Keith Jackson will have the best seat in his house

USC and Ohio State. The Coliseum. A national championship perhaps at stake. ABC, Saturday afternoon, 5 p.m.

What more could a college football fan ask for?

How about Keith Jackson behind the mike? Unfortunately, those days are history.

The 80-year-old Jackson retired almost a decade ago, was lured back, then retired again after the 2006 Rose Bowl and he plans to stay that way. No third acts for him. No more descriptions of rumblin', stumblin', fumblin' players by the venerable voice of the game for four decades, one of the most colorful announcers to ever put on a pair of headphones.

"I don't belong," he said. "My time is gone. I knew it and walked away."

While Vin Scully, who is the same age, has re-signed for another year with the Dodgers and Chick Hearn went on with the Lakers until his death at 85, Jackson is content with his decision, happy to hunker down at home for Saturday's game.

"I'm going to have a glass of good wine and watch a good ballgame," he said.

After being a football announcer with ABC from 1966 to 2006, he doesn't miss it?

"I've brainwashed myself into believing that," he said. "I'm on to another life."

That life revolves around family and golf. He and his wife, Turi Ann, have three grown children and three grandchildren.

Jackson, who lives in Sherman Oaks, hasn't set foot in a stadium -- even as a spectator -- since turning off his mike, and he wouldn't consider making an exception Saturday.

"It's too much of a hassle," he said. "Besides, I seem to have a problem with parking lot attendants even though I have every type of pass. For that last Rose Bowl game, I had a reserved parking spot with my name on it. That didn't impress a Pasadena cop who still didn't want to let me in."

The first time Jackson retired, he was enticed into returning when a network executive removed the burden of his heavy travel schedule. And when Jackson retired again, there was a new enticement.

"ESPN talked to me," he said, "but it's a whole different profession now."

Jackson is talking about the radical changes produced by technology, from the dizzying array of channel options, to online videos, blogging by sideline reporters, fantasy football stats and the increasing demand for an interactive experience.