Having One Network Try to Show It All Is the Real Madness

The NCAA basketball tournament, with its 64-team field, is simply too big for one network to cover.

CBS has bit off more than it can chew, and its piecemeal coverage has left viewers unfulfilled and angry.

The tournament will be down to manageable size after tonight’s games, but something needs to be done about the early-round coverage.

CBS, like it or not, needs a cable partner, or partners, for the event.

There were fewer problems when ESPN televised most of the early-round games. In the future, the ideal situation would be to have multiple cable networks involved.

What’s needed is sort of an NCAA tournament triplecast, only without a viewer price tag. It could be similar to the arrangement being discussed for the 1996 Summer Olympics, in which ABC would team with ESPN and two Turner networks, TNT and TBS.

It’s a good idea, and one the NCAA should explore for its basketball tournament.

The entire event was handed to CBS three years ago because, at the time, the NCAA could make more money that way.

Well, the economics of sports television have changed. A non-exclusive setup would seem to benefit all.

The problem is, CBS has a seven-year contract that doesn’t expire until 1997, and a format change before then is unlikely, no matter how badly it might be needed.

The good news for CBS is that its ratings for the tournament are up from last year, mainly because of California’s upset victory over Duke and the UCLA-Michigan overtime thriller.

The average rating through the first two rounds is 7.4, up from 6.8 at the same juncture last year.

The national rating for UCLA-Michigan was 12.6, and it was up to 19.6 by the end of the game.

Somewhat surprisingly, the game did better nationally than in Los Angeles, where it got a 10 rating.

That doesn’t say much for the popularity of college basketball in Los Angeles.

Digger Phelps, who has moved into the studio, made some good points Sunday as the commentator for UCLA-Michigan.

For one thing, he said it was a mistake to have Ed O’Bannon sitting on the bench for so long late in the first half. Phelps feared that O’Bannon would get cold, and he did.

Also, Phelps was the first to point out that Jalen Rose’s controversial shot was valid because it left his hand before the shot clock expired.

Phelps’ downfall, though, is too many cliches, such as, “They can smell it.”

It shouldn’t have taken CBS more than five minutes to show a shot-clock replay of Rose’s shot. All it had to do was re-run the live picture.

It wasn’t like the 1987 Super Bowl between the New York Giants and Denver Broncos, when CBS had to search for a replay.

The Broncos were leading, 10-7, late in the first half and had the ball at their 13-yard line, second and 12, when a pass to tight end Clarence Kay apparently picked up a first down at the 28.

But the pass was ruled incomplete, and quarterback John Elway was sacked for a safety on the next play, changing the momentum of the game. The Giants won, 39-20.

The initial replay of the pass was inconclusive. But nine minutes later, CBS found a replay that showed Kay had indeed caught the pass.

Imagine the controversy Sunday had CBS’ shot-clock replay shown that Rose’s shot came after the clock expired. In a situation like that, the officials should be allowed to check replays.

If he worked in a more prominent sport, Johnny Miller might be considered one of the best commentators on television.

Miller is in his fourth year of doing golf for NBC and this week is at the $2.5-million Players Championship, often called golf’s “fifth major.”

The key to Miller’s success is that he is honest. If a player chokes on a shot, Miller says so.

“My approach is, I say the same things I would say if I were watching a tournament with some friends at my house,” Miller said.

“What I’m trying to do is sometimes misinterpreted. I’m not trying to make a name for myself by being negative. I don’t have an agenda. I’m not trying to set the world on fire.

“I’m simply trying to point out the mistakes a golfer makes when he hits a bad shot, so the viewer will learn something. I’m teaching the viewer, and, I hope, at the same time promoting golf.”

When Tom Watson hit a shot on the 18th hole into the water during last weekend’s Nestle Invitational at Orlando, Fla., Miller pointed out what Watson had done wrong. He said Watson dropped his right shoulder as he swung, causing the club face to open and the ball to go right.

“When I point out things like that, people will pick up on bits and pieces and go tell the golfer,” Miller said. “Then the golfer will think I went out of my way to be critical. But that simply is not the case.”

TV-Radio Notes

The Players Championship will be on the USA network today before switching over to NBC for the weekend. . . . Female golfers will be in the spotlight, too, with ESPN (today) and ABC (Saturday and Sunday) televising the Nabisco Dinah Shore from the Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage. The ABC announcing team will be Brent Musburger, Judy Rankin, Bob Rosburg, Mark Rolfing, Jack Whitaker and Rhonda Glenn. . . . Jockey Steve Cauthen, who turns 33 on May 1, has been hired by ABC as a commentator on the Triple Crown races. . . . ABC angered tennis fans last Saturday when it interrupted coverage of the Lipton Championships final between Steffi Graf and Arantxa Sanchez Vicario after two sets to switch to bowling.

Tom Reilly has replaced Sol Steinberg as the executive producer of Prime Ticket’s “Press Box.” Steinberg is leaving Prime Ticket to pursue options in the entertainment industry. . . . “Press Box” has become an outstanding show, but one problem is Randi Hall’s often embarrassing interviews after Laker games. Hall topped all Wednesday night when she asked Charles Barkley to sing happy birthday to her husband. How unprofessional can you get? Barkley was put in an awkward position but complied. . . . Recommended viewing: In a one-hour special, “About the Game,” on Channel 5 Sunday at 8 p.m., Vin Scully and Tom Lasorda, two of the best storytellers around, reminisce about their many years with the Dodgers. In one segment, Lasorda talks about how on April 1 he would, as a practical joke, tell a player he had been traded or sent down to the minors. He said one year he pulled the April Fools’ Day joke on Dusty Baker, who became upset. “I told Dusty it wasn’t my fault, that Al Campanis makes those decisions.” That’s where KMPC’s Jim Healy got the Lasorda tape on which the Dodger manager screams, “Ain’t my . . . fault, Campanis is the . . . guy.”

KMPC’s often zany “McDonnell Douglas Show” had a good week in the hard news department. On Monday, Dick Steinberg, the New York Jets’ director of personnel, set the record straight on Reggie White, saying that despite reports, the free agent had not signed with the team. On Tuesday, George Foreman announced that he would retire after his June 7 fight with Tommy Morrison. And on Wednesday, it was disclosed that quarterback Jeff Hostetler had signed with the Raiders and that Jay Schroeder would not be returning. . . . Channel 2 sports producer Steve Feld is leaving the station to start, among other things, a “sports reporters” show in Denver. Feld would also like to do a similar show in Los Angeles, which sounds like a good idea.

Jim Rome, who signed a new three-year contract with XTRA, said the main reason he decided to stay at the radio station rather than accept a job with ESPN II was the uncertainty surrounding the proposed TV network. . . . The Los Angeles Athletic Club’s John Wooden All-American team will be announced Tuesday on Roy Firestone’s “Up Close” show on ESPN. The Wooden Player of the Year will be announced April 7. . . . Greg Wyatt, formerly a sports producer/reporter for Channel 11 and before that a reporter for ESPN, and his wife, Carol Hutchison, have purchased a radio station in Port St. Lucie, Fla. Wyatt has already moved there, and Hutchison, a medical and general assignment reporter at Channel 11 and formerly at Channel 4, will be joining him in about month.

For the record: Since ABC was to televise the Atlanta 500 the weekend it was canceled by the big storm, it was incorrectly assumed that ABC would show the stock-car race when it was run last weekend. But because of scheduling conflicts, the auto race was switched to the Nashville Network. . . . Also, it should be clarified that Bill Seward has not replaced his KNX colleague and friend Gil Stratton on the Monday “Santa Anita Tonight” shows on Channel 56. Stratton is recovering from surgery for an intestinal disorder. Seward, however, is now the permanent host of the Tuesday shows, replacing host/producer Alan Buchdahl, who resigned.