NBC Fills Up on Olympic Trials

NBC no longer has NFL football, NBA basketball or major league baseball, but it finds itself with a pool full of sports these days.

The network offers its first coverage of the U.S. Olympic swimming trials at Long Beach tonight at 8.

In prime time Saturday night will be the U.S. Olympic track and field trials at Sacramento, plus the 200 butterfly, featuring swimmer Michael Phelps, from Long Beach.

Sunday’s Olympic trials coverage, beginning at 7 p.m., will include track and field and swimming.

NBC and cable partner TNT begin their 19-race portion of the NASCAR season this weekend from the Chicago area. Sunday’s Nextel Cup race begins at 12:30 p.m., following a one-hour pre-race show.

Olympic prime-time host Bob Costas is working the swimming trials, where Dan Hicks will call the races, Rowdy Gaines will provide analysis and Melissa Stark will report.

“This is unlike any meet in the world for a swimmer,” said Gaines, a three-time Olympic gold medalist. “If you asked 99% of the swimmers out there, there’s only maybe two or three that will tell you that the Olympics have more pressure. They take the top two swimmers and that’s it. If you get third place, you don’t go, it’s that simple.”

Said NBC executive producer Tom Roy: “Swimming is going to be one of the featured sports in Athens, particularly with Michael Phelps. I think you’ve got a very good chance for him to be the story for the first week of the Games.”

Roy on the Long Beach venue: “We have a camera on the top of the roof of the aquarium that looks out over the scene and it is gorgeous.”

What is not so good is that NBC is delaying its swimming and track and field coverage by three hours in the West. The idea is to show the action in prime time across the country.

At Sacramento, Tom Hammond will handle the track play-by-play, with Carol Lewis, Lewis Johnson and Marty Liquori providing analysis. Dwight Stones will call the field events and Bob Neumeier will report.

USA Network, NBC’s cable partner that has been televising a variety of Olympic trials since May 22, is providing weeknight coverage of the track and field trials, beginning tonight at 11. NBC and USA combined are offering 14 hours of coverage from Sacramento.

The track and field trials conclude a week from Sunday. NBC will offer prime-time coverage from Sacramento, along with taped coverage of the swimming trials, which end Wednesday.

NBC will cut away from its track coverage July 18 to televise the announcement of the U.S. women’s gymnastics team.

Lance in France

Fans of the Tour de France who do not get the Outdoor Life network are in luck this weekend because CBS begins its three consecutive Sundays of coverage. Unfortunately, CBS is offering only one hour each week. Sunday’s show begins at noon.

CBS host Armen Keteyian believes Lance Armstrong, seeking his sixth consecutive Tour de France title, is in for a tough time.

“Last year’s win showed him to be vulnerable, and there are several quality riders circling him like sharks, waiting for an opportunity to break the streak,” he said.

All-Star Coverage

For the second year, the winner of baseball’s All-Star game will determine which league has home-field advantage in the World Series. And that’s fine with Fox, which will televise Tuesday’s game from Houston.

Although the new format didn’t affect the ratings last year -- the game got a 9.5, even with the previous year -- Fox Sports President Ed Goren saw a positive sign.

“The rating for the last half-hour was higher than at the beginning of the game,” he said. “So with something on the line, America stayed tuned in.”

Announcer Joe Buck said, “There was more intensity, there was more reason to win the game. There was something on the line and the teams were forced to try to win and there was managerial strategy.”

In years past, Buck said, “You’d do this thing and say, ‘Is this a baseball game or are we doing a TV show? What are we doing here? Is there a point to this thing?’ And it was made really obvious to us all when there was a tie in Milwaukee and everybody just fizzled at the end. It was like, ‘OK, well, nice try, we’ll see you next year.’ ”

Buck said at first he wasn’t sure about the change.

“It felt a lot better after going through it,” he said. “I could remember who won it. In the past, I couldn’t even tell you who won.”

Fox plans to use three tiny cameras buried in the infield grass. The network plans to also use a remote camera suspended from a flagpole in center field to provide a view of the strike zone.

Fox’s pregame coverage, with Jeanne Zelasko and Kevin Kennedy, begins at 5 p.m.

ESPN and ESPN2 are offering 15 hours of supplemental All-Star coverage, highlighted by the Home Run Derby on ESPN Monday at 5 p.m. ESPN will use a remote camera mounted on a cable above the stands that is supposed to better show the flight of the ball.

All living members of the 500 home-run club are scheduled to be on the field for the Home Run Derby.

Short Waves

There is also quite a bit of basketball on television this weekend. Over the next three days beginning today, there are five WNBA games on three networks, including NBA TV. The Sparks’ game at Houston on Saturday at 6 p.m. is on ESPN2. ABC has a game at 1 p.m. Saturday, and NBA TV has games today at 5 p.m. and Saturday at 3 p.m. And there is also a game on ESPN2 Sunday at 11 a.m. ... NBA TV is also televising Summer League games from Long Beach on Saturday and Sunday, offering doubleheaders involving the Lakers and Clippers at 5:15 p.m. both days.

The long-running Victor Awards show, usually televised live, will be shown tape-delayed this year. The event takes place Saturday night at the Las Vegas Hilton and will be shown as a two-hour special on Fox Sports Net on July 17 and again on July 24 and 25.... CBS basketball commentator Bill Raftery will be among those honored at the Victor Awards, receiving the Walter Payton Sweetness Award. ... ESPN’s much-ballyhooed ESPY Awards show will also be shown tape-delayed this year. The show, featuring sports superstars as well as Tom Cruise, Denzel Washington, Samuel L. Jackson and other Hollywood celebrities, will take place Wednesday night at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood but won’t be televised until July 18.

Local Emmy nominations were announced Thursday, and Fox Sports Net received 15, second only to Channel 11’s 24.... Fox Sports Net has a weekly show titled “Softball 360” Mondays at 3:30 p.m. It is produced by Easton Sports of Van Nuys.

Sirius Satellite Radio, as part of its new all-encompassing NFL package, has signed Shannon Sharpe to host a three-hour talk show three times a week. The New York Post reported Sirius first went after Deion Sanders, but money was a sticking point.

In Closing

There are still complaints coming in from Adelphia subscribers about portions of Dodger telecasts not getting on the air. A spokesman promised that Adelphia technicians will more closely monitor the equipment.

Adelphia has more serious problems than this one. Founder John Rigas was convicted Thursday of conspiracy and fraud for his role in the diversion of hundreds of millions of dollars from the company and driving it into bankruptcy.