Tagliabue’s Bad Call Reversed

It may not happen often, but it appears that NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue made a tactical mistake.

He thought he could railroad through a provision that would give ABC the option of cherry-picking games for “Monday Night Football” during the final four weeks of the regular season.

He talked about it with reporters at the recent NFL owners’ meeting in Orlando, Fla., before discussing it with Fox and CBS. That was a mistake.

Fox and CBS wouldn’t go along with giving away top attractions to a competitor. So when the NFL schedule was announced Thursday, “Monday Night Football” got a traditional set schedule.

“The timing was awkward for everyone,” Fox Sports President Ed Goren said Thursday. “In the current environment, where all the NFL television partners are facing a tough marketplace, where every tenth of a rating point is critical, to change the method of game selection in the middle of a contract just wasn’t realistic.

“We had open and frank discussions. We’re willing to listen to proposals down the road that might incorporate exchanging games.”

It appears, though, that ABC came out OK after all.

Of the eight teams playing on “Monday Night Football” the last four weeks of the season, all but the Tennessee Titans made the playoffs last season. And the Titans went to the Super Bowl after the 1999 season.

The problem is, no one can predict in March how well a team will be playing in December. That’s why Tagliabue would like to see a flexible schedule for “Monday Night Football.”

Radio Daze

Raunch and profanity can get you attention. They can also get you in trouble, as Dave Smith and Steve Carbone of KXTA (1150) realized this week.

They were fired because of a profanity-laced column Carbone wrote for a Web site controlled by Smith.

Smith had been at KXTA from Day 1, surviving all the lineup changes, management changes and name changes the last five years.

Smith and Joey Haim, Howard Stern wannabes who called themselves “the Sports Gods,” came over from KMAX-FM, where they had established a reputation for being raunchy. But their act was a bad fit on the Dodger flagship station, particularly when the Dodgers were owned by Peter O’Malley.

Haim was dismissed. Smith tried to shift gears and become a more legitimate sports talk-show host. In some ways he succeeded. Those familiar with Smith, even those who thought he needed a personality transplant, could tell he was always well-prepared. And he would work any shift and do any duty that was asked of him.

Most recently, he was working a prime afternoon shift with Arnie Spanier, was making $125,000 a year and was due a $10,000 raise April 1.

Things were looking good.

But Smith could never totally shake his earlier reputation. And it didn’t help that he ran a Web site, www.thesportsgod.com, that featured gambling touts and profanity-laced columns.

Such a column by Carbone that appeared Monday was brought to the attention of Robin Bertolucci, who came from Denver six weeks ago as program director at KXTA and Clear Channel sister stations KLAC (570) and KFI (640).

Bertolucci fired Smith and Carbone immediately.

Greg Ashlock, who has been the station manager of KXTA, KLAC and KFI for about a year after moving over from the sales side, has worked hard at improving the station’s image.

“We’re trying to establish quality and credibility,” Ashlock said.

That helps explain the quick action against Smith and Carbone.

Another problem was the unauthorized use of the station logo and name, Ashlock said.

Smith and Carbone say they believe the firings were too harsh, and that they’d like their jobs back.

“I gave my life to this station the last five years, I poured my heart and soul into this job, and I loved working with Arnie,” Smith said.

Carbone said, “I’d do anything to get my job back. That’s all I’m interested in.”

Hopefully, Smith and Carbone have learned a lesson--that class and dignity work better than raunch and profanity.

The Big Nasty

Speaking of class and dignity, Joe McDonnell of KSPN (1110) showed none this week when he gloated on the air about Smith’s misfortune. Has McDonnell already forgotten he too was fired by the same station?

The Other Side

Class and dignity have worked well for Irv Kaze, who celebrates his 10th anniversary on the air Saturday. John Wooden was the first “Irv Kaze on Sports” guest during Final Four weekend in 1992. Wooden will be back as one of Kaze’s guests on his KRLA (870) show Saturday at 6 p.m.

Radio Ratings

No matter what approach sports talk radio has tried, it has never been very successful in the Los Angeles market.

In the latest Arbitron trends, covering December, January and February, San Diego’s XTRA is ranked 40th in L.A. and KXTA 44th. KSPN and KMPC (1540) did not make the book.

The highest rated shows are Jim Rome’s live morning show on KXTA, with a 1.4 share in men 18-plus, and Lee Hamilton’s 4-8 p.m. show on XTRA, with a 1.2 share.

Chick Returns

Chick Hearn said Thursday he’s planning to attend tonight’s Laker game against Portland at Staples Center as a spectator. He said he and wife Marge will sit in press row, right behind the broadcast seat that Paul Sunderland has been keeping warm for him.

“I just want to get a feel for the place,” Hearn said. “It’s been so long since I’ve been there.”

Hearn, recuperating from hip surgery, plans to return to his broadcasting duties alongside Stu Lantz on April 9, when the Lakers play host to Utah.

Hearn will be honored at a City of Hope benefit roast at the Sheraton Universal Hotel on April 16. The affair was originally scheduled for March 2.

Short Waves

“Mohr Sports,” the new half-hour variety show with comedian Jay Mohr, makes its debut on ESPN Tuesday at 7 p.m. After that, it will be seen Mondays at 9:30 p.m. The series is scheduled for a 25-week run.

The shows will be taped in Hollywood and shown later the same night. Mohr, part of the cast on Fox Sports Net’s “NFL This Morning,” said he tried to work out a deal with Fox but “there were budgetary differences.” His deal with Disney is multifaceted and calls for appearances on ABC, ESPN and ESPN radio.

Bad timing: The producers of this week’s edition of “Beyond the Glory,” to be shown on Fox Sports Net Sunday at 8 p.m., are particularly high on their profile of Vince Carter.

Unfortunately, Carter recently had season-ending knee surgery. Another bad break is that the show is going up against the FX movie, “Big Shot: Confessions of a Campus Bookie.”

In Closing

Bob Knight, a guest on Bob Costas’ “On the Record” on HBO Thursday night, talked about the ESPN movie, “A Season on the Brink,” starring Brian Dennehy as Knight.

“Brian Dennehy called me after the movie was shown,” Knight said. “I’ve always really liked Brian Dennehy as an actor and [still] do. I told him this: ‘I felt sorry for you. Because I looked--it was unavoidable looking at clips that came out in the promotion of the movie--and rarely did you say anything I would say.’”