CBS Doing Well Handling the Madness

There were some anxious moments. But it all worked out--for UCLA, USC and CBS.

The first day of the NCAA tournament was a good one for the network.

One positive was the new translucent graphic in the upper left-hand corner of the screen that provides constant updates of other games. And CBS seems to have finally figured out when and when not to switch games. L.A. viewers got to see all of UCLA’s harder-than-expected victory over Hofstra and also got to see plenty of good finishes, including Missouri’s buzzer beater.

Jon Sundvold, the commentator on the Bruin game, was excellent--smooth and informative. Sundvold, a former Missouri star who was a first-round draft choice of the Seattle SuperSonics in 1983, is a financial advisor in Columbia, Mo. He started out doing Missouri games on radio in 1992 and has worked Big 12 games for ESPN since 1994.

His play-by-play partner, Kevin Harlan, was OK but came up with too many cliches, such as: “UCLA has grabbed this team by the throat and squeezed.”

After the UCLA game, it was good to hear James Worthy, who was working the Maryland-George Mason thriller.

Next up was Stanford-North Carolina Greensboro, with Dick Enberg and Bill Walton. Not much they could do to save this game.

Not much Gus Johnson and Dan Bonner could do about the USC blowout either. The only anxious moment was in the second half when Oklahoma State went on a 13-0 run to get within 14.

The Lakers also won a big game Thursday night. How big? Well, Chick Hearn called a jump ball involving Robert Horry near the end of overtime “the most important jump ball in the history of the Lakers.” And Chick never exaggerates.

BROADCASTING AWAITS MAJERUS

One commentator CBS would love to have is Rick Majerus.

He showed off his basketball knowledge this week while in Los Angeles. Over lunch, he went through the entire NCAA tournament bracket, breaking down every game.

“Pretty good, huh?” he said. “There are only two teams I didn’t know anything about--Hampton and Northwestern State.”

He knows about Hampton now, and so does everybody else.

Is broadcasting in Majerus’ future?

“CBS has told me they have a job waiting for me,” he said.

“If I could script my life, I’d coach a school like Utah until I was 60, then a smaller California school like St. Mary’s from 60-65, then work in television from 65-75. Yeah, that’s what I’d like to do if it was all up to me.”

Majerus, 52, Utah’s coach, took off most of the season from coaching, first because of his own health problems and then to care for his 74-year-old mother, who is undergoing treatment for breast cancer.

GOLIC ANALYZES XFL

Brian Bosworth, UPN’s XFL commentator, is the kind of shill that XFL founder Vince McMahon claims he doesn’t want. “Hyperbole turns people off,” McMahon said in an interview Wednesday. “They know when you’re not telling the truth.”

Bob Golic is more middle of the road. Golic, besides doing a nightly show for the Fox Radio network, works the XFL telecasts on The National Network (TNN), which will televise the Xtreme’s home game against the undefeated Orlando Rage on Sunday at 1 p.m.

Golic, about the XFL’s woes, said, “Part of the problem was, right off the bat, the XFL people were bad-mouthing the NFL when they should have been saying, ‘We’re not as good as the NFL, we’re not trying to be. We’re just another league.’ The NFL bashing made hard-core football people wince.

“But on the other hand, why are so many writers so adamant, so vehemently against it? They’re almost acting like the XFL had hurt someone.”

NBC GETS ITS WISH

Interesting how things work out sometimes. The Orlando Magic’s Tracy McGrady got a two-game suspension for fighting, meaning he’ll be available for Sunday’s game against the Lakers, which is on NBC.

After McGrady’s fight with the Sacramento Kings’ Bobby Jackson, Peter Vecsey, who works for NBC and TBS, said, “I just got a call from NBC. We’re just hoping it’s not a three-game suspension because Orlando is playing the Lakers on Sunday.”

NBC had put out press material touting McGrady as drawing card for Sunday’s game.

Something that didn’t work out as well for NBC was Tiger Woods shooting a 71 at Bay Hill on Thursday. NBC is covering the tournament this weekend and needs Woods in contention.

SHORT WAVES

The Angels will be previewed in a special on Fox Sports Net tonight at 7:30, and a Dodger preview will be on Fox Sports Net 2 Saturday at 6 p.m. . . . Mark McGwire is serving as a spokesman for DirecTV’s Extra Innings baseball package, which offers up to 35 out-of-market games per week and sells for $149, or the “early bird” price of $129 through April 8. . . . Longtime auto racing fan Jason Priestley of “Beverly Hills 90210” fame has been hired by ABC to work the network’s Indy Racing League series, beginning with Sunday’s race at Phoenix. Former USAC champion Larry Rice has also been added to the broadcast team. . . . If you haven’t seen the drag racing coverage on ESPN and ESPN2 this year, check out the Mac Tool NHRA Gatornationals from Gainesville, Fla., this weekend. A number of technological advances help capture the noise and excitement of the sport. . . . Fox got a 6.7 national rating for Sunday’s Winston Cup race at Atlanta. Last year’s race on ABC got a 5.7. . . . Fox is doing a lot of things right with its NASCAR coverage but needs to add a post-race show.

IN CLOSING

Believe it or not, Bob Knight came across as mellow on Bob Costas’ HBO show Wednesday night. Maybe Knight’s following Vince McMahon had something to do with that. McMahon and Costas sparred nonstop for half an hour. There was no decisive winner.

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What Los Angeles Is Watching

A sampling of L.A. Nielsen ratings for March 10-11.

SATURDAY

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Over-the-air Channel Rating Share Snowboarding: U.S. Grand Prix 4 2.7 5 Pro football: XFL, Las Vegas at Orlando 4 2.5 7 College basketball: Indiana vs. Illinois 2 2.3 7 Golf: Honda Classic 4 2.2 6 College basketball: Penn State-Iowa 2 1.3 3 College basketball: Cincinnati vs. Charlotte 2 1.1 3 Speedskating: World Sprint Championships 7 0.5 1 Hockey: Colorado at Dallas 7 0.3 1

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Cable Network Rating Share Boxing: Shane Mosley vs. Shannan Taylor HBO 2.7 5 College basketball: UCLA at Washington FSN 1.0 3 Auto racing: NASCAR Busch Grand National 312 FX 0.7 2 Hockey: Chicago at Kings FSN 0.5 1 Boxing: Evander Holyfield vs. John Ruiz (tape) SHO 0.3 1

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SUNDAY

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Over-the-air Channel Rating Share Pro basketball: Miami at New York 4 3.8 9 Auto racing: Atlanta Winston Cup 500 11 3.6 9 Golf: Honda Classic 4 3.6 9 College basketball: NCAA selection show 2 2.9 7 Pro football: XFL, Xtreme at Birmingham 13 2.5 1 College basketball: Indiana vs. Iowa 2 2.1 5 Speedskating: World All-Around Championships 7 1.8 4 Auto racing: CART Monterrey (Mexico) Grand Prix 7 1.4 3 Pro basketball: Clippers at Dallas 9 1.1 2 College basketball: Mississippi vs. Kentucky 2 0.8 2

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Cable Network Rating Share Pro basketball: Seattle at Lakers FSN 3.7 5 College basketball: Duke vs. North Carolina ESPN 0.7 2 Pro football: XFL, N.Y./N.J. at San Francisco TNN 0.5 1 Horse racing: Santa Anita Live FSN2 0.5 1 Horse racing: International Jockey Challenge FSN 0.4 1 College basketball: Texas vs. Oklahoma ESPN 0.3 1 College basketball: Women’s NCAA selection show ESPN 0.1 0 Hockey: Nashville at Mighty Ducks FSN2 0.1 0

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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.