Hitting the tube
Home Team Sports will televise seven CFL Colts games this season, starting with a tape delay of Wednesday night's home exhibition game against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, the Colts announced yesterday.
Wednesday's game will be shown on July 2 and 3, although times have not been decided, team spokesman Mike Gathagan said.
Jeff Rimer of WBAL Radio will handle play-by-play on HTS, and Colts limited partner Tom Matte will be analyst on Wednesday's game. The team is negotiating with John Unitas to do commentary during the regular season.
The six regular-season games on HTS are Aug. 6 at Las Vegas, Sept. 18 at Saskatchewan, Oct. 1 against Ottawa, Oct. 22 against British Columbia, Oct. 29 against Winnipeg and Nov. 5 at Sacramento.
Five Colts games are scheduled for Channel 2 and three on ESPN2.
Courtroom to cows
Jim Speros says he's had a recurring dream the past few weeks: The Colts owner is late for opening night at Memorial Stadium and is running down 33rd Street to make kickoff.
Friday night's exhibition opener was almost that bad. Delayed by two days of trademark hearings in Indianapolis federal court, Speros had to fly through Cincinnati and Houston to reach Shreveport a half-hour before the 7:30 p.m. kickoff.
At 7:15, he was dropped off near Independence Stadium, but had to walk through a cow pasture -- luggage in tow -- to get there. At 7:25, he made it to the locker room. He spent the first half on the Colts sideline.
"The NFL could not stop me from getting here," he said after the 33-18 victory, grinning.
Picking up the pace
Linebacker Jesse Becton, who made a key strip and fumble recovery in the fourth quarter, was fascinated with the pace of a real game after four weeks of training camp simulation.
"I thought college was fast," he said. "College doesn't even compare to this, things happen so rapidly."
Double duty
The Colts will go back to two-a-days today with practices at 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. at Towson's Minnegan Stadium. But they won't wear pads in either workout, coach Don Matthews said.
MEET THE COLTS
Tracey Gravely
Pos: OLB
Ht: 6-3
Wt: 213
College: Concord
Year: 4th
Outlook: A veteran defensive halfback in the CFL, Gravely made a smooth adjustment to strong-side linebacker for the Colts. He is physical enough to stop the run and quick enough to drop into coverage.