As Usual, Market Fails to Stock All Best Merchandise

Here we go again. Most of the nation will get an attractive NFL doubleheader on CBS Sunday--San Francisco at Cincinnati at 10 a.m., PST, followed by Chicago at Washington.

But Los Angeles viewers will see only the first game.

The reason: The Rams are playing at home.

The NFL has a longstanding policy that does not permit a network doubleheader in a market where a game is taking place.

So, in a two-team area such as Los Angeles, where either the Rams or the Raiders are at home on most Sundays, there is usually one fewer game from which to chose.

The NFL’s thinking: One fewer game on TV helps protect the live gate.

But does it? Would maybe a dozen people choose not to attend the Rams’ game against the New Orleans Saints Sunday at Anaheim Stadium if there were one more game on TV?

Television overall, contrary to early fears, hasn’t had an adverse effect on attendance. It has had a positive effect. Because of television, the NFL is healthier than ever.

“Heck, I can remember when it was feared that radio would hurt attendance,” said Charlie Jones, the dean of network pro football announcers. “But everything has changed. Fan interest is higher than ever, and with all the money the teams make off television, I think the fans in NFL cities deserve to get that extra game.”

But don’t expect any changes soon, said Val Pinchbeck, the league’s director of broadcasting. Los Angeles will continue to get two daytime games instead of three whenever the Rams or the Raiders are at home.

“If you go back to the ‘60s, no telecasts were permitted in a market where the home team was playing,” Pinchbeck said. “Then we went to one, and then two. Where do you stop?”

How about at three?

That way everybody would be treated the same. It’s unfair to penalize fans who happen to live in an NFL market, and doubly unfair to those in a two-team market.

The NFL game on NBC Sunday will be Denver at Kansas City at 1 p.m., PST, with Jones and Bill Walsh reporting. Jones is filling in for Dick Enberg, who drew another assignment this weekend. He’s in Landover, Md., for the World Pro Figure Skating Championships, to be taped for future showing.

Jones, when reminded that if the Chicago-Washington game were shown in L.A. on Sunday it would cut into the NBC audience, quipped: “Well, let’s qualify this. I’m 100% in favor of getting rid of the no-doubleheader policy, except this weekend.”

There’s been speculation that Walsh might leave the broadcast booth to take over as coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Walsh repeatedly has said he doesn’t want to go back into coaching, nor does he want to leave the Bay Area, where he lives.

But he is in the second year of a two-year contract with NBC, and if the network doesn’t give him a new one, he might take Buccaneer owner Hugh Culverhouse’s money and run to Florida.

NBC might be making a mistake if it gives up on Walsh already. Sure, he stumbles and forgets names. Last Sunday, after a leaping catch by Raider tight end Ethan Horton, he said, “It took an excellent catch by Horton to make the stop.”

Say what?

And during the confusion over the clock near the end of the first quarter, he said it was hurting the Rangers’ momentum. Wrong team, wrong sport.

However, Walsh’s critical observations are often refreshing, although sometimes overdone. But he is usually right. For instance, he said the Raiders should have been passing more against the Broncos.

Walsh’s rough spots should smooth out with more time.

The ABC cameras Monday night were right on top of the New York Giants’ Phil Simms and San Francisco’s Ronnie Lott as they jawed at each other.

What was needed, though, was some kind of explanation. ABC had to leave the air before providing one.

It was later reported that Lott called Simms a “choker,” but Simms said, “Had he called me that, I would have killed him.”

But Lott did razz Simms about losing. Such showboating was hardly necessary after the close 49er victory.

All the intimidating, high-fiving, dancing and carrying on in the NFL has gotten ridiculous. Why not go back to the good old days when players let their performances do all the talking?

Nowadays, players go into their rituals even when their team is losing, 35-0.

Radio talk: While KABC continues to audition prospective “Sportstalk” hosts, KMPC has decided to drop its “Sportsline” show. It will go off the air on Dec. 28, KMPC General Manager Bill Ward said.

“There are just too many sports-talk shows,” Ward said.

Dick Whittington will be on the air before and after Jim Healy’s 5:30 show, with Paul Olden providing periodic sports reports, beginning at 3:30 p.m.

Trying out at KABC this week were Steve Garvey, on Monday and Tuesday, and Tony Hernandez the rest of the week.

Ted Green will get a shot Monday, then come Jay Johnstone on Tuesday and Wednesday and Greg Wyatt next Thursday and Friday. They will all be paired with Eric Tracy.

Times columnist Mike Downey will make another appearance on the show on Dec. 17-19. This time, he will work with Steve Edwards.

Al Downing will get his turn Dec. 20-21, working with Ira Fistel.

Program director Michael Fox said, besides those invited to try out, the station has received between 60 and 70 applications. He said all will be considered, and the top ones will get auditions. Fox said he hopes to make a decision by the end of January.

Rick Talley, a former “Sportstalk” host, this week began doing a sports-talk show on KVEG (840), a 50,000-watt Las Vegas station that can be heard in Los Angeles at night.

Talley is on from 7 to 9 p.m., the first two of five hours of sports talk. Peter Vent, formerly of KIEV, is on KVEG from 9 to 10. Fred Wallin, another former “Sportstalk” host who has been at KVEG for a while, wraps things up from 10 to midnight.

TV-Radio Notes

After the Julio Cesar Chavez-Kyungduk Ahn fight and before the bout between Mike Tyson and Alex Stewart on HBO Saturday night there will be a controversial, seven-minute Spike Lee tribute to Tyson. Promoter Don King takes some shots at white America in the piece. “We’ve never had anything quite like this on HBO,” executive producer Ross Greenburg said. The HBO show will begin at 7 p.m., with the Tyson fight scheduled for 8:15. The first fight figures to be the better of the two. . . . Tyson will be featured in a segment on “Screen Scene” tonight at 5 on the Black Entertainment Network. Co-host Suzette Charles, a former Miss America, will do the interview.

NBC’s last fight of the year has Michael Carbajal facing Leon (Fiero) Salazar on “SportsWorld” Saturday at 1 p.m. . . . SportsChannel America will show a tape of last Saturday night’s World Boxing Assn. junior welterweight bout between champion Loreto Garza and Vinnie Pazienza Monday night at 6. . . . Baseball broadcaster Tim McCarver and co-anchor Paula Zahn of “CBS This Morning” will be the co-hosts of CBS’ coverage of the 1992 Winter Olympics.

Last Monday’s San Francisco 49ers-New York Giants game drew a 27.0 national Nielsen rating, the second-highest rating ever for a regular-season NFL game. The highest was a 29.6 for Miami-Chicago in 1985. . . . Monday’s game was shown live in Great Britain--at 2 a.m. Tuesday. . . . NBC didn’t need to show Denver wide receiver Michael Young getting sick on the sideline last Sunday. “I didn’t throw up, but I sure thought I was going to,” Young said. . . . Announcers for the San Francisco-Cincinnati game on CBS Sunday will be Dick Stockton and Merlin Olsen. . . . The Clippers’ Bo Kimble will be on “NBA Inside Stuff” on NBC Saturday at 11:30 a.m.