COOL IN THE SPOTLIGHT KCAL'S IRELAND SIDESTEPS SIDELINE HAZARDS.

Byline: TOM HOFFARTH

This is the second of a four-part annual series on the best and worst of the Los Angeles sports media. Today, As occupational hazards go, John Ireland is aware that on any given day, his could be 7-foot-1, weigh 350 pounds and possess a colorful vocabulary.

So when the KCAL Channel 9 reporter assigned to courtside interviewing duties put the microphone in front of Lakers center Shaquille O'Neal following the team's dramatic victory in Toronto on Super Bowl Sunday, he didn't need a haz-mat outfit. Quick thinking was all that was necessary.

The clip of Ireland and O'Neal's exchange - Shaq twice dropped a profanity, once to describe the officiating and the other when Ireland reminded him the interview was indeed live - was well circulated on sports-highlights shows that night, and for days afterward, tempered somewhat by the other hubbub from the Super Bowl halftime show lowlights.

When the dust settled, it was clear Ireland wasn't an accomplice to the crime, but actually defused a situation that could have gotten even more squirrelly.

``I got phone calls and e-mails from people I hadn't talked to in 15 years,'' Ireland said the other day before a Lakers game in Miami, nearing the weary end of the team's two-week road trip leading into this weekend's All-Star Game.

``Someone said I was a horse's rear-end for trying to interview someone right after a game, but I had done it 300 times before and never had that happen. Most were complimentary of how it all went down and sympathetic to how I was just the messenger in that situation.''

Considering it was the 40-year-old Ireland, a veteran at the station since 1995 with plenty of live-game reporting experience with both the Lakers and Angels in particular, it's no surprise that things were handled in a journalism textbook fashion.

Call it a fear of government intervention.

``We have it beaten into us by our bosses about what can and can't be said over the air because of the FCC penalties, and they can be huge,'' Ireland said.

``I've interviewed Shaq maybe 100 times, sometimes live and sometimes it's taped. When I heard him swear the first time, my first reaction was to tell him, hey, we're live. He's media savvy enough to know that when it's taped, he can use those words and they'll get bleeped out. But when he responded with another swear word, I not only realized he was really mad, but we'd all be in trouble if I pursued another question about the referees.''

Ireland actually followed up with O'Neal on three other questions about the game, and O'Neal answered them just fine before the minute-long segment ended. Ireland said if O'Neal had used one more profanity, the interview would have immediately ended.

As a way to avoid those kind of caustic confrontations, the Lakers and their TV partners have a policy in place - if the team loses, no live player interviews immediately afterward. So it's even more of a reason to credit Ireland for reacting the way he did.

``He handled it perfectly,'' said Jeff Proctor, the executive sports producer for KCAL and KCBS. ``You never want to see that happen, but the fact John had the presence to say, 'We're live,' was what needed to happen right then.

``John is a real asset to everyone in that kind of situation. He's put in a somewhat difficult position because he travels with the team and maintains a relationship with the players as part of the crew that broadcasts, but he's also a reporter and there's a constant battle between juggling news and entertainment elements within the telecasts.''

Ireland, a Southern California native and UCLA graduate who worked his way back to Los Angeles through sportscasting stops in Monroe, La., Beaumont, Texas, and San Diego, will take a live-game assignment over the studio anchor spot but can handle each with ease.

His experience in local radio - many remember his five-year run at XTRA-690 with Steve Mason as a morning team in the late '90s - also keeps him sharp. Ireland has continued radio work with a weekend show for Fox with Mike Lamb as well as doing pre- and postgame talk shows on UCLA football.

But doing more extensive work as a sideline guy on the station's live telecasts has added more value to contributions and keeps Ireland on the road almost the entire year, which adds to a hectic family life with wife, Leasa, and 2-year-old son Jack.

``I think we have a good rapport with the players and coaches and they understand what we have to do,'' said Ireland, in his second season doing the Lakers' sidelines on KCAL's 40-game-plus schedule. ``I never feel I'm put in a compromising situation with my job and the team.

``It's tough to complain about a job like this that very few get to do. These kind of jobs tend not to last long because stations change deals with teams and bosses change, but I'm in a great spot and I'd like to keep doing this as long as they'll have me.''

--Media notes: TNT expects to announce today whether it will go ahead with a decision about showing Sunday's NBA All-Star Game on any kind of delay ...

Less than a week after announcing there'll be no second season for ``Playmakers'' because it didn't want to harm its relationship with the NFL, ESPN has been airing reruns and then announced the first-season three-disc DVD of its ``highly successful and gritty ensemble'' will go on sale for $49.95 in April. Can't wait to see what bonus material is added ...

Spike TV salutes President's Day with, of course, a bikini marathon of Sports Illustrated swimsuit specials from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. The proclaimed first network for men is part of the MTV Network ....

Trying to capitalize on NBA fever this weekend, NBA TV will be offered as a free preview on Time Warner Cable and Cox Communications systems in L.A. through Feb. 17.

THE BEST AND WORST OF L.A. TV ANCHORS/HOSTS

THE TOP 10

--1. Jim Hill, KCBS Channel 2: The reigning king of the hill, nattily attired, always on the move, keeping the faith.

--2. John Ireland, KCAL Channel 9: And, yes, Shaq did apologize to him. We swear.

--3. Curt Sandoval, KABC Channel 7: He could probably swim the English Channel as easily as anchor its weeknight sportscasts.

--4. Fred Roggin, KNBC Channel 4: Has it been six years since ``The Arthel & Fred Show'' went off the air? Seems like yesterday.

--5 (tie). Van Earl Wright, Fox Sports Net, and Alan Massengale, KCAL Channel 9: We've got swatches of maize, canary yellow, butternut squash and saffron. Hold 'em up to the screen and ... naw, none of these match the hair color.

--7. Steve Hartman, KCBS Channel 2: Proves a sports-talk guy working within the structure of the ``Sports Central'' set can be effective for interpreting news instead of simply reporting it. Give him a day off now and then, OK?

--8. Rick Garcia, KTTV Channel 11: Based solely on his wardrobe, you've got to believe he and Lauren Sanchez go clubbing after the Channel 13 newscast is over.

--9. Barry LeBrock, Fox Sports Net: Actually No. 1 in the bottom five a year ago, but we fed the numbers into the computer again and, despite his youthful looks, he deserves a spot up here for surviving with all the erratic personalities busting out around him.

--10. Mario Solis, KNBC Channel 4: A bilingual diamond in the rough, or a Lou Diamond Phillips impersonator.

--Honorable mention: Lindsay Soto, Fox Sports Net (a nice, calm presence); Derrin Horton, KCAL Channel 9 (also able to slide into the play-by-play chair for prep football championship games and do sidelinework); Bill Seward, KNBC Channel 4, and John Hartung, KABC Channel 7 (two Valley natives who are as solid a No. 3 guy as a staff can have); Petros Papadakis and Bill Macdonald, Fox Sports Net (hosting the USC and UCLA magazine shows with great energy).

BOTTOM 5 GRAPHIC

--1. Jack Haley, Fox Sports Net: Continually denies he's a member of the media - something we've suspected all along - but we have to put him here because, well, someone has decided to pay him precious American currency for his interviewing skills and opinions. Every broadcast-journalism school in the country has to be begging for tapes of his on-camera work to show the kids how not to handle yourself in a locker room. Our fear is he'll be asked to interview Dennis Rodman at some point and they'll both end up bawling in each other's arms.

--2. Michael Eaves, Fox Sports Net: Awwwww, yeah! To quote Cypress Hill (which he has on occasion), it was insane in the membrane to think he'd become more L.A. friendly just by trimming the Furnell 'stache and start schnizzlin' all over the place, making up whatever words came into his head.

--3. Tony Hernandez, KTLA Channel 5: This is to verify that he remains on the Tribune payroll.

--4. Rob Fukuzaki, KABC Channel 7: For as much as he seems to have trouble pronouncing names, it's his own that we hope he never gets tongue-tied with or the local authorities might be called in.

--5. Carolyn Hughes, Fox Sports Net: She's eased up on the make-up, added some low-cut blouses and isn't trying as hard to play off Van Earl's rough-and-tumble approach. Now, the minuses: Break the habit of trying to pronounce some Latino names with a Spanish accent and others without it.

--Horrible mention: Leila Feinstein, KTLA Channel 5 (carrying on a tradition of weakened weekend warrior established by Claudia Trejos and Steve Grad); Eric Dickerson, KCBS Channel 2 (has he really recovered from the ``Monday Night Football'' tragedy?); Jennifer Gould, KTTV Channel 11 (if, as some suggest, they should just put her on camera and mute the sound, she might not be in this predicament).

CAPTION(S):

2 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- color) John Ireland does a pregame report before Wednesday's Lakers-Houston game for KCAL Channel 9.

Bill Baptist/NBA

(2) A postgame interview, here with Lakers guard Derrick Fisher after Tuesday's victory, is one of John Ireland's duties on the KCAL telecasts.

Victor Baldizon/NBA

Box:

THE BEST AND WORST OF L.A. TV ANCHORS/HOSTS (see text)