Jim Rome Finally Finds His Biggest Fan

OK, all you single-till-you-die Jim Rome clones, your leader is no longer one of you.

As you may have heard, Rome is getting married this weekend. The lucky bride--or unlucky, depending on your point of view--is Janet Nauman, an XTRA employee when Rome went to work there seven years ago. The couple have been engaged for about 1 1/2 years.

“I finally found someone who can put up with me full time,” Rome said before departing for Napa Valley in Northern California for a ceremony to be performed in front of friends and relatives.

Rome took Thursday and today off, but will be back

on the air Monday. He and his bride will go on a two-week honeymoon to Europe in August.

“It will be the first time since I’ve been in radio that I’ve taken two weeks off,” Rome said.

Maybe he can arrange to make a few tour stops while in Europe. Going global, as Rome would say.

Meanwhile, the show must go on. Channel 13’s Newy Scruggs and former Ram great Deacon Jones aptly filled in for Rome on Thursday--yes, Jones made a number of good points--and Scruggs will be back on the air today with basketball’s Don MacLean. Also, Rome and his producer, Travis Rodgers, have lined up some interesting guest hosts to fill in when Rome is gone next month. The lineup includes Tom Lasorda, Sean Jones, Jim Lampley and ESPN’s Andrea Kremer.

Things are going pretty well for Rome these days. New bride, new affiliates. His sports-talk show, syndicated by Premiere Radio Networks, which is now a division of Jacor Communications, picked up its 52nd affiliate this week--KTCT “The Ticket” 1050 in San Francisco, a new all-sports station.

ABC TEES IT UP

When Brent Musburger was ABC’s main man on golf, he was a lightning rod for criticism from the golfing community. He seemed to be the reason ABC fared so poorly in fan polls.

But ABC replaced Musburger with Mike Tirico and brought in Curtis Strange, and those moves seem to have helped ABC win back golf fans. Tirico is a big improvement and Strange, although he is no Johnny Miller or Gary McCord, has done well.

Tirico will be a part of ABC’s British Open coverage this weekend, joining ageless Jim McKay as a host. But Strange probably will not be available.

Strange, who is playing in the tournament, shot a 71 Thursday, almost ensuring that he will make the cut. So ABC will use Ian Baker-Finch instead. No question about Baker-Finch’s availability. He had a 92 Thursday, the worst first-round score, and withdrew.

Others in the ABC crew include Peter Allis, the renowned voice of BBC golf; Mark Rolfing, possibly golf’s most underrated announcer; Steve Melnyk, Roger Twibell, Judy Rankin, Bob Rosburg, Ed Sneed and editorial advisor Frank Hannigan.

The BBC will supply the pictures, but it is up to this group, along with producer Jack Graham and director Jim Jennett, to show that ABC truly has made a comeback in golf.

Now if ABC could just do something about those dreadful, early-morning start times on the West Coast.

WHAT WAS NBC DOING?

The U.S. Women’s Open on NBC was the highest-rated sports event on television last weekend. Sunday’s final round got a 3.8 national rating and a 3.8 rating in Los Angeles.

But NBC sure did the tournament--and viewers--a disservice Saturday when it left third-round coverage at 4:10 p.m. with the last group having only one hole to play.

OK, NBC had to get off the air in the East because it was past 7 p.m. there, but there was no reason it couldn’t have stayed with the tournament in the West. ABC and CBS now commonly stay with golf in the West when it runs long.

After its mix-up Saturday, NBC had the gall to show a promo about NBC being tops in sports.

At the other end of the spectrum, ESPN later the same night cut into its bodybuilding coverage to show Pittsburgh Pirate pitcher Francisco Cordova going after a no-hitter.

SHORT WAVES

Tired of all the craziness in boxing? HBO tonight offers a fight fan’s fight when Johnny Tapia faces Danny Romero. The 6 p.m. card begins with a Michael Carbajal-Jake Matlala flyweight fight. “Baby” Jake, a South African, is boxing’s shortest fighter at 4 feet 8. . . . Tired of always seeing and hearing about what’s wrong with sports? Check out “Students of the Game,” a half-hour show on NBC on Sunday at 12:30 p.m. honoring GTE Academic All-Americans. Dick Enberg is the host and guests include Academic Hall of Famers Bill Walton, John Stockton, Bill Bradley, Danny Ainge, Lynette Woodard and Tracey Caulkins Stockwell. Also, two of this year’s Academic All-Americans, Kansas’ Jacque Vaughn, from Pasadena, and Connecticut’s Rebecca Lobo, are featured.

There’s nothing like winning. The Angels’ ninth consecutive victory on Wednesday night, shown on Fox Sports West, drew a 3.8 rating for all households and a 5.9 for cable households. Before that, the highest overall rating for the Angels in the past three years on Prime Ticket, Prime Sports and Fox Sports West was a 2.6 for the season opener in 1996 and another 2.6 for Tuesday night’s game against Texas. . . . The Angels will be on Fox Sports West tonight and Saturday, the first two games of a three-game set against Toronto.

The inclusion of versatile Bill Macatee in its 1998 Winter Olympics host lineup by CBS comes at a time when he is close to a new three-year deal with CBS as well as a new three-year deal in which he will remain the USA network’s main host on golf and tennis. “Bill’s career has gone to the next level,” said Sean McManus, CBS Sports president. . . . McManus deserves credit for dumping point-spread expert Danny Sheridan from CBS’ college football pregame show. McManus wanted no part of anyone who makes his living off gambling.

Big day for college football: On Sept. 6, ABC will televise Tennessee and UCLA from the Rose Bowl at 12:30 p.m. and then Florida State and USC from the Coliseum at 5 p.m. . . . Attention prep football fans: Fox Sports 2 offers live coverage of the California-Texas Shrine Game at Cal State Fullerton’s Titan Stadium Saturday night at 7. Jim Watson, Bobby Burton and Mike Lamb call the action. . . . “Hollywood Park Live” concludes a successful seven-week run on Channel 9 Sunday at 4 p.m. with four stakes races. . . . ESPN’s award-winning “Outside the Lines” focuses on the influx and impact of Latinos in major league baseball Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. . . . The FILA Summer Pro League has been getting skimpy coverage from Fox Sports West, but Saturday night’s game between Team USA and China will be shown Sunday at 8 p.m. . . . KNX is offering British Open updates hourly this weekend, beginning at 6:46 a.m. Saturday and Sunday.

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What Los Angeles Is Watching

A sampling of L.A. Nielsen ratings for sports programs July 12-13.

SATURDAY

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Event Ch. Rating Share Golf: U.S. Women’s Open 4 2.9 9 Women’s pro basketball: Sacramento at Houston 4 2.9 9 Baseball: San Diego at Colorado 11 2.5 8 Boxing: Kirk Johnson vs. Samson Po’uha 2 2.5 8 Wide World of Sports: Boxing, Tour de France 7 2.5 6 Golf: Senior Players Championship 7 1.6 5 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Louisville 225 2 1.2 4

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SUNDAY

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Event Ch. Rating Share Golf: U.S. Women’s Open 4 3.8 10 Triathlon: Ironman World Championship 4 3.6 11 Baseball: Angels at Oakland 9 3.3 8 Boxing: James Douglas vs. Quinn Navarre 2 3.2 9 Soccer: MLS, Dallas at Columbus 34 1.7 5 Horse racing: Hollywood Park Live 9 1.7 4 Golf: Senior Players Championship 7 1.5 4 Auto racing: CART Grand Prix of Cleveland 7 1.5 4

*--*

Note: Each rating point represents 49,424 L.A. households.