John Naber, who covered Mark Spitz`s nationally televised comeback attempt for ABC, said the swimming hero of the 1972 Olympic Games should make up his mind on what his goals are.
”If his goal is to see how close he can get to his personal best time, perhaps it`s worth his while to keep going,” said Naber, who will host ABC`s swimming coverage at the upcoming Pan American Games.
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”If his goal is to win an Olympic gold medal, I think he should give it up,” added Naber, who won five swimming medals and broke four world records at the `76 Games while a student at Southern Cal. ”I was never quite clear what he was trying to prove. I`m not sure what his motives are.
”The caliber of performance he`s turned in is not indicative of an Olympic-bound athlete. I believe he is physically capable of faster swimming than he has shown us thus far. But even if he were a full second faster in the first 50 meters, he`s still well behind the pace.”
As for `88 U.S. swimming star Janet Evans` dropping out of Stanford to pursue her `92 dreams, Naber called it ”a significant turn of events.” He said Evans` excuse of NCAA training restrictions were ”coincidental” to the fact that U.S. Swimming ”is now offering a large financial stipend” to its top athletes.
”Financially,” said Naber, ”she can make more money than the cost of a Stanford education by not going to Stanford. You`re going to see a lot of other athletes opting for that choice, which will undermine the caliber of competition at the college level. It`ll take a lot of very talented athletes and separate them from their peers and force them to train with high school kids and college graduates.”
Brent Musburger will anchor ABC`s coverage of the Pan American Games Aug. 3-18. Nine telecasts on six weekend days will emanate from Cuba. Joining Musburger will be Roger Twibell, Marty Liquori, Larry Rawson and Willie Smith (track and field); Naber, Donna de Varona and Cynthia Potter (swimming and diving); Chris Schenkel and Alex Wallau (boxing); Gary Bender and Kathy Johnson (gymnastics); TNT`s Ron Thulin, Jim Valvano and Cheryl Miller
(basketball); Jack Arute and Brian Drebber (cycling); Bob Beattie
(volleyball); Jack Whitaker (essays); John Quinones (news reports); Wayne Smith (commentary) and Paul Thompson (medicine).
– Chet Coppock anchors the NBA Radio Network`s 3 1/2-hour coverage of the league`s draft at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday on WLUP. Coppock will be joined by Jeff Hagedorn, CBS/ESPN college basketball analyst Bill Raftery and the usual myriad list of Coppock guests.
– CBS` taped telecast of the NCAA Men`s and Women`s Outdoor Track and Field Championships, pre-empted June 16 by the accident-delayed Detroit Grand Prix, has been rescheduled for 1:30 p.m. Sunday on WBBM-Ch. 2.
– ABC has announced its college football early- and late-season schedule for the fall. Among the early games are either Michigan-Boston College or Arizona- Ohio State Sept. 7 (”No one has put a map together yet,” said an ABC spokesman), Notre Dame-Michigan Sept. 14 and Houston-Illinois Sept. 21. Later games include Ohio State-Michigan Nov. 23 and Army-Navy Dec. 7. . . . Gayle Gardner and Ahmad Rashad will be hosts of NBC`s college football (i.e., Notre Dame) studio show. Dick Enberg and Bill Walsh will be its Notre Dame broadcast team. . . . CBS has signed a one-year deal to telecast the Blockbuster Bowl Dec. 28 in conjunction with Raycom. Last year, Raycom syndicated the inaugural game between Florida State and Penn State. . . . And NBC keeps collecting junk sports. The network has signed a multiyear deal to telecast for the Ironman Triathlon World Championship. Pump us up.
– Former NBC executive producer Michael Weisman, who left the network in 1989 when Dick Ebersol brought in Terry O`Neil, currently is president of Davis Sports Entertainment, a West Coast production company specializing in TV sports and entertainment. DSE was founded by John and Greg Davis. . . . The Saturday ”Coppock on Sports” show with Dan McNeil has been moved to 6 p.m. on WLUP Radio. . . . NBC, in preparation for the `92 Summer Olympics, has purchased the exclusive rights to all of next year`s U.S. Olympic Trials. While all the major sports-such as boxing, basketball and gymnastics-certainly will gain air time, there`s no guarantee all competitions will be telecast. . . . It took five former players to replace Jim Fregosi as analyst on SportsChannel Philadelphia`s telecasts of Phillies games. Greg Gross, Jay Johnstone, Tug McGraw, Kent Tekulve and Glenn Wilson take turns with play-by- play man Andy Musser.
– Former Giants head coach Bill Parcells, who earlier signed on as an NBC studio commentator, has another TV deal, this one a joint venture between Madison Square Garden and Prime Network. He`ll join CBS college football studio analyst Mike Francesa for ”Around the NFL,” which will be produced at MSG`s studios and distributed through Prime Network beginning Aug. 30.