Author: David Shama

Max broke the story locally in 2007 that Tubby Smith was on a private plane headed from Kentucky to Minnesota, likely to become the Gophers new basketball coach.  Smith, of course, did accept the job and Max considers that his biggest scoop, breaking news that he collaborated with sources.

Max has contact information for hundreds of sources who he knows must feel they can trust him.  “Because I’ve played sports I’ve always had great respect for guys that are in sports because I know how hard it is to get to where they are,” he said.   “I know how hard it is to make it with the St. Paul Saints, let alone the Minnesota Twins. …I know how hard it is to be good at it (playing sports.)”

Max has had to work hard at more than reporting.  His on-camera presence now is more polished than years ago.  How did he improve?

“Beat yourself up a lot,” he answered.  “I grew up right here in this market.  Maybe I should have gone somewhere else.  It all worked out, but…most people don’t start here.  But I mean I’ve done everything.  I’ve taken voice lessons, acting lessons.  I’ve done all kinds of things because they never thought that I was great natural talent. …  So I had to really work.  I always thought I knew what I was talking about but I had to really work at diction, at communicating, at relaxing and all those things. I did all those things to help on that end of it and there is no substitute for repetition. Looking at yourself.  Don’t like that, don’t like that.  Lots of stuff like that.”

Ask Max about interesting characters he’s known and he mentions Brett Favre and Michael Jordan.  Then he brings up Sid Hartman’s name, the 90-year-old outspoken Star Tribune columnist, WCCO Radio personality and regular guest on “The Sports Show.”

“…There’s no bigger character than Sid Hartman,” Max said.  “I think he’s the most fascinating guy I’ve ever been around because he’s so driven.  He’s so good and he won’t quit.  He just keeps goin’ and goin’ and goin’.  He just amazes me.”

Max believes Hartman has greeted each day of his adult life with the attitude he must prove to the world he’s worthy.  A sports executive in town offered that analysis to Max years ago and he’s bought in.  “I don’t know where that comes from but I think that’s pretty apropos,” Max said.

Other regulars on the “The Sports Show” are Star Tribune columnist/KSTP radio host Patrick Reusse and former WCCO Radio host Dark Star.  Hartman and Star have had their on-air confrontations but Max said the two might then turn around and go out for dinner.

In both the media and sports worlds there is no shortage of egos.  To be successful the ego probably needs to be in play but not destructive.  Max was asked how he keeps his under control.

“I think that’s a battle,” he said.  “I think the worst thing that can happen to you sometimes is you get complimented by people.  I think in Minnesota we really live in the (type of) society that if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.  …But you don’t see all the people that don’t say anything to you that think you stink.

“I will tell you the one thing that has kept me humble over the years is I’ve seen people that I didn’t think were very good, and I’ve seen people go up to them and tell them how great they are.  They may be don’t think I am any good either.

“But you’re constantly battling that (ego) because this is an intoxicating profession in some respects that you’ve got to be very leery of I think, and really guard against.  It’s easy to get sucked up if something goes well.”

There’s another challenge that Max is well aware of and that’s the cultural change in how the news is reported.  The delivery systems including TV, radio and web have become more diverse leaving those in the news business trying to figure out how they can both most effectively and profitably report the news to consumers.  Max isn’t sure what the rapidly changing landscape will look like in the future but he’s sure there will be a need for successful reporters.

“If you do your job well, if you become a great reporter, then there’ll be a need for you and it won’t matter what the media mix is,” he said.  “But I think the more interesting question is what’s the media going to be.”

Mike Max, though, is too busy week-to-week to worry a lot about the future.

Phil Jackson will likely call it a career after next season, according to his friend and former college coach Bill Fitch.  Jackson, 64, ended speculation a few days ago about coaching for the 2010-11 season when he said he will return to the Lakers, a team he’s coached to NBA championships the last two years.

The hesitation to continue a 19 year NBA coaching career that has produced 11 titles was based on health concerns, presumably focused on discomfort caused by the travel and other physical demands of a 24-7 job that takes up about nine months of the calendar.  Yet Fitch, a former NBA championship coach himself who coached Jackson while at the University of North Dakota, wasn’t surprised about the decision to return to the Lakers for one more year.

Fitch said Jackson’s hips bother him but he isn’t “near death’s door” and that the Lakers players and others in the organization were counting on him to coach next season.  To make a rare three-peat as NBA champions a reality in 2011.

“What else is he going to do?” Fitch asked during an interview with Sports Headliners. “He’s a competitor.  They’re (Jackson and his staff) still coaching.  This season (the last one) never ended for the Lakers.  Any time you’re going after that three in a row… . That’s what he’s back for.  He’s back to play the second half of the game.”

But Jackson will be approaching his 66^th birthday by next summer and Fitch does believe the end will arrive for a coaching career that produced a record number of NBA championships. “This will be it,” said Fitch.  “He’s done after this year (2011).

“I think that’s probably part of the program.  He’ll either announce it before the season starts or he may announce it today… .It’s going to be a hard decision for him but I doubt very much that he’ll go past this (next) year, win, lose or draw.”

In his announcement last week Jackson referred to a “last stand.”  That willingness to return was predicated on his competitive drive and relationships with people including girlfriend Jeanie Buss, daughter of Lakers owner Jerry Buss.  It wasn’t driven by money, in Fitch’s opinion.

There’s been speculation the Lakers didn’t want to compensate Jackson for $12 million or more as in the past.  Fitch said he could see Jackson telling his agent, “‘Hey, whatever it takes.  Whatever they (the Lakers) need.  We’re going to do this for a year.’ ”

Jackson is divorced and has dated Jeanie Buss for years.  She is a Lakers executive and has considerable authority in running the franchise.  Fitch said Buss has been a positive influence in Jackson’s life, a woman with magazine model looks and business school smarts.

“She’s a smart lady,” Fitch said.  “I’d be the first to tell him, ‘She could have done a lot better than you, Phil.’ ”