Bo Knows Baseball, and Bo Knows Football, and Bo Knows Commercials.
Well, get ready Sunday for Bo Knows Broadcasting.
Bo Jackson, the world-famous hip-replacement patient, will take time off from his rehabilitation schedule to sit in with the CBS ”NFL Today” crew to lend a little of his expertise.
”We`re going to use Bo in a role similar to Terry Bradshaw`s,” said the show`s producer, Eric Mann. ”He`s going to be there the entire day to analyze what`s going on, based on his experience in the NFL. He`s going to be a special analyst for the day.”
And Jackson was pleased with the honor.
”Out of all the top athletes in the country, CBS picked me to do the show on Sunday,” he said. ”I`m looking foward to just having a good time and watching a good football game. It`s something I haven`t done since I left the game.”
Jackson has been too busy rehabilitating his left hip, which was injured nearly two years ago and finally surgically replaced in April.
”This is the first week I`ve had off,” he explained. ”I watched the Dallas-Philadelphia game. I`ve been traveling with the (White Sox), and we play on Monday nights. But I have been keeping up with the (NFL) teams.”
And how busy has Jackson`s rehabilitation been?
Well, get ready this spring for Bo Knows Baseball, Part II.
”Since the season is over,” Jackson said, he plans ”to work out every day” at Comiskey Park with trainer Herm Schneider ”until we get ready to go to spring training. I plan to be in uniform with the White Sox next year, whether it`s in a designated-hitter role or platooning in the outfield or maybe even a little at first base.”
Jackson originally was scheduled to work a two-sport double-header for CBS this weekend. But the presidential debate set for Sunday night wiped out the network`s plans for its baseball show before the Braves-Pirates playoff game, leaving Jackson to concentrate on football.
And, later, getting his left hip back in working order.
”I am very confident” about returning to baseball, Jackson said. ”I really don`t think you can tell which hip I`ve had surgery on because I`ve worked myself to the bone getting my strength back. Right now, I think I`m 50 to 60 percent in the leg I had surgery on. Working every day this winter, with the proper diet, (you can) expect me back in spring training probably as physical as I was before I got injured.”
While Jackson`s hopes of being a two-sport professional have been seriously jeopardized with his hip injury, he likes Deion Sanders` chances of hanging around both baseball and football for a while.
”He`s probably doing a better job than I have done,” said Jackson,
”simply because when he goes from one sport to the other, he`s well-rested. He`s playing a platoon role with the Braves, and he`s returning kicks and playing defense for the Falcons. It`s not a physical drain on Sanders like it was on me. I had to go carry the ball and get beat up every Sunday and then go and try to play baseball.”
But, for now, Jackson will play the TV role, a role that might beckon again a few years from now.
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”It would be great,” he said. ”Right now, I`m concentrating on rehabbing. (Then) I`m going to spring training and try to bring a pennant to the South Side next year. Whatever comes after that, I`ll go over it with my wife and kids and see what they think. If they give me the OK to get into television, I`ll jump in with both feet. And if they want me to stay home and become a Mr. Mom, I guess I`ll have to do that. But whatever Bo decides to do after professional sports, I will try to give my best.”
Bo knows diplomacy.
– Debatable: CBS plans to sandwich its two playoff games around the first presidential debate Sunday. But it`s playing it close, starting the ALCS contest at 3 p.m., Chicago time, with the debate slated for 6 p.m. ”With our luck, the game probably will go 22 innings,” quipped a CBS official.
– As if CBS didn`t have enough problems, Tuesday night`s NLCS opening game had one of the lowest postseason prime-time ratings (12.0, with a 21 share), although it was higher than last year`s playoff opener. That was 14 percent below the 14/24 for the opening game of last year`s NLCS but was slightly higher than last year`s playoff opener, in which Minnesota and Toronto had an 11.6/20. Possibly even more embarrassing was that CBS`s baseball lead-in show, the Ross Perot info-mercial, had a higher rating than the game-a 12.2. Wednesday night`s ALCS opener did a 11.0/19, down 5 percent from last year`s ALCS Game 1`s 11.6/20. The first two prime-time telecasts are averaging a 11.5/19, down 10 percent from last year`s 12.8/22.
– Numbers games: ABC`s ”Monday Night Football” telecast featuring the Eagles and the Cowboys had a 22.3 national rating with a 36 share, making it the most-watched Monday night contest since the Giants-49ers matchup Dec. 3, 1990, had a 26.9/42. For the season, ”Monday Night Football” is averaging a 17.8/ 30, about even with last year`s 17.4/30 after five games. . . . ESPN officials were ”fairly surprised” by the 1.5 rating for its first National Hockey League game Tuesday night. The network had averaged a .9 for its NHL telecasts between 1985 and `88. . . . TBS` Braves telecast ratings increased 15 percent this year over last season (2.3 to 2.0).
– WLUP Radio`s Chet Coppock will have blow-by-blow coverage of the bouts on Wednesday`s boxing card at the Rosemont Horizon. WIND Radio will carry the bouts in Spanish. . . . Bears safety Shaun Gayle joins Tom Dore in the SportsChannel booth for Saturday`s live telecast of the Southern Mississippi- Northern Illinois game, which also will be carried on the SportsChannel America network. . . . WBBM Radio`s ”Monday Night SportsLine” with Bears running back Neal Anderson will be pre-empted by Monday`s Illinois senatorial debate. The station will join the Monday night football game in progress.