Because of a side trip while visiting relatives, WBBM Radio sports anchor Brian Davis will be covering the Winter Olympics for CBS Radio.
”It`s a dream gig in a lot of respects,” said Davis, 35. ”I`m really excited about it.”
Network veterans Jim Hunter and Ira Mellman will anchor the CBS Radio coverage. Davis will cover men`s Alpine events at Val d`Isere as well as freestyle skiing at Tignes.
While planning a vacation to see his father and stepmother in New Jersey, Davis, a 1974 Northwestern grad, discussed network assignments with WBBM news director Chris Berry. Just before he left, Davis asked Berry if it would make sense to take a train up to New York for a visit with CBS Radio Sports Executive Director Frank Murphy. Berry said he`d call Murphy, and before Davis knew it, he was discussing the plan to cover Alpine skiing in Albertville.
”I was shocked,” Davis said. ”On the train back to New Jersey, I asked myself, `Is this really me sitting in this body?` ”
Besides filing for CBS Radio`s 250 special two-minute reports (which will be heard at 45 minutes past the hour), Davis will cover local athletes for WBBM as well.
”It`s a high-profile thing,” said Davis. ”It`s a dream assignment because it`s in Europe, and I love to travel. For a guy doing local radio to get a foreign assignment is almost unheard of. It`s something radically different from (sports updates at) :15 and :45.
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”Because of what we do when we do it, you become a jack-of-all-trades and a master of none. Here, I`ll be able to sink my teeth into something for three weeks. I guess I have this closet dream of being a newspaper beat reporter. I`d like to go in-depth on something, but on radio you just don`t get a chance.”
But Davis, who also hosts ”HawkLine” and occasionally fills in on
”SportsLine” for WBBM, likes the medium better than television.
”In TV, there are times when you`re so tied to the picture,” Davis said. ”There are good stories you can`t do on TV. I can do 30 seconds without having to put a face or a graphic up. TV limits you a little bit.”
But as Davis found out with his Olympics assignment, ”I`ve never been able to predict the course of my career.”
– Super Bowl previews: WBBM-Ch. 2 airs NFL Films` ”Road to the Super Bowl,” which includes a segment on Bears coach Mike Ditka, at 10:30 p.m. Saturday. . . . And Burt Reynolds will host TNT`s live coverage of ”Super Bowl Saturday Night” at 7 p.m. Saturday, featuring the presentation of the NFL`s postseason awards and Bears linebacker Mike Singletary joining 49 other players as a chorus to sing Jeffrey Osborne`s ”The Heart of a Hero.”
– SportsChannel kicks off its 1992 White Sox coverage by carrying the team`s caravan press conference at 1 p.m. Monday. And, as a bonus, SC features Carlton Fisk`s unforgettable World Series home run on ”Baseball`s Greatest Games” at 11 p.m. Monday. SportsChannel also will have live reports from next weekend`s ”SoxFest.”
– For those who were looking for the Michigan-Illinois basketball game on WGBO-Ch. 66 at 2 p.m. Saturday and got a couple of music videos instead, this explanation: The game was the second part of what normally is syndicated by Raycom as a Big 10 double-header. Only in Chicago, WLS-Ch. 7 usually takes just the first game. Thus, whenever there`s a spillover from the opener, as happened for about five minutes Saturday, the ”shadow” station has to fill until the second game hits the satellite. Unfortunately, that also means showing all the commercials before picking up the game in progress. Annoying? Yes. But necessary.
– Bad timing, but good luck: NBC perhaps got a little greedy by scheduling two NBA games and the Bob Hope Classic for Sunday afternoon. Something had to give, and, unfortunately for the network, it was the Hope tourney. Only a handful of golfers were left on the course when TV coverage began. The length of the four-hole playoff, however, saved NBC from awarding many, if any, sponsor make-goods. Adding to the network`s woes, a satellite uplink in Phoenix failed for about five minutes, according to a network spokesman, causing NBC to nearly miss the end of the Blazers-Suns game. Like the golf tournament, however, the NBA contest went into overtime and viewers didn`t miss much.
– Weekend wanderings: After all the coaching maneuverings of the last few weeks, NBC was surprisingly quiet about its No. 1 NFL analyst, Bill Walsh, moving to Stanford. ”NBA Insider” Peter Vecsey, however, did report George Karl was the leading candidate to replace K.C. Jones as SuperSonics coach. . . . Kudos to ESPN for its live coverage early Sunday morning of the conclusion to the thrilling fourth-round Australian Open match between John McEnroe and Emilio Sanchez. . . . Best features: HBO`s Larry Merchant on ”The Philly Fighter” and CBS` Al Trautwig on the U.S. Olympic biathlon trials. . . . Best interview: Celtics star Larry Bird telling NBC`s Quinn Buckner,
”If I knew this (another back injury) was going to happen, I never would have come back this year.” . . . Strong comment: NBC`s Johnny Miller rapping Gene Sauers` club choice Sunday on the 18th hole of the Bob Hope Classic: ”I don`t know what he`s thinking.” . . . Best line: CBS` Bill Raftery on a dive by Ohio State`s Chris Jent for the ball: ”You don`t need a janitor when he`s in the building.” . . . And this comment by my wife, the non-sports fan, on the somber tone of narrator David Perry in the Winter Olympics documentary on WTTW-Ch. 11 Sunday: ”Who died?”