LOS ANGELES – Sitting at almost the center court line, GregBadovinac has what arguably may be one of the best seats in thehouse at the Staples Center for Los Angeles Lakers basketballgames. But despite the vantage point, Badovinac isn't into the gamelike the thousands of screaming fans around him. He's too busykeeping track of each players important “stats” and passing alongthat information to the game's announcers. “You just watch thegame,” said Badovinac, who moonlights as a media statistician forradio and television stations when he's not working as the federalregulatory analyst with the California Credit Union League. “Youdon't watch if for the beauty of game. You watch it for thenumbers.” Badovinac, who has been with the league nearly 11 yearsand who previously worked as a sports publicist, has beencollecting the statistics at college and professional basketballand football games – and an occasional baseball game – on and offfor more than 20 years. His work has taken him to the Rose Bowl, toOlympic basketball competitions and to the 1987 Super Bowl. Hespent 11 seasons on the stat crew with the LA Clippers. Hetypically will cover 45 games a year. This basketball season heexpects to cover 17 games for LA Lakers radio. “I keep track of theimportant statistics that the announcers can use during abroadcast,” Badovinac explained. In addition to carefully watchingthe game, Badovinac has to pay close attention to what theannouncers are saying. “One of things I have to do is listen to theannouncers and hopefully pick up on what they're talking about,” hesaid. By quickly feeding them information, Badovinac is making theannouncers sound more knowledgeable. If the announcers are talkingabout Shaquille O'Neal, for example, by the time they get to theend of their comment they'll be able to report how many points he'sscored, how many rebounds he's grabbed and how many fouls he has –without listeners any the wiser that the information had just beenfed to the announcers. [email protected]