NBC Taking Less-Is-More Tack

A word of warning: The U.S. athletes in tonight’s parade of nations at the Olympic Games opening ceremony won’t be marching toward the back of the pack. They’ll be the 55th contingent to enter the stadium among the record 202 nations.

That’s because the nations will march in the order of the Greek alphabet. The U.S. team will come in between the United Arab Emirates and Japan.

Another twist is that the Greek flag will be at the front of the parade, the Greek athletes at the end.

Traditionally, Greece marches first in the parade of nations, and the host nation enters last. Of course, in this case Greece is one and the same.

Less Is Best

A problem that faced NBC in covering the parade of nations was finding enough time to introduce all 202 nations. Considering that the parade takes about two hours, NBC, subtracting commercial time, would have 100 minutes to cover it, or about 30 seconds a country.

So NBC decided to have co-hosts Bob Costas and Katie Couric talk about 40 to 50 countries, and have the others introduced graphically.

“It would have been tidbit pingpong,” Costas said of trying to comment on all 202 countries. “You take Pakistan, I’ll take Peru.”

The idea is that less talk will give NBC’s four hours of opening-ceremony coverage a chance to breathe.

Good thinking.

Readiness and Security

NBC’s four hours of tape-delayed opening-ceremony coverage will begin at 8 p.m. with Tom Brokaw introducing a report on Athens’ readiness to host the Games. Brokaw will be joined by correspondent Robert Hager, who will have a report on Olympic security.

Reporters Melissa Stark, Andrea Joyce and Lewis Johnson will contribute interviews and reports from the floor of Olympic Stadium.

Great Anticipation

NBC Sports Chairman Dick Ebersol is fired up about the opening ceremony.

“A few of us have attended rehearsals, and while protecting well-guarded secrets, I can say no opening ceremony has ever had as unique an environment,” he said. “It will be really breathtaking.”

Dimitris Papaionannou, the artistic director, said, “My task is to update the perception of Greek history in such a way that it expresses modern Greece and promises a bright future.”

Papaionannou is fired up too.

“We are controlling our emotions in a professional way,” he said.

Meanwhile, Back in L.A.

It’s a big week for Greeks everywhere, but particularly for Petros Papadakis, the former USC running back turned broadcaster.

As his family’s homeland has been preparing to host the Olympic Games and hopes to impress the world, Papadakis has landed a plum job and hopes to show a different side.

It was announced Thursday that he’ll be the commentator on Fox Sports Net’s national Pacific 10 Conference football package, working alongside veteran play-by-play announcer Barry Tompkins.

Papadakis replaces Tom Ramsey, who left because of a salary dispute. Papadakis beat out four or five finalists for the job, including former UCLA coach Bob Toledo.

For Papadakis, 27, the job is part of a meteoric rise in broadcasting. In three years, he has gone from USC reports and analysis for the “Southern California Sports Report” and radio sideline reporting on Trojan football games to his own daily radio talk show on KMPC (1540) and now a top-level commentator’s job.

He has done it mostly with a loud, bombastic, self-effacing style and a rah-rah approach to USC football.

Now he has to switch gears, tone it down and dust off some of the cardinal and gold. This is a different gig, one that requires objectivity and a considerable amount of serious analysis.

“I’ll be a good soldier,” Papadakis promised Thursday.

Papadakis has virtually no experience doing game commentary. Filling in on one high school game is it.

He got the job by impressing FSN West general manager Steve Simpson, executive producer Mike Connelly and a few other FSN executives in two audition sessions.

“We all watched the tapes of the sessions separately but were all in agreement that, hands down, Petros was the best,” Simpson said. “I think what a lot of people might not realize is that Petros is very bright.”

FSN’s first Pac-10 game of the week is Fresno State at Washington on Sunday, Sept. 5.

Short Waves

Besides the Olympics, also in the spotlight this weekend is the PGA Championship on CBS. And right before Saturday’s PGA Championship coverage, at 10 a.m. on Channel 2, is something guaranteed to warm the heart. It’s taped coverage of this year’s Special Olympics Southern California Summer Games, held at Long Beach State. James Worthy and Leyna Nguyen will be the co-hosts of the special, which will be re-aired on sister station Channel 9 on Sunday at 4 p.m.

Pat Summerall is filling in for ESPN play-by-play announcer Mike Patrick during the NFL exhibition season as Patrick recovers from bypass surgery. If there is a job for Summerall beyond that remains to be seen. “I’m available,” said Summerall, who has recovered from a liver transplant and says he feels better than he has in 15 years.... There are two NFL exhibition games on television Saturday -- the Oakland Raiders and San Francisco 49ers on Channel 2 at 5 p.m. and Indianapolis at San Diego on FSN2 at 7 p.m. The Charger game is live in L.A. but delayed in San Diego because it did not sell out.... NFL Network will try letting an NFL game speak for itself. The network will televise Denver at Buffalo live Sunday at 5 p.m. and then a week later show a one-hour condensed version with no announcers. Sixteen players and coaches were miked for the condensed version.

John Ireland of Channel 9 and KSPN (710) will be inducted into the Celtic Wall of Fame at Muldoon’s Dublin Pub and Celtic Bar in Newport Beach on Sunday. Earlier inductees include Chick Hearn. Ireland is being inducted because of his heritage, not his name. “My father, John Sr., came here from Ireland when he was in his 20s,” he said.... Ireland scored a coup on his KSPN radio show this week when he not only got Jeanie Buss to sit in as a guest co-host but also got Phil Jackson to call in. Jackson didn’t say much except that he didn’t agree that Kobe Bryant played a role in his and Shaquille O’Neal’s departures.... Bob Golic returns to the radio waves Sept. 4, when he and co-host and producer Chris Maroe begin doing a weekly one-hour show, “Pro Football Previews,” Saturdays at 7 p.m. for XTRA (690, 1150). Golic formerly worked for KMPC.

Radio Daze

For several days this week, Roger Lodge, on his morning KMPC show, promoted an in-studio appearance of a Kansas City Chief Hall of Famer without naming him. He even asked listeners to guess who it might be.

So who showed up Thursday? George Brett, the Kansas City Royal Hall of Famer.

“We were only off by one word,” said producer Dick Fallon, who lined up Brett’s appearance and this week has been filling in on the air for vacationing Mark Willard.

KMPC program director Tim Parker said Fallon has radio experience, but none in sports, so he might not have initially known if Brett was a football or baseball player. The end result was a pretty funny bit in which listeners were asked to vote if Fallon should be fired or not. He kept his job by one vote.

In Closing

During an interview with Mychal Thompson on XTRA’s “Loose Cannons” show Wednesday, new Oakland Raider Warren Sapp came across as a real sap. He gave one-word answers, ridiculed Thompson as an interviewer and then walked away.