Fox Won’t Be Party to Juggling Schedule

ABC is coming off one of the best games of this NFL season, maybe one of the best of any season.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ thrilling 38-35 victory over the St. Louis Rams on Monday night earned ABC a 15.2 rating--second highest of the season behind the 15.3 for the season opener between the Rams and Denver Broncos.

But now ABC goes from that high to a game that could be a ratings bust--Dallas at Tennessee. The Titans are favored by 13 1/2 points.

Last year, ABC finished with an even worse game, San Francisco at Atlanta.

The question arises again: Should “Monday Night Football,” the NFL’s showcase, have the flexibility to select games toward the end of the season?

Dennis Lewin, NFL senior vice president in charge of broadcasting, says it was investigated after last season and will be again after this season.

“There is no plan; it’s all speculation at this time,” Lewin said. “Our concern is that the best games get the most exposure at the end of the season. How it would work, I’m not sure. Maybe we would set the television schedule only through, say, 12 weeks, then let all the networks select games after that on a rotating basis. ABC would get first choice one week, Fox the first choice the next and so on.”

CBS and ESPN have indicated they would at least consider a plan for a flexible schedule.

But not Fox.

Said David Hill, chairman of Fox Sports: “I will fight this with every fiber of my being. Each year we get our games, and that’s it.”

Asked later if he had eased off any in his thinking, Hill said, “Someone will always lose. Why screw with this? The slice and dice of this is, no one wins. Leave it alone.”

AYE, AYE, MATE

Sports television, so often mercenary and self-serving, sometimes fools you and does something good. And Fox did something good when it televised its two NFL pregame shows last weekend from the USS Harry S. Truman nuclear aircraft carrier, which was stationed in the Mediterranean off Naples, Italy.

Sure, the Navy, in exchange for tremendous exposure, picked up some of the expenses--mainly travel and room and board for the Fox crew on board. But Fox paid a hefty fee for shipping 41,000 pounds of equipment and getting it on board.

“We usually do four remotes a year,” Hill said. “This year we only did the one in order to stay within our budget.”

The shows combined military documentary, sports commentary, human-interest features and good old-fashioned fun.

Said producer Scott Ackerson: “It came off better than expected, when you consider all that could have gone wrong. Trying to do a remote from an aircraft carrier, with all the cable we had running all over the place and equipment crammed into tight spaces, and then to have the pictures look as good as they did was just fantastic. And it was great to see the boost in morale we gave the men and women on the ship.”

A DUD OF A GAME

When CBS put Saturday’s North Carolina-UCLA game on its schedule, it certainly didn’t figure the Bruins would be unranked and 4-3.

Billy Packer, who will work the game with Verne Lundquist, took time out from watching the Rae Carruth trial on Court TV at his home in Charlotte, N.C., to talk about the Bruins.

“From what I can see, they lack mental toughness and consistency,” he said.

Is the coach to blame for that?

“A coach is responsible for everything--recruiting the right players, disciplining them, getting them to concentrate, teaching them, getting all the pieces to fit,” Packer said. “And UCLA does have the pieces.”

CHRISTMAS DAY TREAT

NBC again opens its NBA coverage with a Christmas Day doubleheader. Orlando plays at Indiana in the first game Monday at noon, followed at 2:30 p.m. by Portland and the Lakers from Staples Center.

Marv Albert is now paired with Doug Collins, and they’ll be joined on the Laker telecast by courtside reporter Jim Gray. Tom Hammond, Bill Walton and Steve Jones will work the first game, with Lewis Johnson making his debut as a courtside reporter.

The day will also mark the debut of NBC’s mostly new pregame team. Ahmad Rashad has taken over for Hannah Storm, who is taking the season off because she is pregnant, and newcomers Kevin Johnson and P.J. Carlesimo will join Peter Vecsey.

Carlesimo was fired as coach of the Golden State Warriors last season, his third with the Warriors. He’s now also doing television commentary for the San Antonio Spurs, working alongside Joel Meyers.

But Carlesimo wants to return to coaching.

Asked about ever escaping the memory of his being choked by Latrell Sprewell during his first season with the Warriors, he said, “I know the questions about that incident will always be there, but I hope to return to coaching and achieve some things that will draw attention, as opposed to what happened in the past.”

SHORT WAVES

ABC televises this weekend’s Wendy’s Three Tour Challenge from the Lake Las Vegas Resort. The event is produced by Gaylord Event Television, formerly Jack Nicklaus Productions. . . . Nick Charles will review the year in sports on a special Saturday at 7 p.m. on CNN and CNN-SI. . . . In “Legends of Our Time” Sunday at 10 a.m., ESPN will look back at sports stars who died during the year. On Monday at 10 a.m., ESPN examines the year’s top stories.

ESPN’s “Up Close,” taped in Hollywood since its inception in 1980, will move to the new ESPN Zone at Disneyland on Jan. 2. The ESPN Zone there will open Jan. 12. . . . For the record: Vic “the Brick” Jacobs of KXTA (1150) said he never reported last week that USC had scheduled a news conference Thursday to announce the hiring of Pete Carroll. He said he reported that a news conference had been pushed back to Friday. Carroll’s hiring was announced Friday.

IN CLOSING

Attention Channel 11: Why in the world televise Carolina at Oakland as the late game Sunday instead of the more meaningful Minnesota-Indianapolis game?

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

What Los Angeles Is Watching

A sampling of L.A. Nielsen ratings for Dec. 16-17.

SATURDAY

*--*

Over-the-air Channel Rating Share

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Pro football: Oakland at Seattle 2 9.9 25 Pro football: Washington at Pittsburgh 11 7.0 21 Soccer: Mexican League, Morelia vs. Toluca 34 2.6 7 Figure skating: Hershey’s Kisses Challenge 7 1.8 4 Gymnastics: International Team, men 4 1.4 4 Golf: Hyundai Team Matches 7 1.0 3 College basketball: Kentucky at Michigan St. 2 0.8 2

*--*

*--*

Cable Network Rating Share College basketball: Arizona at Illinois ESPN 1.2 3 Boxing: Paul Spadafora vs. Billy Irwin HBO 1.2 2 College basketball: Missouri at Iowa ESPN 0.5 1 College basketball: UC Irvine at UCLA FSN2 0.4 1 Horse racing: Hollywood Park Today FSN2 0.4 1 Hockey: Tampa Bay at Kings FSN 0.1 0

*--*

SUNDAY

*--*

Over-the-air Channel Rating Share

*--*

Pro football: Indianapolis at Miami 2 10.9 27 Pro football: Green Bay at Minnesota 11 8.0 19 Pro football: Denver at Kansas City 2 6.3 15 Figure skating: Grand Slam Super Teams 11 3.8 6 Pro basketball: Lakers at Toronto 9 3.0 7 Pro basketball: Lakers at Toronto (replay) 9 2.5 5 Figure skating: ISU Trophee Lalique 7 2.4 5 Golf: Hyundai Team Matches 7 1.0 3 Hockey: Tampa Bay at Mighty Ducks 9 0.8 1

*--*

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Cable Network Rating Share Pro football: New York Giants at Dallas ESPN 7.1 2 Figure skating: Pearl Vision Canadian Open TNT 0.8 2 Horse racing: Hollywood Park Today FSN2 0.4 1 Pro basketball: Washington at Clippers FSN2 0.1 0

*--*

WEEKDAY RATINGS: MONDAY: NFL, St. Louis at Tampa Bay, Ch. 7, 15.2/29.

Note: Each rating point represents 53,542 L.A. households. Cable ratings reflect the entire market, even though cable is in only 63% of L.A. households.