Bradshaw Rides to Fore in Fox’s Grand Opening

Wow, was that a rip-roaring opening or what?

To signify the start of the NFL on Fox, Terry Bradshaw, decked out in Cowboy duds, came riding in on a horse.

“New frontier, same game,” proclaimed Cowboy Terry.

Fox’s first one-hour pregame show Sunday got off to a brilliant start, thanks to Bradshaw and segment producer Andrew Becker, who came up with the idea.

It became clear from the start that Bradshaw is the star of this show, and it was soon apparent that he also has a strong supporting cast.

Rookie Howie Long was smooth, although once he had to look down to check his notes. His Buddy Ryan feature was the day’s best, and his comment that the Buffalo Bills won’t be back in the Super Bowl because they “are at the end of their talent cycle” was one of the day’s strongest.

The other rookie, Jimmy Johnson, should work out fine. His playbook segment on the Steelers’ defensive options against Cowboy receivers was a highlight.

Host James Brown was upbeat and nearly flawless.

No F for Fox on Day 1. Overall, the pregame deserved about a B+.

Now for the downside: The puff piece entertainment reporter Lonnie Lardner did on Troy Aikman was sickeningly syrupy.

Lardner said things like, “There isn’t a bigger star in the Lone Star State than Troy Aikman, and he can’t for the life of him figure out why?”

Sorry, Lonnie, he can probably figure it out.

And then there was this: “Could a woman stop you from playing football?”

Talk about a stupid question.

Lardner finished off her segment by gushing that Aikman “exudes sincerity, honesty and integrity, just like our man James Brown.”

Speaking of Brown, at 9:43 he told viewers that “most of you will not be going out to a game, but some of you will be back here.” He then said, “We thank you very much for joining us.”

It was confusing if you weren’t paying close attention, since it sounded as if the show was over. In Los Angeles, it wasn’t.

And this brings up a very sore point. Here, we went from the debut of Fox’s pregame show to professional wrestling.

Fox lost its audience because of that old antiquated NFL rule that does not allow a network to televise a doubleheader in a market in which a game is taking place. And since the Rams were home, that was the case Sunday.

So L.A. was deprived of the Philadelphia-New York Giant game.

You’d think that since Rupert Murdoch is paying the NFL $1.58 billion, he might be able to use his influence to get rid of this ridiculous rule. He’d be a hero if he could.

As for Fox’s game coverage, which finally got under way at 1 p.m. with the Cowboys and Steelers, we’ve mentioned before our feeling about the score-and-time-remaining graphic. It’s a good idea, just take it down during live action.

It didn’t go up Sunday until there was 2:43 left in the first quarter. But that was because of computer problems. It normally will go up after the first series or two.

At Fox’s last exhibition telecast, in Chicago, it didn’t go up until the second half, but that was because Fox had problems synchronizing its clock with the stadium clock at Soldier Field.

One area Fox needs to improve is giving updates from other games. It could take a lesson from NBC here.

But the main thing is, Fox was off and running Sunday, and without any major glitches. And there are a few people at the network breathing a little easier today.