I’ve been enjoying the television sports stylings of the gentlemen at ABC-7 in Bangor.

Led by the energetic efforts of Sports Director Ted Lombardi, Channel 7’s crew has out-hustled the local television sports competition all winter long.

Lombardi refuses to take sole credit for the yeoman-like service turned in by his sports team. The 2004 winner of the Maine Association of Broadcasters Award for “Best Sports Feature” and Holy Cross graduate is an impressive young man.

Area TV viewers will only have a few more days to enjoy Ted’s work, as he’s off to Boston to begin a new internet business. Ted’s last day in Bangor is Friday.

BackpageBoston.com will feature the 26-year-old Lombardi’s writing and editorial skills, a venture a lot of Maine viewers should look forward to seeing.

Along with sidekick Tim Baier and the always-creative Elgin Traylor, Lombardi and crew impress not only for their hustle, but also for their creativity.

As the Class A tournament winds down, this group has clearly provided the best basketball coverage of the three competing stations.

As a longtime observer and basketball coach in the eastern Maine area, I’d have to say honestly that the 2004-2005 hoop season marked the poorest television coverage of high school basketball game highlights and reporting of scores in memory.

There was a time in this neck of the woods which found high school hoops to be king. Gone are the days which saw TV crews attending 6-8 games per night. Even with the absence this winter of professional hockey, the slack was never picked up to the degree it should have been by local TV stations.

There are several reasons for this phenomenon.

First and foremost, I’ll lay blame at the feet of coaches relative to game reporting.

I’ve spoken to coaches all winter long who boast of their failure to get on the phone and make the call to the TV sports guys. And that’s too bad. Coaches owe it to their players to report game scores, especially if there are highlights. Kids love to hear their names on television, especially if they’ve just tossed in 20 points and grabbed 15 rebounds. The sports guys are not psychic. They have to know this stuff in order to report it.

On the other hand, it is often difficult to reach a television sports reporter after 5 p.m. Phones are manned by machines, and if you’re like me, you’re not fond of punching numbers to give a game score.

With WABI-TV 5 out of the live Class A tournament broadcast picture these days, most of their 6 o’clock and 11 o’clock sports reporting is centered around University of Maine sports. To a certain degree, that is understandable. After all, Channel 5 is UMaine’s flagship station, and with the large school tourney no longer under TV 5’s roof, the powers that be have turned their day-to-day attention elsewhere.

Enter WLBZ Channel 2 and WVII ABC-7.

Recent local TV ratings indicate that Channel 2 has passed traditional power Channel 5 in the ongoing battle of local television viewer superiority. I’m still not a fan of Channel 2’s 11 o’clock sports, which includes western Maine hoop highlights given efficiently by the good folks at WCSH Channel 6 in Portland.

Despite the fact that ABC-7 still pulls up the rear in the local TV ratings, their sports crew has beat the local competition this year in the sheer number of games covered. From their clever commercials to the volume of nightly hoop highlights, they have proved themselves to be the leader of the pack this basketball season.

I regret to see a bright young journalist such as Ted Lombardi move on, but that seems to be the way of the world in this ever-changing sports market these days.

Look for the equally clever Tim Baier to make a smooth transition to head sports anchor, and continue to expect the extra effort from the ABC-7 sports crew in local coverage.

Hats off to all of them for a job well done this past season and good luck to Ted Lombardi with his new venture.

NEWS columnist Ron Brown, a retired high school basketball coach, can be reached at bdnsports@bangordailynews.net