The Media Learning Curve: A 'Superstar,' but and we didn't get far

== Keith Jackson and Jim Lampley will co-MC the gala planned for Saturday, July 18 at the Coliseum to mark the 25th anniversary of the 1984 Olympic Games. Jackson did the men's and women's basketball during those Games for ABC from the Forum; Lampley worked on the swimming competition from USC. The event, co-sponsored by the Southern California Committee for the Olympic Games and the Los Angeles Sports Council, has $184 tickets available at www.the84games.com or (213) 482-6352.

== The HBO Ted Williams documentary that debuts Wednesday at 9:30 p.m. (with many replays through this month and August) pulls few punches about his antoganistic relationship with the media. Those who talk about Williams' career include journalists Leigh Montville and John Underwood (who wrote books about him), Richard Ben Cramer (who wrote the book, "What Do You Think of Ted Williams Now?") and Dan Shaughnessy, whose daughter was befriended by Williams when she was undergoing leukemia treatment.

Writers who covered Williams during his Hall of Fame career between 1939 and 1960 may not have been fond of his demeanor, but had to get past it to document his performance on the field.

"He could be very antagonistic to the poor souls who covered the team every day," said Montville. "And he could be very profane and question their ancestries and their mothers. He was the best curser in the history of the human race."

And stick around for the ending, when Robert Redford reads aloud some of what was written by John Updike for the New Yorker in 1960 called "Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu."

We quote Redford in today's media column about how he picked No. 9 to honor Williams when he played Roy Hobbs in "The Natural" in 1984. We also recall the line Hobbs said to Iris at a critical part in the movie:

Hobbs: "I coulda been better. I coulda broke every record in the book."
Iris: "And then?"
Hobbs: "And then? And then when I walked down the street people would've looked and they would've said, 'There goes Roy Hobbs, the best there ever was in this game.'"
And what's the famous quote from Williams (here in his obit) that he once told a friend: "All I want out of life is that when I walk down the street, folks will say, 'There goes the greatest hitter that ever lived.'"

Redford adds about Williams in the documentary that he made the connection to Williams through making "The Natural." : "He wrote me a very nice note. He was very complementary, very nice, and I thought, 'He can't be too complementary because he hadn't met me. I could be a dork.' "

Redford says he tried to get Williams to come on the set to watch the filming, just so they could just shake hands but . . .

"He was too busy fishing," Redford added with a laugh.

== Fox has picked the Angels' home game against the Yankees pitting Jered Weaver against Andy Pettitte to send to 71 percent of the country (Saturday, 1 p.m., with Dick Stockton and Eric Karros). The Cardinals game against the Cubs from Wrigley Field uses Joe Buck, Tim McCarver and Ken Rosenthal going to the other 28 percent.

== Ted Robinson, Rowdy Gaines and Alex Flanagan are at the USA Swimming National Championships in Indianapolis for NBC (Saturday at 10 a.m., Sunday at 11 a.m. on Channel 4).

== Tennis Channel has the U.S. Davis Cup quarterfinal match up in Croatia with live and replays today's singles (7 a.m. and 10 a.m.), Saturday's doubles with Camarillo's Bob and Mike Bryan (6:30 a.m.) and Sunday's singles (7 a.m. and 10 a.m.). The net also has the International Tennis Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Newport, R.I., as Monica Seles, Andres Gimeno, Donald L. Dell and Dr. Robert "Whirlwind" Johnson are honored (Saturday, 4 p.m.)

== Part of the new ESPN rearranging of college football broadcast teams: Matt Millen will do Saturday telecasts with Sean McDonough on ABC; reporter Holly Rowe moves to ESPN's Saturday prime-time games with Erin Andrews (who also works with the Brad Nessler-Todd Blackledge team), Jesse Palmer goes to the Saturday studio role for ABC, Eric Collins (yes, the same guy doing Dodgers games) goes with Brock Huard on ESPNU Saturday night SEC games, a new Saturday team for ABC includes Mike Patrick with Craig James and Heather Cox; and Bob Griese, who did Saturday ABC games last season, is paired with Chris Spielman and Dave Pasch on Saturday 9 a.m. ESPN games.

AND FINALLY:

== Sunday marks the 30th anniversary of the Chicago White Sox's "Disco Demolition Night," and Jeremy Schaap has a piece on it for the 8 p.m. ESPN "SportsCenter." Before this blog entry implodes (with former ESPN guy Keith Olbermann recapping the event five years ago):