AN L.A. ICON WITH A 'NICE JACKET'.

Byline: TOM HOFFARTH

MEDIA

The question from Jeff Spicoli to Stu Nahan was simple: "Where'd you get this jacket?"

Nahan, wearing a simple brown coat, replied: "I got it from the network," and then went onto the next question.

Somehow, many who remember that scene from the 1982 movie "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" have Spicoli (Sean Penn) telling Nahan: "Hey Stu, nice jacket!" Maybe because in the line right before that, Spicoli was talking about how surfing was like "looking at the wave and saying, 'Hey bud, let's party."'

Nahan's passing at his Studio City home on Wednesday at age 81 after his battle with lymphoma reminds us that, for as many are familiar with him as a longtime L.A. sportscaster at Channels 7, 4 and 5, even more knew of him nationally as someone who played himself in movies such as "Fast Times," as well as all six"Rocky" films. Nahan's voice was also used doing call of a computer boxing match shown early in the final sequel, "Rocky Balboa," released last year.

It started when Nahan played the speaker at an awards ceremony in the made-for-TV movie "Brian's Song" in 1971. He was a sportscaster in the Disney movie "Gus" in 1976 -- the same year he was included as a fight commentator (without a credit) in the first "Rocky."

Nahan played a football announcer in "Meteor" ('79), a newscaster in "Private Benjamin" ('80) as well as himself in TV shows such as "Baywatch" and "CHiPs." He even somewhat spoofed himself as a fight announcer in the Samuel L. Jackson comedy "The Great White Hype" ('96).

Known as "Silver-Tipped Stu" by the late radio newsie Jim Healy, Nahan was remembered by many who worked with him in the L.A. sportscasting market as a good-natured, non-probing interviewer who befriended many.

KNBC Channel 4 sportscaster Fred Roggin, who, upon his arrival in L.A., worked with Nahan at the station for six years, was quoted in a station website story: "He opened doors and allowed opportunities, not just for me, but for many people."

Hockey was Nahan's sport of choice. As a between-periods interviewer when Kings games were occasionally on KTLA Channel 5, Nahan relished the opportunity to join Bob Miller and Nick Nickson.

"He used to love to tell me that as a kid growing up in Montreal that he'd listen to my hockey broadcasts from the University of Wisconsin," said Miller, 12 years younger than Nahan.

Miller recalled a Kings game in Ottawa when Nahan was told he was going to interview a particular player at the intermission, but that fell through and another player showed up.

"Nahan didn't know who he was," said Miller, laughing. "At the end of the interview, Stu had to thank him for coming on. I think at that point, he had figured it was one of two player -- and he picked the wrong name. He blamed me for that, but how could I tell him while he was on the air?"

During another broadcast in Edmonton, Nahan was dispatched outside the arena to do a live shot next to the Wayne Gretzky statue. The production team told him that Miller would throw it over to him at the next stop in the game.

"But the next whistle wasn't for another eight minutes," said Miller. "We finally get it out there to Stu, and he's just freezing. He blamed me for that too. I tried to get him to put his tongue on Wayne's statue, but he wouldn't go for it."

Ever see NHL game from airplane?

Right smack in the middle of a New Year's Day hangover morning littered with quasi-recognizable bowl games, Rose Parade replays and a "Biggest Loser" marathon on Bravo will be a hockey game stuffed inside a football stadium.

This NHL '08 version on TV just may be crazy enough to get bleary-eyed viewers focused on puck rather than an extra hour of shuteye.

Four bowl games -- the Gator on CBS, the Capital One on ABC, the Cotton on Fox and the Outback on ESPN -- will be competing in the 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. window, funneling into the Rose Bowl in the early afternoon. Meanwhile, it's Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins crashing Ralph Wilson Stadium in Orchard Park, N.Y. to face the Buffalo Sabres in a makeshift outdoor hockey game witnessed by a league-record 73,000 plus whatever curious viewers find it on NBC.

It'll make some TV history, if not be a flashback to "Mystery, Alaska."

"When you turn your TV and see this spectacle that's going to be on the ice there, I think it'll be pretty tough to turn away," NBC coordinating producer Sam Flood said.

So how do we measure the greatness of this "NHL Winter Classic"? NBC added Bob Costas to the telecast.

"I think people are comfortable with the idea that if there is a big event on NBC that I might be the one to come on and set the stage," said Costas, a former play-by-play man for the minor-league Syracuse Blazers and a fill-in for Hall of Famer Dan Kelly on St. Louis Blues radio games in the late '60s and early '70s.

"(My role) implicitly says that NBC considers this to be something of significance, that it's not your everyday hockey game, and it isn't. They didn't have to twist my arm. I think its cool."

Keith Olbermann was not available for comment on his signifance with the network.

The TV logistics for such a hybrid event would seem to be a nightmare for any broadcaster, let alone if it was Versus simply trying to get its arms around a regular-season telecast. NBC, in its third season of a profit- sharing deal with the league to do nine over-the-air contests with a built-in flex schedule, has to think outside of the rink on this one.

A blimp? Naw, try an airplane, for starters.

"You want to see the spectacle, the size and scope of it, so an airplane will be taking aerial shots while flying over the stadium and we'll cover part of the game from it," said Flood. "I expect to see one of the replays of a goal from the airplane, which has never been done before in hockey."

NBC is even willing to push the ending past 3 p.m. if any weather conditions cause a delay. Pretty nice for the network that actually cut off coverage of the final game of the Eastern Conference finals as it was going into overtime so it could get to its Preakness pre-race show back in May.

"A light dusting, a little flurries on and off just to have that visual effect would be pretty spectacular," said Flood. "We think it's going to be a very unique scene and to be able to see the breath of every guy on the ice makes it visually pretty dramatic."

Buffalo had rain and show Thursday. The national weather service forecasts snow and showers every day through Tuesday, with temperatures in the high 20s or low 30s at gametime. Bring it on.

CAPTION(S):

photo, 2 boxes

Photo:

In a scene that lasts just one minute in the 1982 movie "Fast Times at Ridgemont High," Stu Nahan, right, plays himself, interviewing Jeff Spicoli (Sean Penn).

YouTube.com

Box:

(1) WHAT SMOKES

(2) WHAT CHOKES