Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, September 9, 1995 TAG: 9509110025
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
The men's semifinals will sandwich the women's final, and CBS and the Open - trying to negotiate a new TV deal for upwards of $30 million annually - couldn't ask for a day with more star quality. The men's final will air Sunday (4 p.m., WDBJ).
It may not equal the sport's longest day - 11 hours, 15 minutes on this three-match day in 1984, then the longest continuous coverage of a sporting event in U.S. TV history - but in this era of disposable stars, it's potential is impressive.
Wasn't it just a year ago that tennis was dying?
``All sports seem to go through peaks and valleys,'' said Jim Nantz, one of CBS' match-callers from Flushing Meadow. ``Tennis is on the upswing right now. It's done an about-face. What gave it a jump-start was the fact that Andre Agassi won last year's Open and then wasn't a one-tournament wonder. He sparked a lot of enthusiasm, and now you've got this rivalry brewing between Agassi and Pete Sampras.
``Aranxta Sanchez Vicario winning the Open last year also has established a rivalry with Steffi Graf. The return of Monica Seles to a Grand Slam tournament is just another boost for the game.''
HELP WANTED: The Big East Football Conference doesn't have a noon telecast game today. So, maybe executives of Creative Sports, which has assumed production of the package from the league, can spend the weekend rewriting their game plan.
The commentary on last Saturday's Purdue-West Virginia game by rookie analyst Dick MacPherson, the former Syracuse and New England player, ranks up there with the most unprofessional ever heard on a network with such a large potential audience.
MacPherson, the lead Big East analyst this season after Doc Walker left for the ACC network, did little to hide his partisanship toward West Virginia. He constantly referred to the Mountaineers as ``We.'' At one point, play-by-play man Gus Johnson asked MacPherson what a victory would mean to Purdue.
MacPherson blew off the query, saying that wasn't the issue, because ``we need to concentrate on getting another touchdown.''
If the Big East isn't embarrassed about this partiality on the air, it should be.
MISSING: ABC is televising Florida State-Clemson as a noon regional football date today, but without a satellite dish, viewers in the Roanoke-Lynchburg market won't see it. That's because the market's ABC affiliate, WSET (Channel 13), is contractually committed to the ACC TV package, which has North Carolina-Maryland at noon.
Unlike recent past years, no other local station is picking up the noon ABC games pre-empted by the ACC schedule on WSET. And because the FSU-Clemson game is going to other markets in the region, it is excluded from the potential ABC pay-per-view offerings by area cable systems. That's because ABC is interested in ratings, not driving up PPV buys.
The absence of ABC's noon games in the region means that unless ABC changes kickoff times from its tentative schedule, viewers without dishes won't see Alabama-Georgia, Ohio State-Penn State, Florida-Auburn and Michigan-Penn State, among others. That's bad news for college football fans.
QUIET BOOMER: Congratulations to ESPN, and in particular Chris Berman, for its handling of Cal Ripken's record-breaking night Wednesday at Camden Yards. Regional cable network Home Team Sports had great pictures, too, but Berman's quiet time as Ripken was cheered and then toured Camden Yards was a superb touch, right out of the Vin Scully scrapbook of baseball broadcasting.
Berman's baseball play-by-play is often tough to take, because it pales in comparison to his superb studio work. Berman's night was so short on his ``nicknaming'' that he didn't even have a moniker for booth visitor President Clinton.
HTS had a good night, too, although the shameless interviewing of HTS executives was a bit much, particularly considering the special occasion. Couldn't HTS have interviewed anyone else, a Ripken family member perhaps, instead of some cable suit?
PUNCHY: The 89-second return of Mike Tyson to the ring last month even exceeded promoters' predictions. The national pay-per-view audience for the Aug.12 bout was 1.52 million buys and $63 million, eclipsing the 1991 George Foreman-Evander Holyfield bout, which attracted 1.4 million subscribers and $48.9 million. Showtime Entertainment Television reported the worldwide gross at $96 million. Imagine what might happen when Tyson actually fights a worthy opponent.
TEE SHOTS: ESPN has extended its agreement with the U.S. Golf Association, and in conjunction with primary USGA telecaster NBC will air increased hours of championship events. ESPN's expanded responsibilities will include 18-hole coverage of any playoff at the men's Senior and Women's Open. For the men's and women's U.S. Open, ESPN will air the first two hours of any 18-hole playoff, and then NBC will air the conclusion. The cable network also will add more hours to its Senior and Women's Open coverage.
AROUND THE DIAL: Virginia Tech will learn Monday whether ESPN will pick up the Sept.23 visit by Miami as the 7:30 p.m. CFA telecast. If the network opts for Penn State-Rutgers instead, Miami-Tech will be the noon Big East telecast. ... ESPN, which signed on the air 16 years ago Thursday, has become the first cable network to reach 70 percent of the nation's TV homes. The potential ESPN audience is now 66,805,000. ESPN2, soon to celebrate its second birthday, is in 24.78 million homes. ... Former VCU and Radford play-by-play voice Hank Dickenson has been named an assistant athletic director and broadcast coordinator for North Texas, which moved its football program up to Division I-A this season. ... The Fiesta Bowl is the site of the first Bowl Alliance ``championship game'' this football season, thanks to a $118 million bid over six years. Turns out that $90 million of that came from a new CBS contract. That network likely saved the sponsorless Sun Bowl last week with another six-year deal for the El Paso game.
by CNB