Thanks to LeMond, ABC Will Have No Trouble Peddling Tour

ABC could not have asked for a better scenario than to have Greg LeMond battling for his third Tour de France crown as the three-week race wraps up Sunday in Paris. If snake-bitten NBC had contracted for coverage, the country would be in the midst of another revolution, no doubt.

The network got a nice rating last year, 5.0 with a 14 share, when, aided by Bernard Hinault’s ponytail, LeMond won by eight seconds. With LeMond just five seconds behind Claudio Chiapucci going into Friday’s stage, excitement is at a fever pitch.

Only 15 more days until pro football hits the airwaves, the Chicago Bears and Cleveland Browns colliding in the Hall of Fame Game, then those late-January duds, the Denver Broncos , taking on Seattle Seahawks in the gridiron hotbed of Tokyo in the evening on ESPN.

Even before that, however, rabid Washington Redskins fans get a chance to see their darlings in action in a real-live scrimmage against a suitable opponent July 28.

Tradition be suspended. Attempts to attain the proper level of reverence and respect for the British Open on ABC Saturday and Sunday have failed miserably and I am stuck with the feeling that it is just another golf tournament on what has to be Britain’s most unsightly acreage, St. Andrews, Scotland. Once again, Sherlock Holmes did not make the cut.

A good fight on CBS Sunday has Buddy McGirt going after his 50th win -- only three other U.S. boxers have more -- against Jose Bermudez. The latter is dangerous (18 knockouts) and it is a risk for McGirt, who figures as the foe in Simon Brown’s upcoming mandatory IBF title defense. Saturday, an ABC bout has Darrin Van Horn taking on Gianfranco Rosi.

Interesting occurrence during a New York Yankee game the other night: Announcer Al Trautwig went out into the stands to check something out with the fans and he was told to cease and desist since roving reporters are not allowed in Steinbrenner’s Stadium.

One of Beth Rulak’s complaints while doing a bangup job covering the Tour de France for ABC is that the racers and media are not cordoned off from the crowd and it is tough getting anything from a cyclist when he is in the midst of a crush of fans. Welcome to pack journalism, Beth. Wait until a Japanese athlete is involved and his countrymen want a word with him. It’s like going over Niagara Falls in a barrel.

Next season, as part of its deal with the National Collegiate Athletic Association, CBS will show a women’s double-header Jan. 5, and a network spokesman says, “I don’t think the games will get lost going against men’s games.” And he appeared serious at the time.

Brent Musburger gets a chance to climb into one of those stylish canary yellow blazers ABC makes its announcers wear to cover a horse race in Atlantic City, N.J., on “Wide World of Sports” Saturday afternoon.

NBC’s inventory of sports programming this weekend consists of a U.S. vs. Cuba baseball game Saturday and drag racing Sunday. Why even bother, guys?