Jackson Advocates Playoffs

The way Keith Jackson sees college football, it’s a simple game. You’ve got one group of young men down there trying to knock the stuffin’ out of another group of young men.

As for fixing what’s wrong with college football, Jackson, who knows a little something about the sport, sees that as fairly simple as well.

“Keep the bowl games and just add a four-team playoff,” he said from Phoenix, where he was preparing to call tonight’s Fiesta Bowl with Dan Fouts for ABC.

The Fiesta Bowl, featuring No. 1 Miami against No. 2 Ohio State, is the only postseason game with national championship implications.

“That wouldn’t be the case if you had the winners of the four BCS bowls advancing to a playoff,” Jackson said.

Under Jackson’s plan, we’d have a football Final Four.

Just think how much more appeal the Rose Bowl would have had if everyone knew that the two participants, despite each having two losses, still had a shot at the national championship.

Maybe there wouldn’t have been so many empty hotel rooms in Pasadena this week. And maybe the national overnight rating would have been better than 11.4, which is 3% below last year’s comparable Fiesta Bowl, matching Oregon and Colorado.

There has been some talk about a single championship game after the bowls, but a four-team playoff has more merit. And, as Jackson might say, it would be so darned simple.

Another Advocate

Fouts made some good points when he was asked how the current version of college football’s championship game fits in with such events as the Super Bowl, the World Series and the Final Four.

Fouts said the bowl championship series has been good for college football because, besides generating talk around the water cooler, it does bring the two best teams together. But he also said, “If you want a real world-class event, you’ve got to go to some sort of playoff.”

A Different World

Fouts was in ABC’s “Monday Night Football” booth for two years until John Madden arrived. Fouts was then moved to college football, but he never complained.

“It’s never nice to be fired, but it was sure nice to be rehired quickly and put in such a plum of a job,” Fouts said. “Going from Dennis Miller to Keith Jackson is quite an adjustment, but one I enjoyed making.”

A Reunion

Fouts will be reunited with Al Michaels when he fills in for Madden at the Pro Bowl in Honolulu on Feb. 2. Madden won’t make the trip because he doesn’t fly.

“I love going to Hawaii,” Fouts said. “I’d float there if I had to.”

Staying Grounded

Although Jackson isn’t afraid to fly, he hates it. Having to fly across the country was the main reason he initially retired three years ago. Then Howard Katz became the head man at ABC Sports and suggested Jackson just work West Coast games.

Now Jackson isn’t even thinking about retirement. “As long as I can stay on the west side of the big mountains,” he said, “I think I’ll stick around. I feel good. My wife still makes the jalapeno cornbread that jacks me up for a week.”

Jackson and his wife, Turi Ann, drove from their home in Sherman Oaks to Phoenix this week.

“I love driving to work,” Jackson said.

Trimmed-Down Analyst

After Fouts was given his new assignment, Jackson’s former analyst, Tim Brant, was offered a play-by-play position and paired with Ed Cunningham.

Brant and Cunningham worked Thursday night’s Orange Bowl game.

It was a nice assignment for Cunningham, who has been with ABC Sports for only three seasons. Cunningham, a two-time Academic All-American, was an offensive lineman at the University of Washington who played four seasons with the Arizona Cardinals (1992-95) and one season with the Seattle Seahawks.

Cunningham, who lives in the Los Angeles area, doesn’t look like a former offensive lineman. He’s 80 pounds lighter than he was during his playing days.

Too Much Football?

Are 28 bowl games too many? ESPN, which televised 20 of the 28, examined the issue on its “Outside the Lines” program last weekend.

One problem is a lot of schools can’t sell their allotment of tickets.

Tim Curley, Penn State’s athletic director who also is chairman of the NCAA’s postseason certification subcommittee, pointed out there will “probably be fewer bowls because of a new rule which goes into effect in 2003. It makes bowl games financially responsible for thousands of tickets, just like the universities.”

Although a number of bowl officials who appeared on “Outside the Lines” believed there is an overload and there will be fewer bowl games in the future, that may not necessarily be the case.

Mark Shapiro, ESPN executive vice president of programming and production, told the Chicago Tribune: “How many years have we heard that there are too many bowls? Well, the bowls still sell. They drive a rating. There’s an appetite being served.”

So is there room for more bowl games on ESPN and ESPN2?

“We’re getting near the cap, but there’s room for a few more,” Shapiro said. “As long as the audience is hungry for bowls, we’ll keep adding them.”

Ratings Report

The NFL reported Thursday that games this season averaged 14.4 million viewers, up 5% from 13.7 million for games last season.

Fox averaged 16.2 million viewers, also a 5% increase and its highest average since the network drew 17.6 million in 1995. Fox averaged a 10.5 rating, a 3% increase over last year.

CBS’ final numbers were not available, but the network’s ratings were up 2% (9.4 to 9.6) going into the final weekend of the regular season.

ABC, victimized by 13 blowouts, experienced a slight ratings decline from 11.5 to 11.4, while ESPN had the biggest increase at 17% (6.3 to 7.4).

Short Waves

ESPN2, apparently unfazed by criticism for televising a LeBron James game Dec. 12, will televise another Saturday at 6:30 p.m., when James’ St. Vincent-St. Mary High team from Akron, Ohio, plays Mater Dei at Pauley Pavilion. Mater Dei is led by D.J. Strawberry.... TVG is not televising its popular “Trackside Live” show from Santa Anita because the track’s owner, Manga Entertainment Corp., is a competitor. So TVG is instead showing races from the East on Fox Sports Net 2. Meanwhile, Santa Anita is airing its own show, “HorseRacingTV,” Saturdays from noon to 5 p.m. on Channel 56.... TVG on Saturday night begins showing quarter horse racing from Los Alamitos on Fox Sports Net 2.

Radio Daze

Look for KMPC (1540) to announce that Roger Lodge will soon begin hosting his own 5:30-9 a.m. morning show. Lodge, the host of the popular syndicated show, “Blind Date,” has been excellent as a fill-in. He knows sports and is obviously comfortable in front of a microphone.... It may take a little getting used to, but KSPN is now at 710 on the dial, the former home of the old KMPC.... The new XTRA (690)-KXTA (1150) Super Station officially launches Monday with a lineup of Tony Bruno, Jim Rome, “Loose Cannons” Steve Hartman and Bill Werndl, Lee Hamilton and JT the Brick.

In Closing

Fox Sports Net’s Lisa Guerrero ended up working on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day.

Said Guerrero: “My New Year’s resolution is to get a life.”

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What Los Angeles Is Watching

*--* A sampling of L.A. Nielsen ratings for Dec. 28-29: SATURDAY Over-the-air Channel Rating Share Pro football: Kansas City at Oakland 2 12.3 26 Pro football: Philadelphia at New York Giants 11 8.4 23 Pro basketball: Lakers at Denver 9 4.8 8 Golf: ADT Skills Challenge (tape) 4 1.4 4 College basketball: Michigan at UCLA 2 1.1 3 College basketball: Kansas vs. California 7 1.1 3 Cable Network Rating Share Alamo Bowl, Colorado vs. Wisconsin ESPN 2.1 4 Continental Tire Bowl, West Virginia vs. ESPN2 0.9 2 Virginia College basketball: Kentucky at Louisville ESPN 0.6 2 College basketball: Illinois at Memphis ESPN2 0.3 2 College basketball: Texas Tech at Minnesota ESPN 0.2 0 College basketball: Indiana at Temple ESPN 0.1 0 SUNDAY Over-the-air Channel Rating Share Pro football: Green Bay at New York Jets 11 13.6 29 Pro football: Miami at New England 2 9.7 22 Pro football: Atlanta at Cleveland 11 7.1 16 Skiing: Ultimate Bumps and Jumps (tape) 2 1.5 3 Rodeo: Professional Bullriders (tape) 4 1.3 3 Golf: ADT Skills Challenge (tape) 4 1.0 2 Cable Network Rating Share Pro football: Tampa Bay at Chicago ESPN 7.1 12 Pro basketball: Toronto at Lakers FSN 3.8 6 Hockey: Kings at Colorado FSN 0.7 1 Gymnastics: Men’s world championships (tape) ESPN 0.3 1 College basketball: Georgia Tech at Maryland FSN2 0.l 0 College basketball: Dayton at Duke FSN2 0.1 0 Hockey: Detroit at Dallas ESPN2 0.1 0 Weekday ratings: MONDAY -- Pro football, San Francisco at St. Louis, Ch. 7, 12.7/19, Seattle Bowl, Wake Forest-Oregon, ESPN, 2.4/5, Music City Bowl, Minnesota-Arkansas, ESPN, 1.5/4. TUESDAY -- Bowl games, Peach, Maryland-Tennessee, ESPN, 3.6/7, Sun, Washington-Purdue, Ch. 2, 2.5/6, San Francisco, Air Force-Virginia Tech, ESPN2, 2.2/4, Humanitarian, Boise State-Iowa State, ESPN, 1.8/5, Liberty, TCU-Colorado State, ESPN, 1.6/4. Silicon Valley, Fresno State-Georgia Tech, ESPN2, 0.6/1. WEDNESDAY -- Bowl games, Rose, Oklahoma-Washington State, Ch. 7, 14.4/28, Sugar, Georgia-Florida State, Ch. 7, 8.9/14, Gator, North Carolina State-Notre Dame, Ch. 4, 4.6/9, Capital One, Penn State-Auburn, Ch. 7, 3.6/7, Cotton, Louisiana State-Texas, Ch. 11, 1.9/4. Note: Each rating point represents 53,542 L.A. households. Cable ratings reflect the entire market. (Cable and satellite TV are in 76% of L.A. households.)

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In the Spotlight

Christian Okoye -- “The Gold Sheet,” Saturday, 7 a.m., KMPC (1540)

Chad Pennington, Michael Vick -- “NFL Countdown,” Saturday, 8 a.m., ESPN

Pennington, Brett Favre, Vick -- “Wild-Card Pregame Report,” Saturday, 1 p.m., Channel 7

Darren Sharper, Ray Buchanan -- “Wild-Card Between Games Report,” Saturday, 4:30 p.m., Channel 7

Bobby Taylor, Michael Strahan -- “The NFL Show,” Saturday, 10:30 p.m., Sunday, 7 a.m., Fox Sports Net

Author Patrick Cohn, Ocean Trails Director of Golf Mike Vandergoes -- “Tee It Up,” Sunday, 7 a.m., KSPN (710)

Donovan McNabb -- “NFL Countdown,” Sunday, 8 a.m., ESPN

Plaxico Burress, Hines Ward, Antwaan Randle El -- “The NFL Today,” Sunday, 9 a.m., Channel 2

Jeremy Shockey, Jeff Garcia -- “Fox NFL Sunday,” Sunday, 1 p.m., Channel 11

Jeremy McGrath, James “Bubba” Stewart, Brandon Bernstein -- SpeedFreaks,” Sunday, 7 p.m., KLSX (97.1)

Phil Jackson -- “SportsCenter” (“Sunday Night Conversation”), Sunday, 8 p.m., ESPN

Julio Gonzalez, Javier Mora, Duke Llewellyn -- “Ringside With Johnny Ortiz,” Sunday, 8 p.m., KSPN (710)