Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, April 6, 1991 TAG: 9104060041
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Jack Bogaczyk
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
There is another axiom that governs the national pastime these days: If you want to watch baseball on TV, you'd better be a cable subscriber.
CBS Sports lost a reported $100 million on its first season in a four-year $1 billion baseball contract a year ago. That's reflected this season in two ways. The network won't have a season preview, previously scheduled this weekend. The 16-game schedule that starts April 20 on CBS affiliate WDBJ (Channel 7) won't be accompanied by studio shows.
So, the best way to get to the playoffs and World Series - exclusively on CBS starting Oct. 8 - is with cable. Many viewers in this region - those lucky enough to have Home Team Sports - will have access to about 575 baseball telecasts this season.
ESPN will have six games a week for the second season. The Cubs and White Sox return to Chicago's WGN and the Braves are on Atlanta's WTBS. The Orioles will be aired locally on WJPR (Channels 21/27) and on Home Team Sports, which has 85 telecasts - including 70 at Memorial Stadium in its last year.
CBS Radio also will have a 50-game broadcast schedule, including two games most weekends. That schedule will be carried by Roanoke's WFIR (960 AM).
My divisional picks are the Cubs, Dodgers, Red Sox and Royals. The best announcing team? It's Jon Miller and Joe Morgan, ESPN's Sunday night duo.
\ An analytical postscript on CBS Sports' coverage of the three-week NCAA Tournament:
For the most part, CBS was a critical success in its first year with the entire tourney. The first- and second-round extra talent hires were mostly good. Rookie analyst Bill Walton did something many are reluctant to do, criticize coaches. ACC regular Dan Bonner was solid and prepared, as he always is. Although the network's regular women's basketball announcing duo of Brad Nessler and Mimi Griffin didn't make the regionals cut, they were among the top four teams by the end of the tournament.
Billy Packer remains a great analyst, but he needs to lighten up. This isn't brain surgery at the Duke hospital. Another question involving Packer: Why does the network take its No. 1 analyst, box him into a studio on the first weekend, and then diminish his airtime by having him share the analysis with know-little Mike Francesa?
After former studio host Jim Nantz joined Packer at courtside, CBS was left with little more than predictable patter during round-table discussions in the studio. Pat O'Brien doesn't know college hoops. Francesa is leaving CBS, perhaps for ESPN. He won't be missed. Andrea Joyce, who improved throughout college football's season, seemed lost during the NCAA.
The best announcing teams were James Brown-Bill Raftery and Greg Gumbel-Quinn Buckner. Raftery was superb. He's witty and wise, and isn't afraid to mix X's and O's with one-liners. Brown calls a game that is reflected in his hoops and educational experience at Harvard and DeMatha. Buckner was excellent on CBS Radio, too, on Final Four weekend.
Viewers learned a lot during the tournament from CBS. Unfortunately, it wasn't from those courtside or bench-back reporters. A Packer, Raftery or Buckner could have told us the same things - with more insight - from their seats across the floor. The role is worthless, the contributions are miniscule, and, unless an injury is involved, the "news" revealed is little more than the obvious to viewers.
\ With a new man in the booth, the Salem Buccaneers start their fifth Carolina League broadcast season Thursday night at Municipal Field against Winston-Salem.
Airtime on WROV (1240 AM) is 6:50 p.m. - first pitch at 7 - for the Bucs' debut of Mike Minshall, who has moved from a No. 2 slot with Class AA Chattanooga to replace Dave Newman as the Bucs' play-by-play man. Newman called Salem games for three seasons before moving back to his native Illinois to pursue broadcasting opportunities.
WROV is scheduled to air all 140 Buccaneers' games this season. It is the station's fourth year with the ballclub, which made its broadcast debut on WTOY in 1987. \
\ Around the dial:
The Sports Emmy Awards telecast Wednesday night on ESPN wasn't worth your viewing time, with the exception of the hosting job by "Saturday Night Live" news anchor Dennis Miller. He set the proper, zinging, tongue-in-cheek, tone on a show that honored many who are far too serious about the business of the games people play. Dick Enberg's winning of the host/play-by-play Emmy was a deserved honor for a class NBC man, who has won five Emmys spanning 14 solid years in the business. As Dick would say, "Oh, my!"
The Duke-Kansas NCAA final on CBS Monday night attracted a 19.4 Nielsen rating, the third-lowest rating since the NCAA championship game moved to Monday prime-time in 1973. Because rating points are worth an increasing number of viewers annually, the game ranked fifth among NCAA finals. On the other hand, Duke's semifinal win over Nevada-Las Vegas had a 15.7 rating last Saturday night, ranking third among semifinal games in history. Only Georgetown-St. John's (1985) and Georgetown-Kentucky ('84) had a higher rating, but Duke-UNLV had the most viewers of any NCAA semifinal.
by CNB