TURN-ONS AND TURN-OFFS IN CURRENT HOME ENTERTAINMENT RELEASES : Excellent Good Fair Poor : AUDIOCASSETTES

“I Never Played the Game.” Morrow/Dove/Newman. Know any Howard Cosell masochists--people who’ve been grumbling about the sportscaster for years but can’t resist tuning him in? Then here’s a possible gift: a two-cassette abridgement of Cosell’s second best-selling autobiography--read by the one-of-a-kind multisyllabist himself. More than ever, the emphasis is on an I-told-you-so view of sports and broadcasting. (Yes, the controversial comments on his ex-partners at “Monday Night Football” are included, inviting further study for the inflection he gives the criticisms.) Telling it like it is, one must say Cosell has become a sad caricature of himself, and with these tapes you can almost taste the bile. Information: (818) 762-6662.