was given a shot with the Hawaiian Islanders minor-league team. It didn't pan out as the alcoholism got the best of him. Schwamb's story was told in a 2005 book by Eric Stone, "Wrong Side of the Wall."

==The Angels' series in Detroit this weekend takes the Fox (KTTV Channel 11) regional spot (Saturday, 12:55 p.m.) with Thom Brennaman and Jose Mota going to only nine percent of the country (most get Yankees-Indians with Buck and McCarver) and the ESPN Sunday night window (5 p.m.) with Jon Miller and Joe Morgan. Yankees-Indians are also on the TBS Sunday AM game slot.

==FSN West debuts a two-part "In My Own Words" with the Angels' Garrett Anderson, airing Monday and Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. leading into the Angels' games at Angel Stadium against Oakland.

**MOTORSPORTS

==Danica Patrick, your favorite female driver, comes off her first Indy Car League victory with an appearance in at the 300-mile race at Kansas Speedway on ESPN, Sunday at 2 p.m. Marty Reid and Scott Goodyear do the call, with Jack Arute, Brienne Pedigo and Vince Welch in the pits.

==Fox added a half-hour to its prerace show for Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup event at Talladega, meaning it starts at 10 a.m. (instead of 10:30 a.m.), leading into the 11 a.m. green flag. Did they extend it so they could get a live performance by Toby Lightman of his song, "NASCAR Love (Let's Go Racing)," which Fox uses as its new NASCAR opening theme?
ABC (Channel 7) has the Nationwide Series race live Saturday at 11:30 a.m.

**HOCKEY

==Going back to NBC and the NHL, the two agreed to keep up their partnership through the 2008-09 season, as the network exercised its option. "We believe this is a sport that will continue to grow," said NBC Sports boss Dick Ebersol.
Regular-season ratings for the NHL “Sunday Game of the Week” on NBC were up 11 percent over last year, and up 33 percent in the men 18-to-49 age demo.
In 2004, the network and league announced a two-year partnership, that was extended in 2007.

**RADIO:

==For the record, the “Three For All” featuring Steve Mason, Dave Damechek and Brian Long that KSPN-AM (710) has wedged into the 3-to-4 p.m. window out of a programming change when Stephen A. Smith left the airwaves two weeks ago has been an immediate hit. Think of the “Loose Cannons” on KLAC-AM (570), except less gratuitous yelling, more topic-driven debate and a sense of genuine fun between the three, who have their own shows to concern themselves with during the day but agreed to give this a try. Keep this stuff up, and we may start the petition for a “Three For All” that runs from noon to 10 p.m.

Meanwhile, ESPN Radio will make another adjustment starting May 1. "The Mike Tirico Show," which came about after Dan Patrick left, will become "Tirico & Van Pelt" (10 a.m. to noon) as Scott Van Pelt worms his way in and takes that solo hour (noon to 1 p.m.) that Stephen A. Smith used to have (but now won't be heard on 710-AM).

"Clearly some execs made a decision that will ultimately cost them their jobs,” Van Pelt said in an ESPN release of his new role “Before that inevitable end, I look forward to all the opportunities this presents to work with people I respect and enjoy. The solo hour will likely advance the level of discourse to a place never before heard in human history."

**AND FINALLY:

==Inside joking Ernie Johnson Jr. and Kenny Smith have been referring to Charles Barkley as "Tonto Kowalski" on the set the last few nights on the TNT NBA studio show. Even Dan Patrick asked Barkley about it on his syndicated radio show on Wednesday.
What's the genesis of this?
We can only tell you that you must Google the name "Tonto Kowalski," or simply go to this link.
Good luck with keeping the reference alive. And keeping Smith alive after he tried to repeat Kobe's stunt of jumping over a speeding Aston Martin: