We Heard It All Before, So Who Needs Replay?

When a rerun becomes a retread: Howard Cosell announced Tuesday that he is returning to television as only he can--as Howard Cosell, in a talking role.

Cosell will adapt his long-running weekly ABC radio show, “Speaking of Everything,” to an hourly presentation for national syndication. “Howard Cosell: Speaking of Everything” will debut at the start of 1988.

Cosell is back, he says, not so much because he missed television, but because television missed him.

He revealed that his fans let him know they missed him. “I had public reaction to my absence in television that can only be called incredible,” he said with his customary modesty.

How much time will you devote to sports on the new show?

“Am I going to deal with Georgie Porgie and his tiffs with Lou Piniella? No. Am I going to deal with Paul Molitor’s 39-game hitting streak? No, that’s ridiculous. If it’s a societal problem that invades sports . . . I will deal with such matters.”

Will you produce features on the show other than just interviewing guests?

“There will be some production pieces. But I will be the core of the show. Obviously.”

Obviously.

Steve Sloan, Alabama’s new athletic director, and Bill Curry, the Crimson Tide’s new football coach, are men of such strong religious conviction that one syndicated columnist has referred to them as the Righteous Brothers.

Herschel Nissenson of the Associated Press, in fact, recalls when Sloan was an assistant coach at Florida State and had an offer from Georgia Tech Coach Bill Fulcher. Whenever Fulcher asked him for an answer, Sloan replied that he was giving the offer “prayerful consideration.”

Fulcher happened to run into Clemson Coach Frank Howard and mentioned his problem.

“Tell you what,” Howard drawled. “You up your offer to that young man by about $5,000 and I’ll bet his prayers will be answered.”

Fulcher did, and Sloan moved to Georgia Tech, which, incidentally, is where Curry last served.

The effect of gamma rays on corked bats: A high-technology company has offered major league baseball the use of a highly sensitive device that can determine within seconds whether someone has tampered with a bat. And it’s free.

Larry Secrest, president of Scientific Measurement Systems, said the company’s product, which uses gamma rays, could be used to spot bat tampering and reveal the use of cork or other illegal materials without harming the bat.

Secrest said the device is currently used to check the shuttle at Kennedy Space Center.

Secrest says his goal is not to market the product, but to clean up baseball.

“Our only aim is to protect the integrity of our national pastime the same way we are protecting the integrity of America’s manufactured products,” he said.

On Thursday, both major leagues rejected the offer.

Quotebook

Coach Frank Gansz of the Kansas City Chiefs on the dedication to football shown by rookies Michael Clemons and James Evans: “All these guys care about is football. They don’t even talk about girls.”