Tom Dore officially starts his second season as play-by-play man on SportsChannel`s Bulls telecasts Friday night. This time around, Dore plans to listen to the advice of co-workers to relax and have fun from the start.
”There were butteflies the first 15 or 20 games last year,” says Dore.
”I was trying so hard to be prepared. I would come in with an armload of stuff. It got to the point where I was told by Johnny (Kerr) and Jimmy
(Angio): `Relax, do a little preparation and have fun.` That was one of the real big keys, when those guys told me to have fun.”
Dore and Angio, producer for SportsChannel`s Bulls telecasts, recently sat down to talk about the changes Angio wanted to make this season.
”This year, I expect even more from you,” Angio told Dore. ”I expect you to be the quarterback (of the telecasts). Last year, I wasn`t sure what to expect. This year, I know exactly what to expect.”
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For Dore to follow those orders, ”I have to recognize what`s going on on the floor and be able to help (Angio),” he says. ”Just keep him informed and also keep the broadcast going.”
Last season was as much a learning period for Dore as it was for the rest of the SportsChannel crew. Especially when it came to Kerr, the team`s veteran analyst.
”I didn`t know what to expect from him,” Dore says of Kerr. ”I`d been away from Chicago since he started broadcasting. But it`s a pleasure to work with the guy. He brings so much enthusiasm to the game. He loves being there.”
Kerr says the transition from long-time partner Jim Durham to Dore ”was no problem at all. He`s a real pro. It`s not like SportsChannel just hired a guy applying for a job. He`s been in sports for some time.”
Kerr is sensitive to the ”but-he`s-not-Jim-Durham” talk that accompanied Dore last season. After all, Kerr worked next to Durham for 18 years before Durham was fired. (Durham this season will fill in for Rockets play-by-play man Gene Peterson, who recently had open-heart surgery. Durham will team with Jim Foley when the team returns from Japan, where Bill Worrell and Ron Thulin are subbing for Peterson this weekend.)
”Maybe some of the listeners missed Jim because of his-and their-longevity following the team,” says Kerr. ”It`s difficult when you hear one person for so many years. I can imagine what it was like when Bob Prince left Pittsburgh. But working with Tom has been a very easy transition. He`s a basketball man; he knows basketball.”
What Dore didn`t know, however, was how ”long the NBA season was” by the time the Bulls hit mid-March. ”When we were in Miami (for the playoffs), I was really tired,” he says. Kerr, Angio and Neil Funk, the Bulls` radio announcer who previously had worked with the Sixers, talked to Dore ”about pacing myself. During the season, you`ve got to get a lot more rest during the day. They`re right.”
And you thought the players had pressure.
– Don`t count those Bears out yet, cautions analyst Joe Theismann, who joins Mike Patrick for Sunday night`s ESPN telecast from Soldier Field. ”When you look at the schedule,” says Theismann, ”it`s conceivable they could go 6-2 the rest of the season. The Bears are the Bears-they haven`t changed their philosophy much, except to put the ball in the air a little more.”
Except when Mike Ditka says not to. Which, in turn, has led to questions whether the Bears` coach has lost control of his emotions, if not his team.
”Mike will never lose control of that team,” says Theismann. ”He`s got enough veterans who realize outbursts are part of Mike`s character. Players learn to adjust to the coach`s habits and personality. Mike`s not going to lose control because the team and Mike Ditka understand one thing: They`re good enough to win.”
– SportsChannel and WGN-TV Ch. 9 each plan specials before their respective Bulls openers this weekend. Steve Kashul hosts the one-hour ” `92-`93 Chicago Bulls Season Preview” at 6 p.m. Friday on SportsChannel, with reports and features from Mike Goldberg and Julie Judelson. Dan Roan anchors a one-hour
”Un-Believ-A-Bulls: The Champions Return” at 6:30 p.m. Saturday on Channel 9, which includes coverage of the team`s title ring ceremony.
– ”NBA Inside Stuff,” back for a third year on NBC, airs a 30-minute season preview at 4:30 p.m. Saturday on WMAQ-Ch. 5. NBC announcers Marv Albert and Mike Fratello will offer their usual-and unusual-insights into, among other topics, the Bulls` chances of a third straight title. . . . Buddy Ryan returns to ”NFL Live” at 11:30 a.m. Sunday on WMAQ-Ch. 5 to discuss the Eagles QB controversy. . . . Channel 5 sports anchor Mark Giangreco recently made Newsweek`s ”Overheard” section with his comment of a clip showing Woody Allen and Diane Keaton at a hockey game: ”Just a night away from the kids.” – Due to WLUP Radio conflicts with Blackhawks hockey the next two Saturday afternoons, Illinois football games will air on WSCR. The contest against Purdue starts at 1 p.m. Saturday, while the next week`s game at Michigan begins at 11 a.m. . . . ABC has selected the Ohio State-Indiana game Nov. 14 as its 2:30 p.m. regional telecast on WLS-Ch. 7. As previously announced, the network also will telecast Illinois-Michigan nationally at 11 a.m. In addition, Syracuse-Boston College, Georgia-Auburn and Arizona-Southern Cal will be available on ABC/SET pay-per-view.