McGwire’s Chase Too Big to Overlook

“If you’re writing about a McGwire, I hope it’s Paul Maguire,” quipped an ESPN publicist about the former NBC commentator who is now on ESPN’s Sunday night NFL team.

Said a CBS publicist: “You’ve got to lead with the NFL being back on CBS. That’s the big TV story. We’ve got 24 hours of sports over the three-day weekend, counting pro and college football and U.S. Open tennis. CBS Sports is back.”

Said an NBC publicist: “The team of Dick Enberg and Pat Haden is making its debut on Notre Dame football Saturday. That’s a good local angle for you.”

Sorry, the St. Louis Cardinals’ Mark McGwire has stolen everyone’s thunder.

He’s not merely the story of the week, his sprint at Roger Maris’ home run record may be the story of the decade.

And television is scrambling to keep up.

Ed Goren, the executive producer of Fox Sports, said, “I get on a plane in Los Angeles Wednesday night at 5 o’clock with a plan all in place and land in New York five hours later, at 1 a.m. New York time, and learn McGwire has hit two more homers. So we have the scrap everything. It’s been a wild six days.”

ESPN, meanwhile, after a couple of whiffs, stepped up to the plate Thursday and announced it will televise tonight’s Cincinnati-St. Louis game at 5 o’clock.

This comes after ESPN failed to show live cut-ins of McGwire’s at-bats on Tuesday and Wednesday, only taped segments after McGwire’s four home runs. ESPN spokesman Mike Soltys said, “We are being as aggressive as we can within baseball’s parameters.”

But baseball spokesman Rich Levin said that makes little sense, that there was nothing stopping ESPN from showing live cut-ins.

Whatever the reason, the lapse was uncharacteristic for a network that claims to be the worldwide leader in sports television.

Fox isn’t likely to come out of this unscathed, either. There are some flaws in its plans.

It will televise Saturday’s Cincinnati-St. Louis game at 10 a.m. to 100% of the nation if McGwire has 60 or 61 home runs at the time, but to only 61% of the nation if he still has 59.

And Los Angeles is not part of that 61%.

L.A. will get only the San Francisco Giants vs. the Dodgers at 1 p.m.

It’s the same situation on Sunday. If McGwire has 60 or 61 home runs, Fox will show Cincinnati-St. Louis at 1 p.m., after football. But it will not show the game unless McGwire has 60 or 61 home runs.

“It’s not locked in stone, but at this point in time, that’s our plan,” Fox spokesman Lou D’Ermilio said late Thursday. “Things could still change.”

Let’s hope so. Fox should work it out with its affiliates to show both Cardinal games on Saturday and Sunday whether McGwire hits another homer or not. This is history here.

On Monday, ESPN reenters the picture, showing the Cardinals and Chicago Cubs at 11 a.m.

On Tuesday, Fox will show the Cardinals and Cubs at 5 p.m., provided McGwire or the Cubs’ Sammy Sosa has 60 or more homers. If not, the game reverts to FX. If Fox televises the Cardinals and Cubs, FX gets Cincinnati-Houston instead.

As soon as the record is broken, Fox will no longer follow the story outside its regularly scheduled telecasts. “We’re not a cable network that can preempt water skiing,” Goren said. “Once the record is broken, our job is done.”

FOOTBALL, WITH RESTRICTIONS

Channel 2 is expanding its “Sports Central” program to coincide with the opening of college and pro football.

CBS opens its college football schedule Saturday with a 5 p.m. game between No. 1 Ohio State and No. 11 West Virginia, with Sean McDonough and Terry Donahue announcing, and Channel 2 will follow the game with a 1 1/2-hour special edition of “Sports Central.”

Then the Sunday morning NFL edition of “Sports Central” makes its debut the next morning at 8, with a postgame edition to follow a CBS doubleheader.

Channel 2 has set it up with other CBS affiliates for live reports from NFL stadiums and will rely heavily on these reports. There will be a minimum of highlights, because of new NFL restrictions.

Channel 2, Channel 11 and stations across the nation that have Sunday afternoon NFL postgame shows will be limited to four minutes of highlights, according to Dennis Lewin, the NFL’s senior vice president in charge of broadcasting. And Channel 2 and Channel 11 can show highlights only of games it has shown.

Lewin said the NFL originally planned to allow no highlights outside regularly scheduled newscasts during daytime hours on Sundays to avoid head-to-head competition with live telecasts. But the NFL has since given some ground. “We’ve bent over backward to help the local stations,” he said.

“Our feeling is that we aren’t depriving the fans. During six hours of football they get plenty of highlights from cut-ins to other games,” Lewin said.

Still, cut-ins aren’t the same as highlight packages. And without them, the “Sports Central” postgame shows, and Channel 11’s “Fox Overtime” with Rick Garcia, will not have the same appeal.

SHORT WAVES

HBO’s “Inside the NFL” is back, and it has no highlight restrictions since it isn’t on until Thursday nights, with repeats at 7 p.m. Fridays and 11 a.m. Saturdays. . . . Another good HBO show is “Arli$$,” but HBO is thinking about canceling it. “I was shocked when I heard we might not be renewed for a fourth season,” said Robert Wuhl, who plays sports agent Arliss Michaels on the show. . . . The Kings are considering hiring Cammi Granato as their radio commentator. . . . ESPN radio has brought back Fred Claire as a commentator. He’ll work Saturday’s Cub-Pittsburgh Pirate game and Monday’s New York Yankee-Boston game. . . . Attention prep football fans: Fox Sports West 2 opens its schedule with a good one next Thursday night, Servite vs. Esperanza. . . . ESPN marks its 19th anniversary Monday by beginning an 18-month “SportsCentury” series of daily 30-second vignettes of more than 1,200 classic moments.

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What Los Angeles Is Watching

A sampling of L.A. Nielsen ratings for Aug. 29-30, including sports on cable networks: SATURDAY

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Over-the-air Channel Rating Share Little League World Series: championship 7 5.6 15 Baseball: New York Mets at Dodgers 11 5.4 14 Pro football: Arizona at Oakland 2 3.5 10 Golf: U.S. Amateur Championship 4 2.7 8 Tennis: Pilot Pen International 2 2.3 7 Beach Volleyball: AVP U.S. Championship 9 1.1 3 Pro Basketball: WNBA, Phoenix at Houston 4 1.0 3

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Cable Network Rating Pro football: Carolina at Pittsburgh ESPN 3.1 College Football: Louisiana Tech at Nebraska FSW 1.1 Auto racing: NHRA drag races at Brainerd, Minn. ESPN 0.9 College Football: Colorado State at Michigan State ESPN2 0.6 Auto racing: IRL Atlanta 500 TNN 0.5 Baseball: Pittsburgh at Houston FX 0.5 Golf: Senior BankBoston Classic ESPN 0.5 Tennis: Waldbaum’s Hamlet Cup FSW 0.5 Horse racing: Travers Stakes ESPN 0.4 Baseball: Chicago Cubs at Colorado WGN 0.3

Cable Share Pro football: Carolina at Pittsburgh 7 College Football: Louisiana Tech at Nebraska 3 Auto racing: NHRA drag races at Brainerd, Minn. 2 College Football: Colorado State at Michigan State 2 Auto racing: IRL Atlanta 500 1 Baseball: Pittsburgh at Houston 1 Golf: Senior BankBoston Classic 1 Tennis: Waldbaum’s Hamlet Cup 1 Horse racing: Travers Stakes 1 Baseball: Chicago Cubs at Colorado 1

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SUNDAY

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Over-the-air Channel Rating Share College football: Purdue at USC 7 6.3 16 Baseball: Angels at Boston 9 4.7 12 Pro football: NFL Air It Out 4 4.0 10 Golf: World Series of Golf 2 2.9 7 Soccer: Mexican League, Puebla vs. Leon 34 2.1 5 Tennis: Arthur Ashe Kids Day 2 1.8 5 Golf: U.S. Amateur Championship 4 1.7 4 Swimming: U.S. Championships 4 1.5 4 Soccer: MLS, New England at Miami 34 0.9 2

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Cable Network Rating Share Baseball: Atlanta at St. Louis ESPN 2.4 5 Auto racing: NASCAR Winston Cup CMT 300 TNN 1.2 3 Auto racing: Formula One Belgian Grand Prix FSW 0.6 2 Beach Volleyball: Miller Lite Tour FSW 0.5 1 Tennis: Waldbaum’s Hamlet Cup FSW 0.5 1 Golf: Senior BankBoston Classic ESPN 0.4 1 Baseball: Chicago Cubs at Colorado WGN 0.3 1

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WEEKDAY RATINGS: Monday--College football, Florida St.-Texas A&M;, Ch. 7, 5.3, 10; Baseball: New York at Dodgers, FSW2, 1.1, 2; Tennis: U.S. Open, USA, 1.1, 4. Tuesday--Baseball: Angels at Cleveland, Ch. 9, 4.9, 10; Philadelphia at Dodgers, Ch. 5, 3.5, 6; WNBA finals, Phoenix at Houston, ESPN, 0.3, 1.

Note: Each rating point represents 50,092 L.A. households. Cable ratings reflect the entire market, even though cable is in only 63% of L.A. households.