What a difference a couple of weeks makes.
“Bears Sunday Live” on WFLD-Ch. 32 was much improved over its shaky opening Sept. 4. But the network’s “Fox NFL Sunday”-despite some wonderfully silly byplay with Terry Bradshaw and Packers Hall of Famer Ray Nitschke-seemed more sluggish with Jimmy Johnson seen only in a remote from his Tavernier, Fla., home.
And has game analyst Jerry Glanville ever tried Decaf?
Every bit as adventurous as it was the first week, the WFLD pre-pregame show clicked, even adding an ancient newsreel clip of Red Grange explaining why he turned pro, as part of the NFL’s “Throwbacks Weekend.”
“It’s a complicated show,” says “Bears Sunday” producer Rich Gentile. “We’re not where we want to be, but we’re getting there slowly but surely.”
(Also improving is “The New Mike Ditka Show” on Saturday nights on WFLD-Ch. 32. Where else would you find the ubiquitous Mike North arguing about the Bears’ offense with ex-QB Bob Avellini-in a gas station? Or Glanville telling Ditka: “I’ll miss you not being on the sidelines, but I can overcome it because (Fox pays) me a lot of money?” On Saturday’s show, Ditka saved most of his venom for Cardinals coach Buddy Ryan, whom he said has “a great affinity to lie.” Ditka ripped him again on Sunday’s “NFL Live” on NBC for leaving his team with “no offense.”)
As for the Fox pregame show, Johnson’s occasional disappearances have been planned before the season started-much to Bradshaw’s initial chagrin. Johnson admits it would be “much easier being on the set because I would have the chemistry of the people around me and the ability to interact. But I couldn’t see myself traveling almost every day. It would have taken a toll on me trying to go into the studio every week. I’ll just have to work that much harder when I am on camera to get that chemistry.”
Glanville was something else, hardly giving play-by-play man Kevin Harlan any air time on the Vikings-Bears telecast. How many times did Glanville spout, “Welcome to the Black and Blue Division”? Or “r.p.m.’s on the ball”? Glanville even took time to blame the Rolling Stones for causing Soldier Field to be resodded. It’s no wonder that at one point Harlan referred to the Bears’ QB as “Tommy” Kramer. With a little luck, some hapless owner soon will resurrect Glanville’s coaching career.
Despite Glanville’s act, however, it was a better overall performance by the Fox Sports guys than opening week.
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Bang the drum, slowly: Brian Bedol, CEO of the planned Classic Sports Network, has been trying to drum up business lately for his nostalgic offering that plans on a late-’94 launch, including a free offering this month on some cable systems.
Bedol said the network already has nearly all the rights to film and videotape it needs, as well as signing up Olympic filmmaker Bud Greenspan to produce programming.
“The research we’re getting back is off the charts,” Bedol said. “Forty-three percent said Classic Sports Network is something they’d watch regularly; 52 percent said it was something they’d watch with their kids.”
Now comes the hard part-persuading cable operators to add Classic Sports. “No cable operator felt like adding MTV when it started,” said Bedol, who plans a marketing blitz later this year. “It was consumer demand. It’s up to us to show (the operators) people want this service.”
Trendy Bucks: Jim Irwin, the likable radio voice of the Milwaukee Bucks the last 15 years, has been replaced by CBS Radio veteran Howard David. According to John Steinmiller, the Bucks’ vice president of business operations, the change was made because “we have decided to join the growing number of NBA teams who employ their own play-by-play talent.”
In addition to calling the games, David, a former New Jersey Nets announcer, will appear in Bucks promotion and marketing campaigns.
Irwin, who is employed by WTMJ-AM, was praised by Steinmiller. But where Irwin once had a full slate of Wisconsin football, the Bucks and Green Bay Packers games, he now is left with the Packers and the occasional radio sports report. A shame.
Strike out: Even though the baseball season has officially been canceled, there are no plans to move two October Thursday night NFL games to Sunday night, according to a TNT spokesman. The Browns-Oilers contest Oct. 13 and the Packers-Vikings game Oct. 20 originally were scheduled to avoid possible conflicts with Sunday night World Series telecasts.
Personnel moves: Jon Miller, vice president of program planning and development at NBC Sports, has been named senior vice president of sports programming. Also, Gary Zenkel has been promoted to vice president and executive assistant to NBC Sports President Dick Ebersol.
Other stuff: SportsChannel will carry 20 Wolves games, including nine home contests, starting Oct. 16 against Minnesota. While it’s not the Blackhawks, a home hockey telecast is still a home hockey telecast these days. Some of the Wolves games, however, will be on tape delay. … The Bears’ video yearbook, “A Season to Build On,” produced by NFL Films and distrubuted by PolyGram Video, is available at $14.95.
Random thoughts: Now that NBC is using its signature chimes to signal its NFL scoreboard ticker, how soon before Fox begins using its signature movie fanfare? … Is the Presidents Cup over yet?