PATRICK READY FOR HIS CLOSE-UP.

Byline: TOM HOFFARTH

Dan Patrick hasn't actually gone Hollywood, but he can fake it pretty well.

For the second time this year, he decided it was important enough to break away from the Bristol, Conn., confines and launch himself across the country for a week at the KSPN-AM (710) studios in West L.A. to deliver his syndicated ESPN Radio show.

Last September, it was to help the local station promote its USC football coverage. This time, he's got a star-struck ulterior motive.

Patrick is booked to spend a few hours today at an undisclosed Costco location, shooting a scene that will amount to another bit role in the latest Adam Sandler movie. This one, called ``I Now Pronounce You Chuck And Larry,'' includes Kevin James as Sandler's ``love interest,'' plus Jessica Biel and Steve Buscemi. Patrick steps in as a Brooklyn police office.

``I've got six or seven lines,'' Patrick said before launching into Thursday's radio show. ``I'm trying to squeeze it out into 40 seconds of screen time.''

Sandler first snuck Patrick into one his movies in 1998, allowing him to play himself as an ESPN anchor in ``The Waterboy.'' In 2005, Sandler had Patrick pull off his first real ``actor'' role, as a cop with a cheezy mustache in ``The Longest Yard.'' Earlier this year, Patrick appeared as ``Poker Guy #2'' in ``The Benchwarmers,'' which Sandler co-wrote and produced.

This latest cameo might make ESPN execs wonder if Patrick can't be stopped but only be contained as he seems to be getting serious about this silver-screen seque/midlife movie crisis.

``I could never do it full-time, but if I only get little bit parts, I'd be satisfied,'' said Patrick, 50. ``I could never do it for a living, even if I had the talent. It's such a commitment.

``And then the criticism. I get enough of that as a radio host. Actors go through this gestation period where it's like giving birth after nine months, and then they get nothing but critics tearing them down.

``I guess I have a greater admiration for what they do.''

A few more trips a year to L.A. to shake things up for the radio show will continue, Patrick promises, since he's now out of the ``SportsCenter'' anchor rotation and wants to erase any ``East Coast cloud of bias that some people think we all (at ESPN) have. Sometimes its easy to get a myopic view of sports, so this is my regular wake-up call to pay more attention to L.A. and what's out here.''

To KSPN general manager Larry Gifford, Patrick already is a star, having lapped Jim Rome's syndicated show on 570-AM in the local Arbitron ratings covering last spring and summer. In the last survey, KSPN was up 53 percent in men 25-to-54 between 9 a.m. and noon, while KLAC went down 55 percent in that coveted category.

``He's really created his own style, finding out what he's been passionate about since he's been working alone,'' said Gifford, the ESPN Radio program director for Patrick for a year-and-a-half before coming to L.A. himself to head KSPN last June.

Patrick can't complain about the perks coming out here, either. He went golfing Thursday with actor Kevin Sorbo at Riviera Country Club. He was out to dinner at The Cut in Beverly Hills with Reggie Miller earlier in the week and felt ``like a corny tourist'' looking for celebrities, especially when ``I didn't see anyone until (Miami Heat coach) Pat Riley showed up, and I've see enough of him.

``Finally, I did notice Tyra Banks was right behind me. Our eyes met. The rest is history. I'll be on `America's Top Model' next season.''

FSN bowled over by state championships

There'll be plenty of explaining to do when FSN Prime Ticket arrives to cover the first state CIF high school football championship in 79 years.

The show-and-tell begins with Sunday's 3 p.m. hour-long selection presentation live from Home Depot Center in Carson, the site for the Dec. 16 day-long Division I, II and III games.

There's sure to be confusion about how the state's governing body over high school athletics will ultimately select three from Southern California to face three from Northern California out of a pool of 47 division champions, then pair them up by enrollment size.

That's why FSN producer Steven ``Hoover'' Dorfman says they'll need the first part of Sunday's show to lay everything out, including having vignettes ready on every school, like CBS preparing for an NCAA basketball tournament selection show.

``Once we explain how it works and who has a shot of making it and why it's back, then the real drama will come with the CIF's announcement,'' Dorfman said.

Barring an upset in tonight's Northwest Division championship game against Oak Park, Jimmy Clausen-led Oaks Christian should be a state finalist pick, but as a Division III representative because of its small enrollment.

The winner of tonight's Northern Division championship between Moorpark and Canyon is considered a Division I bubble team, which is why FSN will set up a live remote with the players and coaching staff from that team Sunday to get their reaction to the pairings.

A matchup of a 12-0Oaks Christian team against undefeated Northern California powerhouse DeLaSalle in Concord, a Div. I school because of its enrollment of more than 2,000, isn't going to happen this season.

Nor will FSN exert any pressure on the CIF to make that game a reality, no matter how much they're paying in TV rights fees.

``We're not there to be involved in who plays in what game,'' FSN executive producer Tom Feuer said. ``We don't like anyone from our end interfering with the field of play. We don't want to be part of the discussion.

``We're thrilled to be part of the state championship, and no system is perfect, but you have to look at the big picture. We don't want to influence anything. We're just there to document it.''

FSN Prime Ticket has the Pac-5 final (Orange Lutheran-Edison) at 8 p.m. Saturday from Home Depot Center, with the winner likely to be invited to the state championship Division II game. Chris McGee and John Jackson do the call.

Tonight's L.A. City Section championship between Birmingham and San Pedro airs on delay on LA Channel36 at 11 p.m. (as well as twice Saturday), while KLCS (Channel 58) has it Saturday at 8 a.m. Randy Rosenbloom and John Mazur are on the call.

CAPTION(S):

photo, 2 boxes

Photo:

Actor Will Ferrell, left, clowns with ESPN Radio's Dan Patrick after an in-studio interview Tuesday.

Bill Lennart/KSPN

Box:

(1) WHAT SMOKES

(2) WHAT CHOKES