FINDING COMMERCIAL SUCCESS.

Byline: TOM HOFFARTH The Media

Note: This is the first in an occasional series about the coolest jobs in sports media.

His value to the ABC ``Monday Night Football'' broadcast is such that the network hires a backup to stand close by him, ready to grab the headsets and take commands from producer Don Ohlmeyer in the event of any unforeseen circumstance.

Dennis Miller? Hardy har har.

Try Shaun Renzenbrink.

And the funny thing is, all he has to do is stand on the sidelines, wear orange sleeves and signal to the game officials when Ohlmeyer wants to take a TV timeout.

``Maybe I'm not playing in the NFL - as a boy it was a dream of mine - but this has to be the next best thing to it,'' admitted Renzenbrink, a 31-year-old husband and father of a 4-month old son who lives in Kings Mills, Ohio, just outside Cincinnati.

``Every week is special, visiting a new city, staying at the Ritz Carlton. I get to stand next to the coaches, see the emotions of the players and the momentum of the games change. There's nothing like it.''

Five months out of the year for the last six seasons, Renzenbrink has been a part of the ``MNF'' crew, but with the most recent changeover with producer and director, this is his first year doing the job commonly known as the ``orange sleeves.'' (In college football telecasts, the same position is known as the ``red hat.'')

A graduate of Ohio Northern University with a degree in industrial technology, he also works for a mortgage company as an underwriter when the NFL is out of season. But on the MNF crew, drawing a nice weekly salary that includes expenses and a per diem, Renzenbrink can't imagine anything much more fun - especially right before kickoff.

``There's that 30-second adrenalin rush, when the crowd starts going crazy and the refs are waiting on me and I'm waiting for the producer to give the go-ahead,'' he said. ``It's like being in the game.''

Once the game begins, he's focused on the flow, trying to anticipate when Ohlmeyer might want to insert one of the five two-minute commercial breaks each quarter, which can come after a score, turnover or timeout.

Renzenbrink, along with an NFL sideline official known as a ``green hat'' (he actually wears one) and the game's back judge, has a stopwatch to monitor the breaks, with a 10-second cushion in and out of the commercial. But it doesn't happen until Renzenbrink gives the OK to the referee, who signals the time-clock operator by waving his arm three times and punching to the right.

In addition to the TV crew, Renzenbrink must also be aware that the national radio broadcast needs to know when these timeouts happen, so he has to be in sight of the press-box radio producer.

Timing is everything. Mistakes can be costly.

``As a fan, I know nothing's more frustrating than commercial breaks. We've all been there,'' Renzenbrink said. ``The fan at home has to understand that the producer is very concerned about the flow and tempo of the game and will always try to avoid breaking momentum.

``The general rule is if there's a turnover inside the other team's 40, we won't break for commercial. And late in the game, when teams are in a hurry-up offense, it's really tough with the clock running down and the refs in a hurry to get a spot and keep it moving. I have to stay in his sight vision.

``I'm constantly on my toes every play to see what happens. There is pressure in this job, no doubt. A lot of it. And a lot of people counting on you. So it's all about communication, that split second when a decision has to be made.''

--Ric Wolfe knows that feeling, too.

The 37-year-old El Segundo husband and father has been the Kings' TV timeout coordinator for the last five seasons, sitting at the Staples Center center-ice scorer's table between PA announcer David Courtney and the timekeeper, looking about as official as possible while wearing his blazer with an NHL crest.

Each period has a TV-timeout window at the 14-, 10- and six-minute marks, so timing is critical. In the NHL, each timeout is exactly 100 seconds long. When a ref's whistle blows during the prescribed window, Wolfe flips on the red light and starts his watch. At the 75-second mark, he taps on the glass and gives the ref the sign that the players should return to the ice.

Wolfe can't signal in a timeout in the last 30 seconds of a period and never in the last two minutes of a game.

``So if I don't get it in, the producer (Bob Borgen) has to eat it,'' Wolfe said. ``Sometimes he's begging me to throw a chair on the ice to get the refs to stop the game.''

He wouldn't dare.

Wolfe's full-time job - the studio sound-stage manager at Sony in Culver City - is enough to make his friends envious. But as one of the few with this hockey position who actually works for the NHL and gets a nice paycheck for the job (as opposed to doing it in an honorary capacity that involves a per diem and a pair of tickets to the game), Wolfe has too much respect for the sport.

``If you love hockey, no one gets a better seat than me,'' admits Wolfe, who plays in a men's senior B hockey league in Torrance and grew up in Manhattan Beach playing the game at Culver City Ice Rink.

``I'm so close, when the players hit the glass, all my stuff gets dumped everywhere. I've been hit with a puck in the back of the head. But I still tell everyone it's the best job in town.''

SOUND BYTES

WHAT SMOKES

--``The Truman Show'' meets ``The Love Boat'': The ``NFL on Fox'' pregame show circus moves to the flight deck of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman for Saturday's and Sunday's shows. The ship is supposed to be on patrol in the Mediterranean Sea during the broadcasts.

--Flexing their power: Premiere Radio sports-talk host and Fox Sports Net's ``The Last Word'' host Jim Rome moves up to No. 73 on The Sporting News' ``100 Most Powerful People in Sports'' list, the highest-ranking media personality. The only others are ABC ``Monday Night Football'' analyst/comic Dennis Miller (who shares No. 86 with show producer Don Ohlmeyer) and NBC's Bob Costas (somehow in at No. 89). The highest-ranked media official: Fox wallflower Rupert Murdoch, at No. 3.

--Fox Sports Net's ``Break The Ice'' Kings pregame show added an e-mail twist before Thursday's game against the N.Y. Rangers. Viewers sent questions via the Internet at breaktheice(at)foxsports.net that host Bill Macdonald and Jim Fox answered on the air. Viewers were also encouraged to send the show's producers story ideas and feature suggestions.

--Pam Ward, a female not included on the playboy.com poll of Sexiest Sportscasters, does the play by play on ESPN's coverage of the NCAA Division III football championship game (Saturday, 9 a.m.) between Mount Union and St. John's. She'll also do the call on the Motor City Bowl between Marshall and Cincinnati on Dec. 27.

SOUND BYTES

WHAT CHOKES

--Controversy in the playboy.com poll of America's Sexiest Sportscasters. Somehow, Hannah Storm has stormed ahead of Jill Arrington and Jillian Barberie to trail only leader Melissa Stark by less than 4,000 votes with about 87,000 non-hand-counted ballots tabulated. Check Dan Hicks' net server, please.

CAPTION(S):

photo, box

Photo: no caption (Sporting News)

Box: SOUND BYTES (see text)