Fare Still Plentiful for the Rest of the Holiday Weekend

After a full plate of sports viewing on Thanksgiving Day, there are enough leftovers to satisfy even the heartiest of appetites.

There’s another full course today--Oklahoma-Nebraska football at 10:30 a.m. on ABC, the Lakers and Celtics at 5 p.m. on Channel 9 and TNT, followed by the Chicago Bulls and Portland Trail Blazers on TNT, a “Feast of Champions” fight card from the Mirage in Las Vegas on Showtime, hockey on SportsChannel and college basketball and skiing on ESPN.

The weekend fare includes Florida-Florida State football on ABC, Grambling-Southern in the Bayou Classic on NBC, Davis Cup tennis on ESPN, Skins Game golf on ABC and a Sunday pro football lineup that features the Rams against the Washington Redskins on CBS and the Raiders at San Diego in a 5 p.m. game on ESPN.

As for dessert, the first of two servings will be offered Tuesday night at 10 on HBO. That’s when the first of a two-part documentary, “Play by Play: a History of Sports Television,” makes its debut.

The second part will be shown Dec. 10 at 10 p.m. Each segment will have five additional play dates throughout December.

A preview tape of the show arrived recently, and it was popped into the VCR with great anticipation.

This show had been talked about for seven years. At first, it was held up because Roone Arledge, when he was the head of ABC Sports, wouldn’t cooperate with a cable competitor.

But when Dennis Swanson, Arledge’s successor at ABC, gave the go-ahead, the project was given new life, and it has been three years in the making.

The documentary is worth watching. But, considering HBO’s excellent track record, this show is a little disappointing.

“When It Was a Game,” HBO’s last documentary, was terrific. But “History of Sports Television” has flaws.

Maybe the HBO producers simply tried to cover too much. Part I starts well, but then becomes disjointed and, in some cases, too tightly edited.

There is too much jumping around among different sports and different eras, and some segments are repeated for no apparent reason.

Basically, the show lacks continuity, although Part II, which focuses more on the personalties than the events, is better than Part I.

Another problem, at least to Westerners, is an obvious Eastern bias.

Vin Scully is almost totally ignored, there is one quick glimpse of Chick Hearn and Bill King is neither seen nor heard.

Among those singled out for special attention in Part II are former New York baseball announcers Red Barber and Mel Allen, old-timer Bill Stern, plus Lindsey Nelson, Curt Gowdy, Howard Cosell and Chris Schenkel.

Schenkel bigger than Scully? Come on.

Certainly, the show has its moments, jogging many fond memories.

The hosts are Gowdy, Jim McKay, Jim Lampley, Brent Musburger, Pat Summerall and Bob Costas, and, gathered in sort of a locker-room atmosphere, they poke fun at themselves.

Musburger suggests opening with: “You are looking live at the ‘History of Sports Television.’ ”

Says Coach Gowdy: “No, Brent. This show is taped.”

Then there is the story told by golf director Joe Aceti about the days of free spending in network sports television, when padding expense accounts was normal procedure.

Aceti, after working a tournament at the Royal St. George’s Golf Club in Sandwich, England, put down $150 on his expense account for tree trimming.

Says Aceti: “The business manager sees that and says, ‘I’ve got you now. The cameras panned the course and there wasn’t a tree in sight.’ I told him, ‘Well, for $150 the guy did a great job.’ ”

Monday night’s Ram-49er telecast lent itself to discussions of such things as John Robinson’s future, and the ABC announcers didn’t skirt the issue.

Said Al Michaels: “I’ll go on record and say that unless the Rams win their remaining four games, I doubt that Robinson will be back.”

Said Dan Dierdorf: “I’ll go on record and say that anyone who watches ‘Monday Night Football’ knows we are very fond of John Robinson.”

Later, off the air, Michaels said: “I wish I would have also said that maybe Robinson would welcome a change. He’s a great person and a great coach, and I’m sure he’ll have no problem getting a job elsewhere.”

For the most part, Prime Ticket did an outstanding job covering last weekend’s USC-UCLA game, beginning with a well-produced pregame show.

But, unfortunately, on the game’s most controversial play, the fumble recovery for a touchdown by UCLA’s Brian Allen, Prime Ticket lost track of the ball.

Even announcer Paul McDonald complained that more tape was needed.

During halftime, two separate replays spliced together gave viewers a pretty good idea of what happened, but there was nothing definitive.

Speaking of McDonald, he seems to be following the route of another former Bishop Amat, USC and pro quarterback, Pat Haden. McDonald has a real future in broadcasting.

It’s good for announcers to be tough at times, but Tom Kelly was a little too tough when he said USC cornerback Calvin Holmes “has been the brunt of a lot of bad jokes.”

But Kelly was right on when he predicted UCLA’s fake punt and also was appropriate in his criticism of USC Coach Larry Smith’s time management at the end of the game.

UCLA commentator Tom Ramsey worked well with McDonald, although at times it was difficult to tell who was talking.

And sideline reporter Bill Macdonald got good information, particularly on the controversial touchdown. Macdonald told viewers that the call was delayed because the officials were discussing whether a whistle had blown.

TV-Radio Notes

The Showtime boxing main event tonight, World Boxing Council welterweight champion Simon Brown vs. James (Buddy) McGirt, should be a good one, but the first fight, Michael Nunn vs. Randall Yonker, also is worth watching. It is Nunn’s first fight since his defeat by James Toney in a TVKO pay-per-view fight last May. Tonight’s show begins at 7 with Steve Albert, Ferdie Pacheco and Mike Tyson calling the action. It is Tyson’s second commentating assignment for Showtime. He also worked the Julio Cesar Chavez-Lonnie Smith fight on Sept. 14. Tonight’s show is free to Showtime subscribers, and non-subscribers with addressable cable systems can buy it. They also will receive a month of Showtime.

Vin Scully, who has worked for both CBS and NBC, makes his first appearance on ABC this weekend when he works the Don Ohlmeyer-produced Skins Game. Peter Jacobsen and Jerry Pate provide commentary for the $540,000 event at PGA West in La Quinta. . . . What attracted NBC to Grambling vs. Southern was the spectacle of this traditional game played at the Superdome. It will be televised Saturday at 11:30 a.m. . . . After the Laker game on Channel 9 Saturday night will be “It’s Magic,” a one-hour special on Magic Johnson’s life. . . . Steve Sabol’s “This Week in the NFL” on Channel 2 Saturday at 1:30 p.m. devotes the entire half-hour to a look at officiating. . . . Jack Nicklaus will be Roy Firestone’s guest on “Up Close” Monday.

Somewhat surprisingly, the Raiders’ blowout of Cincinnati last Sunday got a better rating in Los Angeles (8.5) than Dallas-Washington (7.7). The rating in Washington for the Redskins and Cowboys was a 40.9, and in Dallas it was a 38.7. . . . Backup quarterback Steve Bono had one interview request after another following the 49ers’ victory over the Rams Monday, and he handled each like a seasoned pro. He has had some recent practice, though. His wife, Tina, says that after Bono became the starter three weeks ago, she worked with him at home, holding a hairbrush and pretending to interview him.

Tonight’s Mater Dei-Fontana high school playoff game will be televised on public-access channels by several Orange County cable companies. The announcers will be Paul Westphal (no, not the former basketball player) and Mike Lansford (yes, the former Ram kicker). . . . Congratulations to Channel 9’s Laker producer-director Susan Stratton for pulling off a real surprise birthday celebration for Chick Hearn during halftime of the Lakers’ game at Miami Wednesday night.