THE MEDIA: DID NBC MAKE THE RIGHT CALL ON ALBERT? : OLBERMANN AGREES, MARV BELONGS ON AIR.

Byline: TOM HOFFARTH

Before giving Marv Albert its most severe form of punishment Thursday, NBC Sports should have told him: This is going to hurt us more than it's going to hurt you.

Because it will.

NBC's swift decision to fire Albert for being a naughty boy may have been inevitable, but it's about as bogus as that toupee sitting on the broadcaster's head.

Although the network supported him at every turn leading up to Monday's trial, not even Albert can be surprised that the face-saving, NBA-money-driven, still-smarting-from-O.J., image-conscious organization canned him.

The stunner is it came just three hours after Albert's trial ended with a plea bargain to a lesser charge. During his only public statement Albert thanked NBC Sports for standing by him.

Uh, right. Marv, could you move a little to the left now? You're still in the picture.

NBC, which allowed Albert to work the NBA Finals last April and the first three weeks of the NFL season prior because he assured the network of his innocence, said only that in light of the guilty plea, it was ending its 20-year relationship with TV's most revered play-by-play man. Albert's contract expires after the 1998-99 NBA season and, with his job doing the Knicks for Madison Square Garden Network, he made about $2 million a year.

NBC didn't have to give a reason for canning him. Public embarrassment, not for Albert but for the network, was just cause. It's the same reasoning when CBS did it to Ben Wright and Jimmy ``The Greek'' Snyder and the Dodgers did it with Al Campanis. Plus, Albert lied about his guilt.

But hasn't the guy suffered enough unnecessary embarrassment for one lifetime?

Had Albert's plea bargain come a few days earlier, maybe we see him back after a few weeks. Unfortunately for Albert, NBC and the rest of us, this trial unraveled faster than a Victoria's Secret silk teddy.

Despite initial reaction to the contrary, Albert's career won't end. It's just discombobulated. Too many people in the business still respect his work. Too many TV viewers are willing to forgive and forget.

Keith Olbermann, who begins his conversion from ESPN sportscaster to MSNBC news employee with his new-form ``Big Show'' news analysis program, was among those Thursday offering some clear-headed perspective on Albert's situation.

Olbermann said if his show started Thursday (it actually debuts next Wednesday), he would want to convey he was more uncomfortable with the media's play of the Albert story this week - Court TV or otherwise - rather than what was revealed as Albert's bedroom secrets.

``I have to make the disclaimer that Marv Albert was my childhood hero,'' said Olbermann from New York. So much so that in 1970 when Albert started a call-in radio show on WNBC, 11-year-old Olbermann made sure he was the first caller.

``As a professional broadcaster, I know him as an absolutely perfect person with an unblemished record. He has an exceptional reputation in our business as being aboveboard, courteous, respectful, going out of his way to help young broadcasters. That has to count for something.

``But the tragedy of our times is that here's Marv Albert, for better or worse, cleared of a sexual assault but being vilified and made fun of in every corner for the same behavior that, gee whiz, Dennis Rodman wrote two books about and Madonna used to sell CDs.''

Albert's perversions aside, he will never be impervious of scrutiny. Look for him to continue to be the butt of jokes on NBC's ``Tonight Show With Jay Leno,'' on Comedy Central's ``Daily Show'' (hosted by another former ESPN ``SportsCenter'' anchor, Craig Kilborn), and mercilessly by sports talk show host Jim Rome as well as Mr. Private Parts himself, Howard Stern, on each of their syndicated radio shows.

(For the record, Stern tried a version Thursday of the Elton John song ``Candle in the Wind'' that started with the line ``Goodbye Marv's career. . .'')

``If you want to joke about it on a comedy show, well, it's fair game,'' said Olbermann. ``Whether any of this should have gotten into the public eye, you can't undo it now. If it's the only subject that's on a show for hours and hours, then people who are responsible for that broadcast should have the most embarrassing secret of their lives put up on a billboard and just try it out for five minutes. I think their level of responsibility would grow.

``If this happened to Howard Stern, he'd be dead with all his enemies piling on him. He'd have nothing left but his hair.''

Olbermann said he got a taste of having himself part of the news recently when ESPN ``suspended'' him for his unauthorized participation on Kilborn's show to plug his book and make light of the Bristol, Conn., surroundings of ESPN headquarters.

``There was nothing more educational than being the snowball going down the hill,'' he said. ``You see how many inaccuracies - not so much malicious - are reported about your situation, and you're reminded of what should be the cardinal tenet - it's our story, but it's their life.

``In this situation, I always try to think: What if the worst thing that happened to me was the lead story everywhere, how would I feel? What part of it comes with the territory, and what percent is just indefensible?

``There are some things people don't need to know. And people who don't respect that reflect their own naivete in this business.''

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WHAT SMOKES

The Way We Were, NFL style. Tuesday at 5 p.m., TNT airs an NFL Films special called ``Before They Were Pros,'' and Valley viewers should take particular note of a fascinating segment that involves the rearing of John Elway (Granada Hills Class of '79). It includes game film of him throwing the ball - no lie - 70 yards in the air. In high school.

USA Network's coverage of the Ryder Cup. Particularly, 10 - count 'em - hours today.

KNX-AM sports anchor Steve Grad has graduated to play-by-play for Fox on its Minnesota-Arizona game coverage Oct. 5 and will be one of CBS Radio Sports' anchors during its Winter Olympics coverage in February from Japan.

WHAT CHOKES

Roy Firestone's future as a National Anthem singer. ESPN denies that treason charges have been filed against the interviewer extraordinaire and the Dodgers for Tuesday night's sideshow. But someone must inform ``Mr. Saturday Afternoon'' that not only is he not the next Jeffery Osborne, but Ozzy Osborne must be embarrassed.

NBC's coverage of the Ryder Cup. Specifically, a 5 a.m. live start for Sunday's final day. We complained so much about how NBC tape-delays everything, serves us right to get this at an ungodly hour. Why couldn't we just rely on the Internet site (www.rydercup.com) if we wanted to follow the matches in progress?

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