Somehow Madden’s Playoff Logic Seems on the Right Road

Things have been a little screwy lately in the National Football Conference, so who better than John Madden to make some sense of it all?

“Well now, let’s see,” the CBS commentator said from his hotel room in Washington Thursday. “The New Orleans Saints, who had won nine in a row, are playing at home, but they lose to the Minnesota Vikings.

“The San Francisco 49ers are the hottest team in football and are playing at home, and they lose to the Vikings.

“The Chicago Bears have (Jim) McMahon back and are playing at home, and they lose to the Washington Redskins.

“And now you’ve got the Redskins playing at RFK Stadium and all that, so I guess that means the Vikings are going to win.”

So there you have it. Perfect logic.

Add Madden: “I’ve just been looking at some Minnesota films,” he said. “Everyone is talking about Anthony Carter, but Wade Wilson presents a big problem for the Redskins, too.

“He’s the best running quarterback in the league, so if you rush him, he just takes off on you.

“They say Wilson and (Washington’s) Doug Williams are backups, but I don’t consider them backups. Both of these guys have played a lot.

“The last two times these teams played, Washington wasn’t able to stop Minnesota. The Vikings had a total 907 yards in two overtime losses. Last season, they lost, 44-38, and on the last Saturday of the regular season this year, they lost, 27-24.

“The Redskins will put Darrell Green on Carter. Green hasn’t practiced all week because of torn cartilage in his rib cage, but it’s the kind of injury where he’ll be better by Sunday. I think he’ll play.

“Green against Carter is one key matchup. Another is (Viking offensive tackle) Tim Irwin on (Redskin defensive end) Charles Mann. The Vikings have to contain Mann.

“And (Redskin offensive tackle) Joe Jacoby has to contain (Viking defensive end) Chris Doleman.

“Also for the Redskins, receivers Gary Clark and Ricky Sanders have to have big days because the Redskins don’t have much of a running game.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with George Rogers and Kelvin Bryant. Timmy Smith probably will do most of the running on Sunday.

“Yeah, I’d say Clark and Sanders may be the key to this game. And, of course, Anthony Carter.”

While Madden and Pat Summerall will announce the 9:30 a.m. Viking-Redskin game for CBS, it will be Dick Enberg and Merlin Olsen on the 1 p.m. Cleveland-Denver game for NBC.

Olsen said something to look for from Cleveland is a quick count. “It’s a good way to offset Denver’s defense, which shifts a lot,” he said.

Olsen said he also expects Cleveland to take advantage of its strong running game. “Denver does not defend against the run very well,” he said.

Sunday’s two National Football League conference championship games are part of a full weekend of sports viewing.

The second round of the MONY Tournament of Champions golf tournament at Rancho La Costa will be televised live by ESPN at 1 p.m. today, and then ABC, for the first time since 1978, will handle the weekend coverage.

NBC had been televising the T of C, but tournament officials switched because NBC required that the tournament end on Saturday, which hurt the live gate.

NBC couldn’t televise the tournament on Sunday because of the AFC championship game.

ABC will have Jack Whitaker and Dave Marr anchoring this weekend’s delayed coverage, which begins at 1 p.m. on Saturday and 3 p.m. on Sunday.

The field reporters will be Bob Rosburg, Ed Sneed, Judy Rankin, now a regular ABC golf commentator, and Jerry Pate, working the final of three tournaments he signed to do for ABC.

The Los Angeles stop on the Professional Bowlers Assn. tour, the $150,000 AC-Delco tournament from the Gable House Bowl in Torrance, is under way and the final round will be televised by ABC, delayed, at 3 p.m. Saturday.

The tournament was held at Union City, Calif., last year, when the Gable House played host to the L.A. Open. During the Open last year, Pete McCordic rolled a 300, the first perfect game on national television in 13 years.

Chris Schenkel, now in his 27th year covering the PBA tour, will announce Saturday’s action, along with commentator Nelson Burton Jr., who is in his 14th season.

There are a couple of good college basketball games on television Saturday. One is Nevada Las Vegas vs. Providence on CBS at 1 p.m., with Verne Lundquist and Billy Packer reporting.

Another is Utah State against surprising UC Santa Barbara, also at 1 p.m. The Raycom telecast will be carried by Channel 3 in Santa Barbara, Channel 56 in the L.A. area and Channel 63 in Ventura.

A special pregame show, with Dan Elliott, will be carried at 12:30 by Channel 3.

Meanwhile, NBC’s national game is UCLA at Louisville at 11 a.m., with Marv Albert and Al McGuire. The relationship between John Wooden and Louisville Coach Denny Crum will be examined at halftime.

A portion of the country will get Memphis State vs. Tulsa on CBS instead of UNLV-Providence. The play-by-play announcer is Tom Heinsohn. Can you imagine that?

TV-Radio Notes This year’s “Greatest Sports Legends” series, with Michael Jordan as the host, is being carried by Channel 7. But the shows have been put up against football playoff games, so they have kind of been lost in the shuffle. This week’s show, which features Vince Lombardi, will be shown at 2 p.m. Sunday, opposite the AFC championship game on NBC. But don’t worry if you miss it. The show, and the eight other new segments taped at La Costa a few months ago, will be repeated throughout the year.

The series, now in its 15th season, is the longest running syndicated sports series in television history. Executive producer Berl Rotfeld said more stations bought the series than ever before. He credits the presence of Jordan for that.

Recommended viewing: “Bud Greenspan’s Olympic Greats,” a half-hour Winter Olympics special, will be on the Disney Channel Sunday night at 8:30. The critically acclaimed Greenspan has put together 100 five-minute segments for the Disney Channel, and several of these slick pieces will be shown Sunday night. Skier Jean-Claude Killy, Norwegian ice skater Sonja Henie and the 1960 American hockey team are among the subjects. Greenspan is the host. He’ll be the one with the eyeglasses perched atop his head.

There are two more college football all-star games on television Saturday. Channel 11 carries the East-West Shrine game at noon, and NBC offers the Hula Bowl at 1 p.m. The Hula Bowl coaches, Terry Donahue and Mike White, will wear microphones, and NBC will have cameras in the locker rooms at halftime.

Next Friday night’s Sunkist Invitational track meet at the Sports Arena will be televised the same night, delayed at 11 p.m., by the USA cable network. . . . Jay Johnstone has a new show on ESPN. It’s called “The Lighter Side of Sports,” and is produced by Steve Rotfeld. Rotfeld, the son of Berl, is also the producer of the “All-New Bob Uecker Sports Show.” Johnstone’s first show will be televised Saturday morning at 7. Other segments will be shown next Tuesday and Thursday at 2:30 p.m. . . . Mychal Thompson’s addiction to daytime soap operas and the downfall of Walter Davis of the Phoenix Suns will be the featured subjects of the Laker pregame show Saturday night at 6 on Channel 9.

Leandra Reilly, a free-lance sportscaster you may have seen on ESPN, will become the first woman to do play-by-play on a pro basketball game when she fills in for Steve Albert on the SportsChannel telecast of the New Jersey Nets-Philadelphia 76ers game Feb. 14. SportsChannel is a New York sports cable service. Reilly will work the game with regular SportsChannel analyst Bill Raftery.

CBS and NBC have signed new deals with the PGA. CBS will carry 16 PGA tournaments a year, NBC 9. CBS will carry 17 golf tournaments in all, and NBC, which does more women’s and senior events, will show 16. NBC’s golf coverage begins with the Bob Hope Classic Jan. 23-24, and CBS’ begins with the Phoenix Open on Super Bowl weekend. NBC will televise the $1.25-million Players Championship March 26-27 from Ponte Vedra, Fla. Formerly, it was called the Tournament Players Championship (TPC) and televised by CBS.