The TV Repairman:
It's certainly no surprise the superstations TBS and WGN will carry 122 Atlanta Braves games and 198 Chicago Cubs and White Sox games, respectively, no matter what players wear the uniforms.
Imagine trying to come by a million hours of summertime programming at this stage.
Viewers might have ended up being subjected to that all-time stinker "My Mother The Car" as part of the replacement menu.
* President Clinton posted up Dick Vitale while being interviewed by the ESPN commentator at halftime of the Georgetown-Villanova game the other night. A sign suggested "Clinton-Vitale in '96" and the announcer asked for a comment. "Al Gore probably made that up," said the Prez. "We'd be the loudest team."
* CBS Radio beat away the challenge of a couple of networks to retain NFL rights for four more years. Let's hear it for Jack Buck and Hank Stram. While CBS is paying a bit over $6 million for the rights, a radio station in Washington reportedly is willing to go $4 million a season to do Redskins games.
* Check out the Chrysler Cup on ABC Sunday (1 p.m.), a team of U.S. seniors taking on an international cast. It's Ryder Cup-like competition the Americans ruled early, but which saw the visitors prevail last year. . . . CBS is doing the Nissan Open golf tourney tomorrow (3-6 p.m.) and Sunday (4-6 p.m.) and commentator Ken Venturi is being honored by the tournament for, uh, being around a long time.
* The matchups on Showtime boxing tomorrow night (9:30) are excellent, Nigel Benn vs. Gerald McClellan and Mike McCallum taking on Carl Jones in a pair of World Boxing Council championships. All hands are boxer-punchers.
* Good line from Channel 13's John Buren as a clip showed Georgetown's Allen Iverson making a spinning, acrobatic drive for a hoop: "You can only do that when you're 18 years old; otherwise, you'd be in the hospital for a week."
* While the lengthy rain delay probably scattered a good chunk of the Daytona 500 audience last Sunday, one of the fillers was terrific. It was a retrospective of the races CBS has covered since 1979, starting with a fender-bender between Cale Yarborough and Davey Allison with Bobby Allison coming right out on the track to duke it out with Yarborough.
* Hey, Nike, I have no problem with your getting rid of some of the athletes in your ad campaigns, but to pink-slip actor Dennis Hopper as a whacked-out former official borders on sedition.
* The Mobil Championships (track and field) tomorrow (3 p.m.) are live on NBC from George Mason. Included on the program is a masters mile with Frank Shorter and Bill Rodgers in the field. They figure to run about 4:40 with Rodgers pointing out, "I remember when Frank and I could put six 4:30s together. But we're 47 now."
* Super middleweight champ Roy Jones is not only a terrific boxer, he's a class guy. While hyping a fight against Antoine Byrd on HBO March 18, he was asked if he saw the release from prison and the return to the ring of Mike Tyson as a positive for the fight game.
"Yes, I think so but with a big if," he started. "If Mike can come back with a true champion's demeanor. If he can show he has learned from his mistakes and that he is a better person, he can be a positive, definitely."
* The figure skating this weekend involves the European Championships staged a few weeks ago on CBS tomorrow (1 p.m.). It's in tough with the NASCAR Goodwrench 200 on The Nashville Network and the Washington Caps taking on New Jersey on Channel 20 at the same time. Then comes Maryland vs. Clemson (Chs. 54, 7) at 1:30.
Speaking of Maryland, why do broadcasters feel compelled to say, "There's Gary Williams working the officials," during Terps games? It's only worth mentioning if the coach wasn't yapping on the sideline.
* Both the networks and cable probably took about two seconds to turn down a proposal by the Major League Baseball Players Association to provide a series of 40 so-called all-star games by its members. In addition to being counter-productive to ending the strike, it would mark television as being pro-player while at the same time working its deals with management.
If the strike drags on, imagine the annual All-Star Game featuring replacement players July 11. The winner would immediately by challenged (and beaten soundly) by the NCAA champion.
* All the Johns Hopkins lacrosse games will be on WWLG (1360 AM) with Jody Martin and Larry Quinn on the call. . . . ESPN has the U.S. Pro Indoor Championships from Philly tomorrow at noon (one semifinal), then Sunday at 2 p.m. (final). . . . The NBA double dip on NBC Sunday is Magic-Bulls at 1 p.m., Hornets and Suns at 3:30. . . . Those new 18-inch dishes known as Direct Broadcast Satellite have worked out a deal with ESPN to pick up the games of 11 NHL teams, including the Washington Capitals. . . . The season-ending tournaments of the CIAA, both men and women, are on HTS and Washington's Channel 50 all weekend.
HTS, by the way, is providing something called "Tournamania" all during the ACC tournament in Greensboro, N.C., March 8-11, showing tapes of eight classic games in tourney history as part of a fan fest. Yes, the epic 1974 Maryland- David Thompson battle is included.
* A terrific show entitled "Basketball's Greatest Games" was scheduled for ESPN last month, but was scratched when the NHL lockout ended and a game was substituted. It will be shown March 19 at 7 p.m. amidst "March Madness." ESPN2 will run it the same day.
* Pssst, the equestrian show on ESPN tomorrow (4 p.m.) involves show jumping. . . . If that doesn't play for you, there's the Charlton Heston Celebrity Shoot on ESPN at 1 a.m. Sunday. It's not true that the targets are movie critics.