Keith Jackson, who has been covering college football games for ABC since well before today’s students were born, comes up with three suggestions to remedy incidents like the one last weekend in Madison, Wis.
“First of all, I wouldn’t let them have beer,” says Jackson, who will be calling Saturday’s Ohio State-Wisconsin game at Camp Randall Stadium. “Secondly, I’d thin out the population, which I understand (university officials) plan to do. And thirdly, I’d go around to see if I could find common sense in tablet form.”
But Jackson, who notes he has seen crowds “grow steadily meaner” over the years, says he understands the dilemma of Wisconsin officials in trying to assess blame for the student stampede that left seven critically injured.
“I don’t know what you do,” he says. “It ultimately will come back to the behavior of the individual.”
But there has been a “copycat” aspect to crowds rushing the field this year, where students at schools from Northwestern to Kansas State to Auburn have used the excuse of a football victory to attack the bolted-down goal posts.
“I don’t know what kind of a mentality that does that,” Jackson says. “Maybe I’m too old to understand this business of mob mentality.”
– One of Saturday’s big events is the 10th Breeders’ Cup. Despite mediocre ratings (3.0 with an 8 share last year-about the same since 1990), NBC sticks with the 4 1/2-hour telecast “because it’s a championship event,” says program host Tom Hammond. “It’s designed to bring all the championship contenders together to decide the (best) on the track rather than through a poll. In some ways, it’s unfortunate it has competition from football and other things. But even though the ratings are on a similar scale with golf and tennis, it still is a championship event. It never has failed to deliver real quality.”
And Chicago will be well-represented in the booth by race caller Tom Durkin, who grew up here, worked at Balmoral Park and always brings along a lucky charm-a picture of Richard J. Daley. “It’s just something I’ve had with me for a long, long time,” says Durkin. “I was always a big fan of Mayor Daley’s. When I was driving to my first job as an announcer (in Florida), the news came on the radio that Mayor Daley had died. I asked a friend of mine in Chicago to send me a picture of Mayor Daley, and he did. For years, I traveled around a lot, and I just always had the picture with me. It doesn’t mean anything at all. It’s just a picture on one of my notebooks.”
– Turner Sports begins its 10th year of NBA telecasts with a TNT double-header Friday night, including the Bulls-Hornets game. Play-by-play man Bob Neal, who is scheduled for eight of the Bulls’ 10 TNT appearances, says “at first, I felt cheated” when he heard Michael Jordan had retired. “Now I just accept it. The league will go on. I am excited about what the Bulls will look like without Michael.” . . . Speaking of the ex-Bull, Digger Phelps on Thursday told WMVP-AM’s Chet Coppock, “Michael Jordan could become the first black president” if he “steps up and steps out” on urban issues.
– In an attempt to counter-program NBC’s telecast of Florida State-Notre Dame on Nov. 13, ABC will regionally televise five games that day, all at 2:30 p.m. Chicago time. The choice, however, is peculiar-two from the Big 10 (Illinois-Penn State and Ohio State-Indiana), two from the Pac-10 (USC-Washington and Arizona-Cal) and one from the SEC (Mississippi State-Alabama). That means that in the Chicago area, viewers will get the Illinois game on WLS-Ch. 7. The other Big 10 game, which could decide the Rose Bowl berth, will be available only on pay-per-view.
“The whole reason for our success is to regionalize,” explained an ABC spokesman. “Regionalization enhances our ratings. The more we regionalize, the higher the ratings. It’s a tough weekend for us, going up against the Florida State-Notre Dame game. We just believe a lot of people in Chicago would like to see Illinois (as opposed to the other Big 10 game).”
Also, Penn State’s home games still are covered by the school’s CFA contract rather than the Big 10 TV deal, according to a Big 10 official. By ABC picking off the two best conference matchups, ESPN is stuck with the relatively insignificant Michigan-Minnesota game for its 11:30 a.m. Big 10 slot. Yipes.
– This could get interesting: Former Bears coach Mike Ditka interviews his successor, Dave Wannstedt, for “NFL Live” at 11:30 a.m. Sunday on WMAQ-Ch. 5.
– Chris Fowler interviews Northern Illinois running back LeShon Johnson on ESPN’s “College Football GameDay” at 10:30 a.m. Saturday.
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