Arledge in ‘Another League’

One of Roone Arledge’s closest friends was Ed Hookstratten, the powerful Beverly Hills broadcast agent whose clientele includes Tom Brokaw, Vin Scully, Dick Enberg and many more of their ilk.

Arledge, the former ABC Sports and ABC News president, died Thursday at 71 of complications from cancer. Hookstratten knew him as well as anyone.

“There are certain people who play in another league,” Hookstratten said. “Sandy Koufax played baseball in another league. Vin Scully has always been in another league as a baseball announcer.

“Roone Arledge was one of those people who was in another league. He was the finest TV executive I ever dealt with. He had an eye for talent second to none.”

Hookstratten represented Don Meredith during the heyday of “Monday Night Football.” Hookstratten said Arledge, as a negotiator, was a good listener. He could be firm, Hookstratten said, but he did not describe Arledge as tough.

“We never had a serious problem,” he said.

He described Arledge as a loyal friend who in turn had many loyal friends. Frank Gifford might have been his closest.

“Roone and I were playing golf one day and he asked me if I’d seen Frank lately,” Hookstratten said. “He then told me what a good friend Frank was.

“I remember him saying, ‘If I were ever down and out and in real trouble and could only call one person, I’d make that call to Frank Gifford.’ ”

Another loyal friend was Don Ohlmeyer.

“Roone changed two industries -- sports television and news television -- and both for the better,” Ohlmeyer said. “All of us who worked for him owe him a debt of gratitude for what he taught us and for his inspiration. He taught us to always have an inquisitive mind.”

BCS Ideal for ABC

The bowl championship series has created chaos, confusion and controversy in college football.

And ABC loves it.

“Controversy isn’t such a bad thing,” said Loren Matthews, the senior vice president of programming for ABC Sports. “If there was no controversy, it would be a sign of lack of interest, and we don’t want that.”

There certainly won’t be a lack of interest in ABC’s national tripleheader Saturday. College football fans everywhere, seeking order in their world, will be watching.

Things start off with No. 1 Miami playing host to Virginia Tech at 10 a.m., followed by No. 7 Washington State playing UCLA at the Rose Bowl at 1:30 p.m. Then at 5 p.m. it’s Oklahoma and Colorado in the Big 12 championship game.

“It’s just terrific the way things worked out,” Matthews said.

BCS, Pro and Con

Matthews actually likes the BCS.

“It’s the best system we’ve had to date,” he said. “At the end of the day, nobody has ever quibbled about the eventual national champion.”

Matthews says what he likes best about the BCS is the importance it puts on the regular season.

“Every team is playing for its BCS life from the opening kickoff of the opening weekend,” he said. “With, say, a 16-team playoff, you’d be rendering the regular season comparatively meaningless, which is what happened in college basketball. In college football, every week these kids aren’t playing for a seeding, they’re playing for survival.”

Keith Jackson, however, is not a BCS proponent. What Jackson advocates when ABC’s contract with the BCS expires after the 2005 season is a return to the old bowl system, plus the addition of a four-team playoff.

“The bowls provide money for a lot of schools and festivals for a lot of cities, so keep them in place,” the longtime announcer said. “Have your playoffs after the bowl games, but limit it to four teams.”

Jackson today will receive the Chick Hearn Award for broadcasting at the Pasadena Quarterback Club’s year-end awards luncheon at Brookside golf course. Marge Hearn will present the award. The luncheon is open to the public. Admission is $20.

A Wright Move

Ben Wright, of all people, thinks he may have a solution to all the fuss over Augusta National not having any female members.

Wright, who in 1995 said lesbianism was hurting the LPGA Tour, suggests that Augusta chairman Hootie Johnson announce that his club would like to stage a women’s Masters.

“I think all this talk would go into the background,” he said by phone Thursday. “It seems to me, this has all gotten out of hand, all this screaming and shouting at each other. It’s absolutely unbelievable.”

Wright, whose comments about lesbianism and the ensuing fallout cost him his job with CBS, returns to television for the first time Wednesday at 6 p.m. when the Golf Channel televises the first World Club Championship, taped the first week in October at the Club of Nine Bridges on Jeju Island, South Korea.

Wright will serve as the host of the Terry Jastrow production.

“I’ll be forever indebted to Terry for giving me this opportunity,” Wright said.

The amateur event brings together 18 teams consisting of a club pro and a member from the top private clubs in the world, including a team from the L.A. Country Club. Eddie Merrin, the famed pro from Bel-Air, is the tournament chairman.

Worthy Broadcaster

Being a Laker superstar certainly opened some doors in broadcasting for James Worthy. But give him credit, Worthy has proven to be a worthy broadcaster. His work on Channel 9’s “LTV” pregame shows with Alan Massengale has been outstanding, and he continues to improve .

“It’s always a learning experience,” he said. “Each year, you look at more tape and more ways to get better.”

Saturday, Worthy will be working as a commentator with play-by-play announcer Bob Neal on Channel 9’s coverage of the Wooden Classic at the Arrowhead Pond. California and Georgia meet in the first game, then USC and Missouri square off in the second game.

Short Waves

For the first time this season, a Laker telecast on Fox Sports Net will go up against a Laker telecast on ESPN. Hoping to lure viewers, Fox Sports Net will have a special one-hour pregame show at 6:30, with Bill Macdonald and Reggie Theus.... It will be a busy weekend for Macdonald, who will do play-by-play on Pepperdine and UCLA basketball games Saturday and Sunday.... Macdonald’s always entertaining “Sports Roundtable,” which has been on Fox Sports Net 2 since 1997, is being canceled. The last show will be Dec. 16, although there will be replays after that.

The Lakers’ Samaki Walker showed up at the KSPN (1110) studios unannounced Thursday at 5 p.m. and went on with Joe McDonnell and Doug Krikorian to defend the Lakers.... TNT has today’s second round of the Target World Challenge, featuring Tiger Woods. NBC will cover the final two rounds from Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks.... The Golf Channel will provide coverage of the PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament known as Q-school Saturday and Sunday at 1:30 p.m. The final round at PGA West in La Quinta Monday will be televised at 4:30 p.m.

In Closing

The big news at NBC Sports this week was an announcement that the network would televise the national curling championships in March and the world curling championships in April. Maybe the XFL wasn’t such bad programming after all.