Cycling Coverage on ABC Has Been a Real Tour de Force

Rather than stretch out U.S. Olympic Festival coverage over 30 hours, as ESPN is doing, it might be better to condense it into tightly edited weekend shows.

The news magazine approach is working well for ABC on the Tour de France. The coverage has been well-organized and comprehensive.

There will be a 12-minute Tour de France report on “Wide World of Sports” Saturday, between a track and field meet and horse racing. And there will be a 1 1/2-hour program Sunday, beginning at 3:30 p.m.

The schedule will be similar the following weekend, when the race concludes, except that the Sunday show will run from 3 to 4 p.m.

A lot of credit for the look of ABC’s coverage goes to 26-year-old Nancy Stern, who is making her debut as a producer. She was an associate producer on Tour de France telecasts the past two years.

A caller to KMPC’s “Scott St. James Show” the other day, Steve from Chatsworth, nailed co-host Bob Rowe.

“Are you so insecure you can never criticize the Angels?” the caller asked. “You know, if just once you criticized the Angels, it might make for provocative radio.”

Good point.

Rowe shot back that once, 10 years ago, he actually did criticize the Angels. He said that, after much agonizing, he criticized the farm system.

Now that is one tough reporter.

Anyway, St. James, acting as peacemaker, offered the caller a couple of free Angel tickets. That calmed him down.

Rowe, no question an Angel expert, later said: “It’s not my style to be a ripper, and I’m not going to change.”

The feeling here is that for the sake of credibility, homers such as Rowe, Al Conin and Ross Porter would better serve their listeners if they at times offered criticism. In fact, the Angels and the Dodgers should insist on it.

Add KMPC: St. James will have Long Beach Press-Telegram columnist Doug Krikorian as his in-studio co-host Monday. St. James said it is simply an experiment.

One thing is for sure, Krikorian is no homer.

Recommended viewing: CNN examines the past, present and future of blacks in professional baseball in a three-part series, “Behind the White Lines,” which will be shown on CNN’s “Sports Tonight” Monday through Wednesday.

Part 1 focuses on the Negro Leagues, Part 2 spotlights Jackie Robinson and Henry Aaron, and Part 3 looks at the progress blacks have made since Al Campanis’ derogatory remarks on ABC’s “Nightline” four years ago.

The entire series also will be shown as part of a half-hour special Sunday, July 28, at 6 p.m.

Howard Cosell will be the subject of a one-hour, prime-time ESPN show on Aug. 29. The program, generally, will take a positive look at Cosell, who is recovering from cancer surgery. However, executive producer John Walsh said some tough questions will be asked.

Then again, Cosell can embarrass himself without help. In an excerpt, Cosell talks about the Monday night in December 1980 when John Lennon was shot and Cosell reported it on “Monday Night Football.”

This from Humble Howard: “I knew that I was the right one to tell America that John Lennon had been assassinated. I had a very special relationship with him. I thought John Lennon was a genius. I knew of his impact upon the civilization of my time.”

Boxing beat: Unbeaten heavyweight Riddick Bowe will fight Phillip Brown on the USA network next Tuesday at 9 p.m., and the Jeff Fenech-Azumah Nelson bout, which was on the Mike Tyson-Razor Ruddock II undercard, will be televised on Showtime Wednesday at 10 p.m.

There’s little question that Fenech beat Nelson, although the Las Vegas judges called it a draw.

The action-packed fight is the good part. The bad part is commentator Ferdie Pacheco, who is in Cosell’s league for being obnoxious.

Pacheco offers strong commentary, as did Cosell. Their abrasive personalities are a turnoff.

Also, Pacheco is a poor interviewer. He never listens to the person he is interviewing, often cutting him off in midsentence.

Baseball Commissioner Fay Vincent and NBA Commissioner David Stern taped interviews Thursday for cable network CNBC’s “McLaughlin,” to be shown next Friday at 4 and 9 p.m.

In his first public comment on Jane Pauley’s interview with Pete Rose, Vincent said he was not moved by Rose’s statements about “loving the game and how Vincent is a compassionate man.”

Vincent, however, did say that he would “wait and see what Rose has done and how he’s lived his life” when considering reinstatement.

Regarding mandatory drug testing, Stern said he wanted to talk it over with his players and drug counseling professionals before considering it. Vincent, on the other hand, flatly stated he is in favor of random, mandatory testing of all players.

With Brett Lewis on vacation and Fred Roggin ill for three days this week, Channel 4 dipped down and used money reporter Doug Kriegal on sports.

Kriegal was OK, but you would think a station the size of Channel 4 would be able to call in a sports reporter from the bullpen.

It seems that Channel 4 cares about sports only during rating sweeps.

Showing that he lacks experience but that he’s also willing to learn, David Norrie, KMPC’s new UCLA football commentator, will attend Roy Englebrecht’s sportscasters camp at Loyola Marymount Aug. 3-9.

Englebrecht reports there are a few openings left. The cost for the seven-day camp is $895, which includes hotel lodging and all meals. Among the instructors are Chick Hearn, Bob Costas, Joel Meyers, Roy Firestone and co-director Bob Miller. Information: (714) 760-3131.

TV-Radio Notes

CBS finally gets back to Saturday baseball this weekend. Most of the country, including Los Angeles, will get the Dodgers vs. the New York Mets at 10 a.m. . . . The Dodgers will also be on Channel 11 tonight and Sunday from New York. . . . The Angels’ home game against the Cleveland Indians tonight will be on SportsChannel. . . . Jim Kaat will wear two hats for CBS this weekend. Saturday he will be a baseball commentator, working the backup game, Cincinnati Reds vs. Pittsburgh Pirates, and Sunday he will be a horse racing reporter in Atlantic City, N.J. “The two passions I have in life are baseball and horse racing,” Kaat said.

Of the interviews Lyle Alzado has done lately dealing with his brain cancer, the most moving was the one with Jim Hill on Channel 7 last Sunday night. . . . Julie Moran, former co-host of “NBA Inside Stuff,” has been hired by ABC. She will work the Pan American Games, the Little League World Series, and this fall will be a college football reporter. . . . NBC has hired John Dockery, formerly of CBS, as Notre Dame football sideline reporter. . . . Gayle Gardner will be the in-studio host and Ahmad Rashad the on-site host of NBC’s Notre Dame pregame show. . . . There are only eight days until the first NFL exhibition telecast is on ABC. It will be the Denver Broncos vs. the Detroit Lions in the Hall of Fame Game on July 27. . . . NBC has hired Dan Hampton and Mike Webster as NFL commentators. Because of a heavy workload that includes law school, HBO assignments and a radio show in Cincinnati, Cris Collinsworth won’t be back with NBC this fall.

Prime Ticket’s Chris Marlowe will call the three beach volleyball events that NBC will televise this summer, beginning July 28. Marlowe also will work the Pan American Games for ABC and TBS, and the Barcelona Olympic Games for NBC. And there is more news about Marlowe, 39, the one-time basketball star at Pacific Palisades High who was the captain of the 1976 and ’84 U.S. Olympic volleyball teams. The longtime bachelor recently became engaged to Laurie Engle, who works for a public relations firm.