The Brick, Coming Out of the Blocks, Hits Rock Bottom

If publicity was what Channel 13 was seeking by hiring Vic (the Brick) Jacobs as a sports anchorman, the station has already succeeded.

Jacobs’ hiring was the lead item in this space a few weeks ago, and last week Jacobs and his mug were featured in most of the area’s other newspapers. Not even Jim Lampley’s arrival at Channel 2 last summer got such play.

Jacobs, before he even went on the air, spent much of last week doing interviews. Over lunch, Jacobs, 35, is likable enough.

But then you see him on the air, and the reaction is: give Vic the brick. The boot, too.

Jacobs belongs at Channel 7. The Brick and Dr. George would make a great team. Or bring back Ted Dawson and match him with the Brick.

Jacobs, in a heavy Brooklyn accent, opens his segments with “Gooooood eeeevening, spooorts fans.”

He wears a black tuxedo jacket, wing-collared tuxedo shirt and a bolo, or string, tie. And his hair is spiked.

The lead story on his first night was the Dodgers’ 4-3 loss to Cincinnati. Jacobs showed Chris Sabo’s game-winning hit but failed to mention that the Reds’ red-hot reliever, John Franco, was ejected for protesting a balk call, a remarkable development.

Jacobs did manage to find time to show some fans eating in the stands, and another fan running across the field.

He later told his viewers: “Are you with me on this? I hate the Giants.”

Does he really think such a stand will endear him to his audience, which, he’ll find, is a little more sophisticated than the ones he had in such places as Guam; Roswell, N.M.; Austin, Tex., and Fresno. Yes, he got his start in Guam.

Along the way, Jacobs has picked up tons of cliches. The other night, he said, “Mike LaValliere massages a Dwight Gooden pitch over the fence,” and he called the Angels the Halos of California.

Someone clue him in. Nobody calls the Angels the Halos anymore. He also called them Cookie’s Corps. Some of his other nicknames include the Metsies, the Cubbies, the Tribe and the Birds.

Jacobs calls Dodger Stadium the Ravine, Candlestick the Stick. Innings are frames, homers are “kiss it goodby,” someone tattoos one and so on. About the newest Laker, David Rivers, he said: “Can the 6-footer still penetrate the paint in the pros?”

Hey, Brick, you’re in L.A. Send your cliches back to Fresno.

In his worst line of the week, though, he said that Dodger pitcher Tim Leary “hallucinates Cincinnati.” Tim Leary is hardly Timothy Leary. Bad joke.

Jacobs, with his irreverent style, gets into the most trouble when he has to deal with a serious topic, such as diver Bruce Kimball’s accident in Florida in which two people were killed. While looking and talking silly, Jacobs said: “What triggered the diver’s demolition in Brandon? They’re checking the blood!”

Bad, really bad.

Wednesday night, he took a cheap shot at Pete Rose, calling him the ugliest man in baseball.

Oh yes, the brick. It’s a red one, a fake with the words “Vic’s Brick” on it, and he throws it at the camera as he feigns anger. The brick Monday night went to the U.S. Tennis Assn. for bumping Elise Burgin off the Olympic team to make room for Chris Evert. He said the USTA “has no guts.”

Jacobs’ idol is the late Rod Serling, creator of “The Twilight Zone.” Figures. Jacobs is in his own twilight zone.

While working at the NBC affiliate in Austin during the week of the Texas-Arkansas game one year, he and a cameraman went to a meat locker to show hogs--you know, Razorbacks--hanging from meat hooks. The next year, he topped that by taking a chainsaw with him.

He once brought a 2,000-pound longhorn into the studio. “Talk about crazy,” he said. “The bull wasn’t even sedated.”

Jacobs, as one might expect, eventually got fired by the Austin station and spent about a year looking for another job, sending tapes all over the country.

“News directors would send them back with notes saying things such as, ‘Go back in your cage, you animal. You’re a disgrace,’ ” Jacobs said.

An appealing aspect of Jacobs is his apparent lack of ego. “I don’t take criticism or praise too seriously,” he says.

Two years ago, Jacobs landed a job in Fresno, which is a long way from his hometown of Brooklyn. “I liked the people in Fresno but not the weather,” he said. “You’ve got heat in the summer and fog, thick fog, in the winter.”

Jacobs can’t bad-mouth Fresno too much, though. He met his wife there. They were married a couple of months ago.

Ed Coghlan, the Channel 13 news director who hired Jacobs, compares him to KMPC’s Jim Healy. Just wait till Healy gets word of that.

And also wait till Healy finds out that Jacobs lives on his street in Beverly Hills. Don’t invite ‘em to any block parties.

TV-Radio Notes

Saturday’s Raider-San Francisco exhibition game will be televised by CBS at 6 p.m., with Verne Lundquist and John Madden reporting. . . . Channel 2, for the first time since 1985, will televise a Ram exhibition game Aug. 26, when the Rams play at San Diego at 8 p.m. Jim Lampley and Dan Fouts will be the announcers. The same night, the Raiders at Chicago will be televised by Channel 7 at 6, and NBC will have the New York Giants at Cleveland, also at 6. . . . Joe Theismann makes his debut with ESPN Sunday, when the cable network televises New Orleans at Minnesota at 5 p.m.

Now that radio station KFI has the Raiders, it also has a nightly talk show, “Sports Magazine,” which began this week. It’s on weeknights, 6 to 7, and during the regular season will also be on Saturdays, 6 to 8, and Sundays, before and after Raider games. KFI’s Chris Roberts is the host, the Raiders’ Al LoCasale and former Raider John Matuszak are regular guests, Joe McDonnell and Bob Stevens are contributing reporters, and Bob Costas’ “Sports Flashbacks” are part of the shows.

Michael Nunn’s impressive victory over Frank Tate at Caesars Place in Las Vegas last week will be televised by Showtime at 10:05 p.m. Saturday and 4 p.m. Sunday. . . . Sunday night’s Mid-Summer Night’s Magic all-star game at the Forum will not be televised. The National Basketball Assn., concerned about over-exposure, would not permit Prime Ticket to cover the game. . . . But at 1 p.m. Sunday, ABC will televise the U.S. Olympic team, including Danny Manning and David Robinson, against an NBA team that will include former Georgetown players Patrick Ewing and Eric (Sleepy) Floyd. Georgetown Coach John Thompson is the coach of the Olympic team.

NBC has made new deals with two of its top Olympic announcers. Bryant Gumbel, the prime-time host, Thursday signed a three-year contract, and Saturday at a press conference in Los Angeles NBC will announce that Dick Enberg, gymnastics announcer and venue host, has been given a three-year extension on his existing contract. . . . Enberg, by the way, will be Rich Marotta’s guest on Prime Ticket’s “It’s Your Call” Monday night at 6:30. . . . Former Channel 5 sportscaster Steve Roah is doing weekend sports at San Diego’s Channel 39 this month.

WGN will televise the Chicago Cubs’ first night game at Wrigley Field, against Philadelphia, Monday at 5. . . . Although most of the country will see the Cubs’ second night game, against Philadelphia, Tuesday on NBC, Los Angeles gets the Dodgers at Cincinnati. At least the NBC pregame show Tuesday at 5 will be about the lights at Wrigley Field. . . . Tuesday’s appearance will be the Dodgers’ seventh on NBC this season. ABC also likes the Dodgers. They appeared in five of ABC’s eight Monday night telecasts.

Z Channel is inviting viewers to call in with a question or comment they wish passed along to its announcers during Dodger and Angel telecasts. This was first done during Wednesday night’s Dodger-Cincinnati telecast, and more than 100 calls were fielded.