UCLA, Angel Fans Won’t Have to Fight for Remote

There is Murphy’s Law, which states that anything that can go wrong will.

Then sometimes things work out for no apparent reason.

A case in point: Game 4 of the American League division series between the Angels and New York Yankees on Saturday will be televised by Fox at 1:15 p.m. Another major sporting event of the day, at least for West Coast football fans, is California at UCLA. That game, to be televised by TBS, starts at 4:30 p.m., by which time the baseball game should be over.

Most of USC’s 12:30 game against Arizona on FSN will go up against the Angels and Yankees, but that game is expected to be a blowout.

Cal-UCLA, on the other hand, figures to be one of the best Pacific 10 games of the season. It is certainly UCLA’s most important game so far.

UCLA is a slight favorite, which might be surprising to those who saw the Bruins struggle to beat lowly Washington last Saturday.

“You can throw that game out,” said TBS commentator Charles Davis, who will work the Cal-UCLA game with play-by-play announcer Ron Thulin. “Give them a mulligan.

“After they beat Oklahoma, they had a week off to swagger around campus. And last year, Maurice Drew had chewed up Washington for 322 yards.”

Last Saturday, Drew was held to 33 yards in 14 carries, the Bruins were penalized 13 times for 110 yards, and they trailed, 17-7, after three quarters before winning, 21-17.

“They had an off day,” Davis said. “That happens to teams. The good thing about that game was they won it. In past years, UCLA would have found a way to lose.”

Announcing Lineup

Tonight’s Game 3 of the Angel-Yankee series will be televised on ESPN and Channel 13, with Jon Miller and Joe Morgan calling the action.

Saturday, the Fox announcers will be Josh Lewin and Steve Lyons. Former Dodger Todd Zeile will join Jeanne Zelasko and Kevin Kennedy as a guest studio commentator.

If there is a Game 5 Sunday at Anaheim, it is set to start at 4:45 p.m. and will be televised by Fox, with Thom Brennaman and Tim McCarver announcing. Joe Buck has the weekend off baseball to work Sunday’s Philadelphia-Dallas NFL game.

Matt Gets Up Off Mat

It’s easy to figure out the low point of Matt Vasgersian’s broadcasting career. It came in February 2001, when he was doing XFL football for NBC. Vasgersian, a 1989 USC graduate, was demoted and replaced by a wrestling announcer after one telecast. And Vince McMahon, who was calling the shots during the one year his ill-fated XFL was in business, was the person who demoted Vasgersian.

But he has rallied from that indignity. He is now the San Diego Padres’ television play-by-play announcer, the USC basketball announcer for FSN West and next year will be working the Winter Olympics for NBC. He’ll call the ski jumping events, which should keep him hopping.

Vasgersian is hopping pretty well this week. He has done one-hour postgame shows for a San Diego cable channel after the Padres’ playoff games Tuesday and Thursday, then on Sunday he’ll call his first NFL game for Fox -- Carolina at Arizona -- with former NFL quarterback Erik Kramer.

And this time McMahon isn’t around to make him take a fall.

New Role for McSorley

Marty McSorley, an enforcer during his playing days in the NHL and more recently a minor league coach, is FSN West’s new in-studio hockey commentator. He’ll make 40 to 45 appearances on the “Southern California Sports Report” during the season.

It may come as somewhat of a surprise to viewers that McSorley is soft-spoken.

“Some people probably think I have horns and a three-pronged fork,” he said.

One good thing about his new job: There are no penalty minutes in broadcasting.

Short Waves

OLN’s first hockey telecast, New York at Philadelphia on Wednesday night, opposite playoff baseball, was seen in 268,000 households. In 2003, ESPN’s opening night NHL coverage was seen in 476,000 homes.... In L.A., the OLN game got a zero rating.

Keith Jackson makes a rare trip east of the Rockies to call Saturday’s Oklahoma-Texas game with regular partner Dan Fouts.... Former UCLA quarterback Tom Ramsey, now a free-lance commentator, will work the first game of a TBS doubleheader Saturday, Texas Tech at Nebraska, with play-by-play announcer Ron Neal. Certainly, he would have preferred being assigned to the second game, Cal-UCLA.

Too often UCLA radio announcer Chris Roberts forgets the basics. During the last two minutes of the Bruins’ down-to-the-wire victory over Washington, he forgot to mention how much time remained.

On Saturday at 3 p.m. on ESPN2, after an hour and a half of horse racing on NBC, there will be coverage of the Ancient Title Breeders’ Cup Handicap and the Oak Tree Breeders’ Cup Mile from Santa Anita.

Recommended viewing: Pete Carroll offers insight into what makes him tick on “CMI: The Chris Myers Interview,” airing on FSN West on Sunday at 10:30 p.m.

Doug Krikorian, Joe McDonnell’s former partner at radio station 710, will fill in for T.J. Simers on the radio show he does with his daughter, Tracy, Sunday at 9 a.m. on 570.

In Closing

Imagine if Howard Cosell could see what has become of the “Monday Night Football” halftimes. Country and western singer Tim McGraw sings the highlights, and this week Jimmy Kimmel learned how to make toast in one of the most unfunny bits in the history of prime-time television.