After a weekend without sports, they're back,...

By LARRY STEWART

Sept. 21, 2001 12 AM PT

After a weekend without sports, they’re back, but nothing will be quite the same.

Don’t expect Terry Bradshaw and the boys at Fox to be cutting up as usual on Sunday’s NFL pregame show. And look for comedian Jimmy Kimmel and weather forecaster Jillian Barbarie to have subdued roles.

The show will include such segments as a feature on host James Brown and his wife Dorothy traveling cross-country by bus, stopping at various sites along the way and concluding tonight at a Pop Warner League game in the Los Angeles area, where Brown will interview kids and parents about the tragedy.

All NFL telecasts on Fox and CBS Sunday will open with a special one-minute piece prepared by NFL Films to recognize the events that have so dramatically affected this country. Also, all NFL fans in attendance will be given flags to wave as well as pamphlets with the words to the national anthem, “God Bless America” and “America the Beautiful.”

The exploding helmets on the opening for ABC’s “Monday Night Football” disappeared last season, but now all simulated explosions and fireworks have been eliminated. UCLA flagship radio station KXTA (1150) and its Clear Channel sister stations will pass out up to 80,000 flip cards at the Rose Bowl Saturday that, if all goes according to play, will form a giant flag with “United We Stand” on it.

It should provide quite a picture for ABC, which is televising the Bruins’ game against Ohio State nationally, with Keith Jackson and Tim Brant in the booth and Jack Arute on the sidelines.

Because KXTA is obligated to carry Saturday’s Dodger game, the UCLA-Ohio State game broadcast with Chris Roberts, Matt Stevens and sideline reporter John Ireland will be on sister station KLAC (570).At Saturday’s Michigan State-Notre Dame game, NBC’s coverage will include the Notre Dame glee club singing “America the Beautiful,” followed by the band playing the national anthem. At halftime, both bands will play “Amazing Grace.”

Tom Hammond, Pat Haden and sideline reporter Jim Gray will report from South Bend, Ind.

For Sunday’s NASCAR race at Dover Downs in Delaware, which has been renamed the MBNA Cal Ripken Jr. 400, a big part of NBC’s half-hour pre-race show at 9:30 a.m. will be patriotic songs.

Grammy Award winner Lee Greenwood will sing his “God Bless the USA,” and Tanya Tucker will sing the more traditional “God Bless America” as well as the national anthem.

The drivers will observe the national anthem by standing besides their cars, helmets in hand. And a number of sponsors will forego logos on the cars and will have flags instead. Several cars will be painted red, white and blue.

You may have noticed already that baseball telecasts at Fox Sports Net has a flag graphic that includes the date 9-11-01. That logo will also be seen on the big Fox network’s baseball and football telecasts this weekend.

Fox has produced a special opening for Saturday’s baseball game of the week, which locally will be the Arizona Diamondbacks at the Dodgers. The opening will include a letter Franklin D. Roosevelt wrote to major league baseball in January 1942, after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, saying the season should be continued to help Americans move on.

CNN Changes

“Sports Tonight,” a mainstay at CNN since its inception in 1980, was always a favorite among many sports fans. For years Fred Hickman and Nick Charles were in the anchor seats, and more recently it has been Hickman and Vince Cellini.

But because of last week’s events, CNN chose to drop “Sports Tonight.” Although it remains on CNN/SI, it was quite a blow. CNN is in 80 million homes. CNN/SI, even though it has picked up a million subscribers in the last eight weeks, is in only 20 million.

Hickman has chosen to leave CNN, saying he’ll look elsewhere for employment while spending time with his kids and playing golf. Cellini has been offered a news-side job at CNN but is expected to leave as well.

Mike Galanos and Kara Henderson have moved into the anchor chairs for the CNN/SI-only “Sports Tonight” show.

More Tragedy

The magnitude of last week’s events were compounded for Doug Krikorian and Rick Monday, who also had to deal with tragedies of their own.

Krikorian, co-host of KSPN’s “McDonnell Douglas Show” on KSPN (1110) weekday afternoons and a sports columnist for the Long Beach Press-Telegram, lost his 35-year-old wife, Gillian, to cancer on Saturday.

At a service at the Life Center Assembly of God Church in Lakewood Wednesday, Gillian was eulogized as a caring, strong woman who was loved and admired by many.

She and Krikorian had been married for five years after meeting in London in 1992.

Monday, the Dodger radio announcer, attempted to drive cross-country last Friday to reach his 77-year-old mother, Nelda Stoore, in Florida before she died. He didn’t make it, getting the news while near Tucson that she had died.

Short Waves

Among the special guests filling in for Krikorian and joining Joe McDonnell on KSPN next week will be Tom Lasorda on Tuesday and new Laker Samaki Walker on Wednesday. ... KSPN, which is now carrying San Francisco 49er games, also has a new show called “NFL Weekly,” with Jackie Slater and Dave Stone. It’s on Fridays, 6-8 p.m. ... A special tribute to former featherweight champion Sandy Saddler will be part of the “Ringside With Johnny Ortiz” show on KSPN Sunday, 8-11 p.m. Saddler, who fought Willie Pep three times, died Saturday. He was 75.

It sure was comforting hearing Vin Scully’s voice on Dodger games this week. And what an opening on Monday, the Dodgers’ first game back. “All of us have experience a litany of emotions,” Scully said. ... Negotiations that would put Fox Sports Net 2 Dodger telecasts back on Time Warner cable heated up Thursday. At a time like this, these two entities should quit squabbling and get it done.

Ouch: Last Friday, a day of prayer and remembrance, popular KXTA reporter Jeff Biggs got the word he was being laid off, along with on-air personality Tomm Looney and producer Brian Itzkowitz. Biggs said he was bothered by the timing of it, but added, “Considering everything that is going on and what happened to Doug Krikorian’s wife, it’s no big deal. It’s only a job.” Boxing beat: HBO will televise Saturday’s fight between Fernando Vargas and Jose “Shibata” Flores live at 6:35 p.m. from Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. Boxing experts say Vargas should win handily. If Flores were a better opponent, the fight would be on pay-per-view. The Jamba Juice City of Los Angeles Triathlon, held Sept. 9, will be televised as a one-hour special at 2 p.m. Sunday. ... The opening of the Oak Tree meeting at Santa Anita Wednesday marks the return of “Santa Anita Live” with Kurt Hoover and Jon White. The popular show runs every race day at 4 p.m. on Fox Sports Net 2.

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In the Spotlight

Sports figures to be featured on TV and radio, today through Thursday:

Galaxy defender Paul Caligiuri --”Southern California Sports Report,” tonight, 10, Fox Sports Net

Charger defensive end Marcellus Wiley--” Best Damn Sports Show Period,” tonight, midnight, Fox Sports Net

David Norrie --”Irv Kaze,” Saturday, 6-7 p.m., KRLA (870)

Johnny Tapia, Julio Gonzalez, boxing writer Robert Morales --”Ringside With Johnny Ortiz,” Sunday, 8-11 p.m., KSPN (1110)

Bill Plaschke, T.J. Simers --”Southern California Sports Report,” Sunday

Jim Fassel --”Up Close,” Monday, 1:30 p.m., ESPN; 11:30 p.m., ESPN2

Roy Campanella --”SportsCentury,” Monday, 5 and 8 p.m., ESPN Classic

USA Today columnist John Saraceno, San Jose Mercury News columnist Skip Bayless --”The Last Word With Jim Rome,” Monday, 5:30, 11:30 p.m., FSN

Tom Lasorda, Orel Hershiser, Jim Lampley --”Sports Roundtable,” Monday, 5:30 p.m., Fox Sports Net2