The NL West Race Just Doesn’t Rate With Pro Football

Pro football rules.

The Dodgers not only got beat by the Reds when they played possibly their most important game of the season in Cincinnati Sunday, they got beat in the ratings game by football.

While the Dodgers and Reds averaged a respectable 6.5 Nielsen rating in Los Angeles, the Rams, Raiders and 49ers all did considerably better.

The Rams’ victory over Tampa Bay averaged a 14.9 and the Raiders’ victory at Seattle a 10.1. The San Francisco-Washington Redskin game, on the same time as the Raiders, still drew a 9.4.

“Monday Night Football” got an 18.6 rating in Los Angeles, beating all other Monday night programming.

Coming closest was the CBS lineup of Emmy-award winning “Murphy Brown,” which got a 15.6, and “Designing Women,” which got a 17.0.

Not only was “Monday Night Football” a ratings success this week, it was an exciting game and an excellent telecast.

Announcers Al Michaels and Dan Dierdorf sort of chided partner Frank Gifford when, at the start of the game, he said viewers were in store for a classic.

It turns out Gifford knew what he was talking about. The Denver Broncos, first blowing a 21-9 lead to the Kansas City Chiefs, came back to win on the final play, 24-23.

It was dramatic action, with ABC providing phenomenal camera work. Not once, not twice, but three times the cameras caught what the officials didn’t--a receiver trapping the ball rather than catching it.

Receiver Michael Young, a victim on a third-down play on the Broncos’ winning drive, said: “I would have sworn on a stack of Bibles I caught the ball.”

Jim Healy likes to call Dierdorf Dierdork because, among other things, he talks so much. But Dierdorf, as well as Michaels and Gifford and the rest of the crew, are off to a good start this season.

In his fourth year with the series, Dierdorf still tends to beat a point to death, as he did Monday night when he got on the Chiefs for passing on fourth and 10 deep in Bronco territory, rather than kicking an almost sure field goal.

It was a valid point, but Dierdorf harped on it at least once too often.

Dierdorf has tremendous announcing abilities. He is witty, clever, outspoken and observant.

But after a rookie season in which he drew rave reviews, he seemed to cross over the fine line and went from witty to obnoxious. Maybe he started believing his press clippings.

Healy, playing off Dierdork, has come up with a new name for Channel 7’s Todd Donoho-- Dorkoho.

Healy pointed out that Donoho’s “Monday Night Football” postgame show, despite a lead-in rating of 23.2, managed only a 12.4 the first 15 minutes and a 5.1 the second.

College football: Saturday’s lineup is good. There’s UCLA at Michigan on ABC at 9 a.m., then a choice of San Diego State-Brigham Young, featuring Ty Detmer against Dan McGwire, on CBS at noon or Notre Dame-Michigan State on ABC at 12:30 p.m.

At 3:30 p.m., USC plays Washington in Seattle on Prime Ticket.

Boxing beat: They used to call Michael Nunn “Second to Nunn.” Now it’s more like “Second Rate.”

Nunn used to be coveted by HBO, which paid him more than $1 million per fight for three fights.

But his next bout, against Donald Curry in Paris on Oct. 18, will be televised by Showtime, and Nunn reportedly will get less than $300,000.

What’s more, Showtime won’t even spend the money to send announcers Steve Albert and Ferdie Pacheco to France. Showtime will pick up the French television feed and have Albert and Pacheco call the fight from a studio in New York.

Nunn, who has split with his manager, Dan Goossen of Ten Goose Boxing, hasn’t fought since April 14, when he managed a majority decision over Marlon Starling in Las Vegas. Before that, his last fight was in August 1989, when he scored an unpopular victory over Iran Barkley in Reno.

One of Goossen’s new hotshots, Rafael Ruelas, 20-0 with 17 knockouts, will fight on NBC Saturday, facing Felipe DeJesus on a Sacramento card that features Tony Lopez against Jorge Paez. The show starts at 1 p.m.

Add boxing: The Oct. 25 Buster Douglas-Evander Holyfield heavyweight championship fight at the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas will be on pay-per-view television, and promoter Steve Wynn is trying something new.

For past pay-per-view fights, promoters sold franchises to various middlemen, who worked with cable companies and closed-circuit locations and also helped promote the fight.

But Wynn is working directly with pay-per-view distributors. He has hired Rick Kulis, president of Event Entertainment of Palos Verdes, as his agent, but Wynn is taking all the risk.

A network that may reach a record 14 million homes is being set up. The previous high was 10 million homes for the Mike Tyson-Michael Spinks bout in June 1988.

Advance cost of the fight on most Southland cable systems will be $39.95, going to $49.95 on the day of the fight.

TV-Radio Notes

The Dodger Alumni News lists 14 former players who are involved in baseball broadcasting: Ken Brett (Angels), Don Drysdale (Dodgers), Ron Cey (SportsChannel), Al Downing (KABC Dodgertalk) Manny Mota (KWKW), Rex Barney (Orioles), Enos Cabell (Astros), Ron Fairly (Giants), Tommy Hutton (Blue Jays), Jay Johnstone (Yankees), Rick Monday (Padres), Tom Paciorek (White Sox), Joe Simpson (Mariners) and Don Sutton (Braves).

Add Dodger Alumni News: Angel announcer Brett is quoted on the Dodgers, one of the 10 teams he played for: “A terrific organization--the best I played with, and they treat everybody with respect.” Brett had better be careful. His current employers might take offense. . . . The pairing of Brett and Charlie Jones on SportsChannel has worked well. Brett, who initially impressed the Angels as a television commentator for the Seattle Mariners, may have found his forte. And Jones, better known for his work on football, track and field and other sports, has been outstanding on baseball.

The Angels have had a couple of impressive guest announcers recently. The legendary Mel Allen filled in for Paul Olden on Channel 5 during the team’s last trip to New York, when Olden had a UCLA football commitment. Tuesday, Ken Levine, a television writer-producer, did a nice job as a guest for three innings on SportsChannel. Levine, formerly the lead writer of “MASH” and later a writer and producer of “Cheers,” spent the summer fulfilling his dream of being a baseball announcer, working for the Tidewater Tides, the New York Mets’ triple-A team in Norfolk, Va. Levine was featured in a recent Sports Illustrated article.

New Laker Sam Perkins will be the featured guest on Prime Ticket’s “It’s Your Call” Wednesday at 6 p.m. . . . ESPN’s Fred (“My Sources Tell Me”) Edelstein, who reported that the Raiders would be in Oakland by the time the season started, has an excuse for being wrong. He has said the move didn’t come off because of a holdup on an environmental study.