VIEWING SPORTS : FLUTIE AND HIS GENERALS FACE BALTIMORE STARS

The littlest general of them all, Doug Flutie of the New Jersey Generals, as expected is back on the tube again. He’s now performed on ABC in three of the first four Sundays the USFL games have been televised. And if he keeps up the heroics he displayed in the fourth quarter last week against the luckless L.A. Express, he’ll be the league’s Sunday hero a lot more.

The Baltimore Stars host the Generals Sunday at College Park, Md., in a game to be seen at 11:30 a.m. over Channels 7, 3, 10 and 42, with Keith Jackson and Lynn Swann reporting. Now in their third season, Jackson and Swann are sounding like old mike campaigners. The chemistry is there between them.

And who are the Stars, you ask? Well, last year they were the Philadelphia Stars who won the USFL title and then moved the franchise to Baltimore because of lack of support. Such are the handicaps still plaguing the USFL.

As this is the first new home game for the Stars, the attendance figures may well spell their future in that city. Chuck Fusina, Kelvin Bryant and their Stars mates haven’t gotten off to a good start, 0-2-1, but a hoped-for sizable crowd might spur them back to form. Flutie and his 2-1 Generals should be incentive enough.

Another problem facing the USFL now, especially in this vast Los Angeles TV market, is getting a viewing audience. The Dodgers are starting to hit their stride in the Grapefruit League and their fans undoubtedly will be glued to the tube for the second preseason telecast from Vero Beach Sunday, 10:30 a.m., Channel 11. Tom Lasorda’s team faces the Houston Astros one hour before Flutie starts scrambling in Baltimore.

And the Dodgers get their “voice” back. Vin Scully will be live, in person, not on videotape as he was pitching Farmer John and Union Oil last week between innings. Scully and the Dodgers together again . . . the season really starts now.

Basketball buffs, particularly those whose interests peak during the NCAA championship tournament, will surely pass up the Flutie follies Sunday and the Dodgers’ training camp exercise. CBS gets into its competitive mode at 11 a.m., Channels 2 and 8, with three--yes, three--second-round games. And that’s following a triple-header today of second-round play that starts at the same time.

Today’s schedule: Notre Dame vs. North Carolina, St. John’s vs. Arkansas, Kentucky vs. Nevada-Las Vegas.

Sunday involves a lot of “ifs” and “eithers” as to which games CBS covers, depending on outcomes of first-round games played Friday night (unknown at this writing). Check results on today’s sports pages to get a line on the TV schedule.

And don’t forget NBC’s brave scheduling in the face of all this real professional sports competition Sunday. “SportsWorld” at 10 a.m., Channels 4, 36 and 39, looks at professional wrestling. If there’s one alleged sport that’s changed little since TV was a storefront attraction back in the late ‘40s, it’s “rasslin’,” as we prefer to label it.

Only the names have changed. Back then, Lord Blears, Dangerous Danny McShane, Man Mountain Dean and Gorgeous George were bouncing off ropes and feigning punches, knee jabs and eye gougings, the same as today’s Hulk Hogan, Superfly Snuka and the rest of the clowns. Lots of luck in the Nielsens, NBC.

ROUNDUP: Today, USFL Football, Arizona vs. Tampa Bay, 10:30 a.m. ESPN . . . Baseball, Expos vs. Braves, 10:30 a.m. WTBS . . . Golf, Women’s Kemper Open, 1:30 p.m. (4) (36) (39) . . . Pro Bowler’s Tour, 3 p.m. (7) (3) (10) (42) . . . Wide World of Sports, 4:30 p.m. (7) (3) (42); 5:30 p.m. (10) . . . USFL Football, San Antonio vs. L.A. Express, 5 p.m. ESPN . . . NBA Basketball, Lakers vs. Clippers, 7:30 p.m. (9) (51).

SUNDAY: SportsWorld, 11 a.m. (4) (36) . . . Baseball, Cubs vs. Brewers, noon WGN . . . Baseball, Padres vs. Angels, noon (39) . . . Golf, Women’s Kemper Open finals, 1 p.m. (4) (36) . . . Golf, Men’s Tournament, New Orleans, 3 p.m. (4).