It's Friday, and so here's one more unpleasant thing before the weekend - another set of sports media notes:
After working the first two games of the major league season for ESPN in Japan earlier this week, Gary Thorne's vocal cords should be over jet lag in time to call Monday's Orioles opener. Thorne is joined by Jim Palmer in the booth and Amber Theoharis on the field. The game will be simulcast on WJZ/Channel 13 and Mid-Atlantic Sports Network at 3 p.m. However, the high-definition version of the Orioles vs. the Tampa Bay Rays will be available only on the MASN HD channel, not WJZ.
WJZ's pre-game show begins at 2, featuring sports anchor Mark Viviano and his news-desk colleagues. MASN's O's Xtra airs at the same time, with Jim Hunter and Rick Dempsey.
On the radio side, flagship WHFS (105.7 FM) has expanded its daily pre-game show by 30 minutes to an hour. Tom Davis and Dave Johnson are back for pre- and post-game duties, with Steve Melewski sitting in for Davis when the latter has a MASN assignment. Joe Angel and Fred Manfra return to chronicle the hits, runs, errors and pitching changes.
The pre-game show isn't the only thing that has grown. CBS Radio has expanded the Orioles radio network this season to 27, three more than last year. The lone addition in Maryland is Cambridge's WCEM (1240 AM).
In addition to his Orioles duties, Thorne will be the play-by-play man for ESPN Radio's Sunday night baseball games, working with Dave Campbell. That means Thorne is calling this weekend's major league opener in Washington between the Nationals and Atlanta Braves.
Speaking of double duty, alternating Orioles commentator Buck Martinez will fill the analyst role on some of TBS' Sunday afternoon national games, paired with Chip Caray. Ron Darling is TBS' other Sunday analyst. Martinez will man a microphone during TBS' League Division Series coverage in the fall.
You can get a look at the Nationals' new ballpark tomorrow night at 6 on MASN, which is carrying the Orioles-Nats exhibition game. MASN's Nationals announcing crew - Bob Carpenter and Don Sutton - will do the game. MASN also will telecast a Nats Xtra pre-game show at 7 p.m. Sunday, before ESPN airs the game at 8. Terps voice Johnny Holliday, likely glad to have a respite from watching 15-point leads disappear in the second half, returns as Nats Xtra host, joined by Ray Knight.
That's a clever ad WBAL Radio (1090 AM) is running to promote sports talk about the Orioles. The bit, featuring Steve Rouse and Shari Elliker, is a takeoff on the Abbott and Costello "Who's on First?" routine, with Orioles names substituted - such as Millar throwing a Huff and confusion over having Hernandez playing shortstop and catcher. The shelf life of the spot won't be too long, though. It will probably just sound annoying if it's still playing in a month.
Give Tiger Woods credit. He took it easy on ESPN's Dana Jacobson on Wednesday. She was questioning him about his use of crude language during the weekend at the CA Championship after a camera click disturbed his swing. Here's what Woods didn't say:
"Gee, Dana, no matter what I said, at least I didn't insult the nation's most famous Catholic university and affront Christians everywhere."
Of all the ESPN personnel available, Jacobson was a poor choice to be interviewing anyone about his choice of language with the memory of her appearance at the Mike and Mike roast still not faded from our consciousness.
CBS News gets into the baseball act Sunday. During CBS News Sunday Morning (9 a.m., WJZ and WUSA/Channel 9), Charles Osgood interviews the authors of a book about "Take Me Out to the Ball Game." Among the tidbits: The writers of the song never had attended a baseball game. A segment on 60 Minutes (7 p.m.) covers Bill James, the great guru of baseball statistics who has been advising the Boston Red Sox since 2002.
In about a week and a half, the NCAA tournament will end with a champion crowned - and a familiar song played over a montage of tourney clips. I'm not quite sure where I stand on "One Shining Moment." I have to acknowledge how the packages do capture the frenzied fun and elevated emotion that accompany the tournament. But did the whole thing long ago lapse into a trying-too-hard-to-manipulate presentation?
If you're a dyed-in-the-red-wool Terps fan, maybe the 2002 version (particularly the shots of Juan Dixon toward the end) can choke you up a bit. Or maybe you just smile remembering the title and laugh off the cheesy music.
Last weekend, CBS' opening for The Road to the Final Four pre-game show looked an awful lot like a commercial for one of the network's auto sponsors. Maybe you're required to drive that road in one of the tournament's official cars.
ray.frager@baltsun.com