ABC plays it straight on Lin coverage

By the time Jeremy Lin played his first NBA game on broadcast network TV Sunday on ABC, and his second on a national TV channel, you were almost afraid to watch.

Would ESPN/ ABC show any other players? Would it use split- screen coverage to cram shots of celebs preening courtside? Would the announcers rely solely on using Lin- guage? What a relief: ESPN just covered a game. Before the New York Knicks hosted the Dallas Mavericks, Spike Lee was interviewed courtside in his new Lin Harvard jersey, but celebrities were mostly kept out of sight. The pregame show was restrained, with Magic Johnson saying Lin “is going to need that Harvard degree to pick up on ( Dallas coach) Rick Carlisle’s defense.”

And coverage was largely free of alreadycliché Lin- isms. Announcer Mike Tirico, in discussing Knick J. R. Smith, who had just joined the team after playing in China, managed to offer a new twist on the clichés: “Jeremy Lin, you are over. It’s Smith- sanity.”

It helped that Hubie Brown was on hand. Brown, who with Tirico forms ESPN/ ABC’S second NBA team, was assigned to what had originally seemed like the weaker game of a doubleheader that included the Miami Heat vs. the Orlando Magic. Brown, who can sound like he might be holding a clipboard as he calls the game, isn’t one to get too excited about personalities. Not when he can note, as he did Sunday, that you “need to take advantage of every possession” and “attack the rim” and “once you score, you cannot lollygag getting back.” Despite the frenzied New York crowd, Brown remained calm enough to remind us: “Remember the bench points by Dallas— they’re second in the league to Philadelphia.”

But Brown succumbed. As Lin nailed jumpers, he giddily yipped, “Stop it. Stop it!’’

Brown praised Lin for “being so humble in every interview.” Lin, as if on cue, said in his postgame interview, “I’m learning a lot from my mistakes.” And Johnson said Lin had a “fantastic floor game” and New York would be “a tough out in the playoffs.”

And, thankfully, viewers didn’t have to feel like they’d just seen a circus.

Cable dispute settled:

Also Friday, Time Warner Cable restored Knicks telecasts to 2 million MSG Network cable customers, who had been in the dark 48 days during a contract dispute. It also allowed for New York Rangers, New Jersey Devils and Buffalo Sabres games off the system since New Year’s Day to return. No word on if those fans will be sending thankyous to Lin.

ESPN gaffes:

ESPN on Sunday fired an unnamed staffer who wrote a racially insensitive headline that, starting at 2: 30 a. m. ET Saturday, was up for about 35 minutes on its ESPN Mobile feed for wireless devices.

That incident, which ESPN apologized for Saturday, brought attention to anchor Max Bretos having used the same phrase Wednesday on ESPNEWS— whose video remained on ESPN. com. Bretos got a 30- day suspension Sunday. Bretos tweeted: “My wife is Asian, would never intentionally say anything to disrespect her and that community.”

ESPN says its internal review found the phrase also was used on ESPN Radio’s New York station Friday, but in outside programming the station aired.

The debate over whether Lin is being hit by ethnic stereotypes in media coverage began when he burst onto the scene and will go on for a while. Even Saturday Night Live weighed in during the weekend with a clever skit suggesting double standards in what ethnic stereotyping is seen as acceptable by the media.

Lin, asked to comment Sunday on ESPN’S gaffes, had a good take: “I don’t care anymore. . . . Have to learn to forgive. And I don’t even think that was intentional. Or hopefully not.”

Offbeat:

ESPN/ ABC’S Jeff Van Gundy is an opinionated NBA analyst— and idiosyncratic in the topics that rouse his passions. After his brother Stan, who coaches Orlando, glumly submitted to an interview between quarters in the Orlando- Miami game, Jeff said, “It’s so absurd that in the middle of your job you’re supposed to talk about how your job is going.” When play- by- play announcer Mike Breen suggested such interviews might give fans new insights, Van Gundy said, “If coaches were allowed to tell the truth, then there’d be some inside information.” Refreshing.

Follow Hiestand on Twitter: @ hiestandusat