VIEWING SPORTS : TAKING STOCK OF COVERAGE

Now that the professional and college football seasons are winding down, it’s time to take stock of the network coverage.

ABC again takes honors over CBS on the college level. First . . . the camera work, where ABC continues to excel and CBS continues to rely on odd angles and fast cuts that make you a nervous wreck and elevate technology above the game. Please, give us a break! If those CBS wizards could put a minicamera inside a player’s shoe, they would do it.

The ABC first-string announcing team of Keith Jackson and Frank Broyles, moreover, is probably two touchdowns better than Brent Musburger and Ara Parseghian on CBS. Jackson is solid and reliable, Broyles knowledgeable and informative. They wear well. And let’s hear it, too, for ABC’s all-purpose Jim Lampley.

Musburger does excel in one area, though, setting intercollegiate records for saying “of course” in a telecast. Musburger sent statisticians to record books one Saturday when he said “of course” 28 times, including in three consecutive sentences and twice in one sentence. It was awesome.

In pro coverage, meanwhile, the production work is fairly even among ABC on Monday nights and NBC and CBS on Sundays. But the top-ranking behind-the-mike award goes to CBS’ second-string announcing team of Jack Buck and Hank Stram.

Actually, Buck is merely acceptable. Former NFL coach Stram is the real star here. Compare Stram with other NFL analysts in the ratio of relevant information to redundancies and you’ll find that he wins in a romp.

There’s another hot battle on Sundays, though, where the pre-game competition is intensifying between the ratings-leading “NFL Today” team of Musburger, Irv Cross and Jimmy the Greek on CBS and scrappy “NFL 85” on NBC, with Bob Costas, Ahmad Rashad and Pete Axthelm.

The NBC pregame show gets the nod here if only because Costas seems to take himself and this entire mish-mash far less seriously than does his hosting counterpart, Musburger. “NFL 85” is also lighter and sleeker, while the CBS group, burdened by the lumbering Jimmy, seems to do more thudding than thinking.

The stunting for ratings goes on and on. For a special Thanksgiving program, Brent, Irv and Jimmy were seen returning to their hometowns and rediscovering their roots. It was electrifying.

Zzzzzzz.

And now, on to the college bowl games, all 467 of them.

The first three of them arrive today, as a matter of fact.

There are two at 10 a.m. on cable TV. The Palm Bowl pits North Alabama against North Dakota State on ESPN, and the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl matches Ithaca and Augustana on the Satellite Program Network. Of more local interest is the California Bowl at 1 p.m. on ESPN and Channel 51, which features Fresno State battling Bowling Green.

Mostly, though, it’s the pros who will be on display this weekend.

The high-flying Chicago Bears meet the New York Jets today at 9:30 a.m. on CBS (Channels 2 and 8), while NBC televises the Kansas City-Denver game at 1 p.m. (Channels 4, 36 and 39).

There are two more games Sunday: Cincinnati vs. Washington at 10 a.m. on Channels 4, 36 and 39, and Philadelphia vs. San Diego at 1 p.m. on KCBS-TV Channel 2. KCBS-TV originally was going to show the New York Giants-Dallas Cowboys game at 10 a.m., but was blocked by the NFL from carrying it because the league preferred not to have the only two games available here compete against each other.

ROUNDUP: Today, Hockey, New York vs. Boston, 10 a.m., WOR . . . Golf, Chrysler Team Invitational, 11:30 a.m. (7) (3) (10) (42) . . . College basketball, UCLA vs. St. Johns, 12:45 p.m. (2) (8) . . . Skiing, men’s downhill World Cup, 3 p.m. (7) (10) . . . “Wide World of Sports” covers professional and amateur boxing, 1:30 p.m. (10), 4:30 p.m. (7) (3) (42) . . . . College basketball, Pitt vs. West Virginia, 4 p.m., ESPN . . . Soccer, Venezuela vs. Argentina, 4 p.m. (34) . . . College basketball, Houston vs. Illinois, 5 p.m., WGN . . . College basketball, Kentucky vs. Kansas, 6 p.m., ESPN . . . Pro basketball, Houston vs. Utah, 6 p.m., WTBS.

SUNDAY: Football, New York Giants vs. Dallas, 10 a.m. (8) . . . Golf, Chrysler Team Invitational, final round, noon (7) (3) (10) (42) . . . Hockey, Detroit vs. Chicago, 5:30 p.m., ESPN . . . Pro basketball, Lakers vs. Detroit, 7 p.m., ON-TV, SelecTV, Prime Ticket Cable.