Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 7, 1992 TAG: 9203070178
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Jack Bogaczyk
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Over the next eight days, ESPN will televise 24 conference basketball tournament championship games, most of those involving leagues whose only TV date in a season is this one - like today's "Championship Week" opener at 12:30 p.m., the Big South final between Charleston Southern, which beat Radford 88-83 Friday, and Campbell, a 53-51 winner over Liberty.
Consider the schedule on Wednesday. In a tripleheader of the Trans America, North Atlantic and Northeast championship games - all with NCAA bids up for grabs - viewers could see 20-game winners Georgia Southern, Monmouth and Delaware.
Big deal, you say? It is for those schools and their alumni. And these rare moments in the bright lights produce fun games after a season of watching the Big East's sixth- and seventh-place teams boringly battle on the tube.
Five conference championships are scheduled on ESPN next Saturday. The only conference tournaments without championships on ESPN are the Big East, Colonial Athletic Association, East Coast, Metro and Southwest.
The ACC tournament is blacked out on ESPN in the league's region and will be shown in Roanoke-Lynchburg by WSET next weekend. The Big East (CBS) will be aired locally on WDBJ, and WJPR has the Metro semifinals and final from Raycom Sports. All games of the CAA tournament March 7-9 are on cable's Home Team Sports.
ESPN has the only telecast rights to the ACC's new first-round game, added because of Florida State's move into the league. The eighth- and ninth-place teams will meet Thursday at 7 p.m. That winner faces Duke the next day in the quarterfinals.
\ The unveiling of the NCAA Division I men's tournament bracket has been one of college basketball's highest-rated shows for years. Now, the women's game is going to get similar treatment.
The NCAA women's tournament bracket will be revealed Sunday, March 15, at 12:30 p.m. in a half-hour special on cable's ESPN. That also will be the first notification for the 48 schools making the field.
The men's bracket, as usual, will be revealed on CBS that evening (6:30 p.m., WDBJ). ESPN also plans a one-hour special on the men's tournament at 6:30.
| You'll have plenty of time to get to the 'fridge during the NCAA Tournament game telecast. The NCAA has agreed to let CBS Sports extend its TV timeout breaks by 30 seconds, to 2 minutes, 15 seconds.
Boooooooo!
| ESPN has selected its major-league baseball announcers for this season, and the popular Sunday night team of Jon Miller and Joe Morgan will return for a third season.
ESPN did not renew the contract of Roanoke Valley native Billy Sample, who worked primarily in the "Baseball Tonight" studio a year ago. Ray Knight, who was a game and studio analyst last year, will stay indoors this season. Analysts Dave Campbell and Jerry Reuss will work two games weekly.
ESPN is moving its early Tuesday night baseball telecast of the past two years to Mondays. That leaves only Thursday and Saturday nights without ESPN baseball. The network requested the change because of the glut of major-league club telecasts on Tuesdays.
\ Magic Johnson returns to NBC's NBA coverage Sunday as a courtside analyst, working with Marv Albert and Mike Fratello on the Pistons-Lakers game (3:30 p.m., WSLS). Johnson, who announced his retirement in November after contracting the virus that causes AIDS, will work for NBC on a weekly basis starting with two April regular-season games, then through the playoffs and NBA Finals.
\ The rights fees for NASCAR Winston Cup racing continue to lag compared to other major sports, despite increased network competition in the sport.
Turner Broadcasting is televising Sunday's Pontiac Excitement 400 at Richmond International Raceway (1 p.m., WTBS). The rights fee is only $105,000, of which the track keeps 65 percent, with 25 percent going to the drivers' purse and 10 percent to NASCAR.
\ AROUND THE DIAL: In two weeks, football returns. The second World League of American Football season begins two weeks from today, and the TV talent may be as interesting as some games. Former Los Angeles Rams coach John Robinson will work as an analyst on USA Network, prepping for a likely NFL spot at CBS. On ABC, one of the WLAF sideline reporters will be Jim Valvano, who may wonder why the Barcelona Dragons aren't using a box-and-one defense. . . . The success of the Winter Olympics is paying off for CBS. Advertisers for the Albertville Games telecasts already have purchased 50 percent of the available commercial time for the Lillehammer Games in 1994. After analyzing the ratings, CBS said it was no surprise that the Albertville audience was dominated by women, 57 percent to 43 percent.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB