One-Time Lineman Has the Right Lines for Monday Nights

Some early - season football observations: With the addition of former offensive tackle Dan Dierdorf, ABC’s team of Al Michaels, Frank Gifford and Dierdorf looks like a winner.

The banter between Gifford and Dierdorf, in most cases, worked during last Monday’s Chicago Bear-New York Giant telecast.

One example: Gifford, attempting a little humor--and getting in a plug--said he gave a birthday party for his 18-year-old daughter aboard the Goodyear blimp, “and everyone got seasick.” But Dierdorf one-upped him, saying: “I gave my daughter the blimp.” . . .

One of Dierdorf’s best comments: “It’s a long season. We may be premature in canonizing (Mike) Tomczak after only one game.” . . .

Michaels is the second best NFL play-by-play announcer, but is closing in on Pat Summerall. . . .

Michaels got off a good line when, referring to all the Giants who have written books, he said: “If the Cowboys are America’s team, what are the Giants? A Book of the Month club?” . . .

Summerall does tennis almost as well as he does football. He knows the sport. He was a state tennis champion in Florida during his high school days. . . .

Hank Stram appeared nervous during the Ram-Houston game, particularly when he was on camera. But he still turned in another solid performance. When the Oilers trailed, 16-3, he reminded viewers they were only two plays away from the lead. Indeed, they were. . . .

Speaking of nervous, Jim Hill was very shaky during his first outing on ABC’s “College Football Scoreboard” last Saturday. . . .

Charlie Jones and Jimmy Cefalo showed during Sunday’s Raider-Green Bay game that they are one of NBC’s best teams. They’ll be seen in Los Angeles again this Sunday, working the Denver-Green Bay telecast, which Channel 4 will show at 10 a.m. . . .

Jones, by the way, was one of the bright spots for NBC during the recent track and field World Championships, despite getting a little carried away about Ben Johnson’s 100-meters world record. Overall, he was solid.

Early word on Ken Stabler, who will work Sunday’s blacked-out Ram-Minnesota game for CBS with Jim Lampley, is that he is very raw. But he looks good--well groomed and clean-shaven.

Keith Jackson and Bob Griese, who will announce Saturday’s USC-Boston College game for ABC, work well together. Griese is the best college football commentator ABC has had in years. . . . If Jackson has a weakness, it’s that he doesn’t offer enough nuts and bolts--score, down, yard-line, yards to go, etc. But a lot of TV announcers are guilty of that. . . .

Tim Brant, Jackson’s partner on college football at ABC last season and now working with Stram at CBS, was only mediocre as a play-by-play announcer on last Sunday’s Ram game. . . .

ESPN has a standout in new college commentator Kevin Kiley. . . .

If it’s produced by NFL Films, you can count on it being polished. ESPN’s showing of NFL Films’ review of the 1986 season Sunday night was a reminder of that. . . .

If you want lots of NFL highlights, and right away, ESPN’s wrapup show Sundays at 4 p.m. is the way to go. . . .

A pregame show is a pregame show. There isn’t much difference in any of them, but the pick here for completeness is ESPN’s one-hour “NFL Game Day” Sundays at 8:30 a.m. . . .

Give Jimmy the Greek some credit. He picked Houston over the Rams. . . .

The days of three-hour NFL games appear gone forever. It took almost 3 1/2 hours to play Monday night’s Bear-Giant game. . . .

A lot of people may not have been impressed by John Matuszak when he worked the Raider-Dallas exhibition game for ESPN, but NBC apparently likes him. Matuszak has been invited to make periodic appearances on NBC’s “NFL Live” pregame show, beginning this Sunday at 9:30 a.m.

Strike news: CBS says if there is an NFL strike next Tuesday, it will offer an expanded “NFL Today” show the following Sunday, plus a rebroadcast of last January’s Super Bowl.

NBC has plans to do an expanded “NFL Live,” plus taped sports anthology programming.

If a strike continues a second week and owners field teams stocked with free agents and players previously cut, CBS and NBC will televise the games. CBS also is looking into the possibility of doing some college games on Sundays.

If the networks show non-union games, they would expect to get a rebate from the NFL because the ratings would be considerably lower.

A new game: Basketball’s Michael Jordan has been trying his hand at broadcasting the past three weeks at La Costa, where the Philadelphia-based Rotfeld Production Co. has been taping next year’s “Greatest Sports Legends” segments. Jordan is the latest host of the 15-year-old syndicated show.

“I’m no Howard Cosell, but I’m doing OK,” Jordan said. “It’s been a good experience.”

When Pro Serv, the agency that handles Jordan’s publicity and endorsements, first approached executive producer Berl Rotfeld about using Jordan, he resisted. “I got talked into using Michael, and I’m glad I did,” Rotfeld said. “In my opinion, he’s currently the biggest name in sports.”

Add Jordan: Might the bright lights of television--not to mention the possibility of playing with the Lakers--attract Jordan to Los Angeles?

“I love Chicago,” he said. “I plan to finish my career with the Bulls. It may be cold in Chicago, but they pay me enough to buy warm clothes.”

As for ever playing for the Lakers, Jordan said: “I don’t think I could help them. Well, I guess I could help them, but not as much as I can help the Bulls.

“Sure, a championship ring would be nice, but I wouldn’t want go to the Lakers just for that. I’d rather help the Bulls someday win a championship. That would be something I would really appreciate.”

TV-Radio Notes Monday night’s Chicago-New York Giant game drew a 21.8 national Nielsen rating, the fifth-highest rating for a Monday night season-opener. It was the highest-rated opener since 1983, when Dallas and Washington drew a 21.9. . . . Next Monday, ABC offers New England against the New York Jets. . . . NFL games on CBS Sunday drew an average Nielsen rating of 13.1, a 36% increase over the 9.6 CBS got for opening day last season. NBC was off slightly, drawing a 12.0 Sunday, compared to a 13.2 last year. . . . With KMPC carrying UCLA-Fresno State at 3:30 and KRTH carrying Michigan State-Notre Dame at 4:30, the Angels’ 5:30 p.m. game at Texas Saturday will be broadcast on KMPC’s sister station, KUTE-FM (101.9). The Angels had to make the switch after the time of the Michigan State-Notre Dame game was changed to accommodate ESPN. . . . Channel 4’s Fred Roggin is scheduled to be a guest on tonight’s “Sportsnite,” the weeknight talk show that runs from 10 p.m. to midnight on KPZE (1190). Channel 2’s Jim Lampley is scheduled Monday night. . . . Saturday at 3 p.m., Channel 2 will air a one-hour documentary, the “History of College Football.” The narrator is Curt Gowdy. . . . Channel 5’s Keith Olbermann is branching out Saturday and working for CBS Radio as a baseball commentator. He’ll work a Cleveland-Minnesota game with John Rooney, but that game will not be carried in Los Angeles by KNX because it would conflict with Saturday’s USC-Boston College football broadcast.