As Yogi Berra, that noted TV critic, might say, “It’s deja vu all over again” for SportsChannel executive producer Mike Bogard.
For the second time in less than two months, Bogard is planning a two-hour special involving all the SportsChannel regional networks. And again, the special involves the words “work stoppage.”
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But unlike the baseball show Bogard put together Aug. 12, “Face-Off ’94: SportsChannel NHL Preview” at 7 p.m. Friday has a positive aspect. There will, Bogard says, be an National Hockey League season. It’s just a matter of when it starts.
“We’ll address (the lockout possibility), but we’re not going to turn it into a two-hour strike show,” says Bogard, who has brought together some of the top hockey broadcasters-such as Pat Foley, Mike Emrick and Jiggs McDonald. “I jokingly call them the Zealots of the Zamboni.”
“Face-Off ’94” will concentrate on the upcoming season, with reports from New York, Philadelphia, San Jose, Ohio, Florida and Chicago.
“We will still make it a hockey preview show,” says Bogard. “But we’re going to be live, so everybody will have an opinion if there is a lockout. We believe there’s going to be a season, that (a lockout) isn’t going to last forever.”
In addition, SportsChannel plans live coverage of the Hawks’ regular-season United Center opener at 7 p.m. Sunday. Jim Blaney hosts the half-hour “Next Ice Age: Blackhawks Opening Night” that will feature pregame activities, tours, interviews and the return of Wayne Messmer signing the national anthem.
“He told us he wasn’t sure he could make it through the whole anthem without breaking down,” says Bogard. “He’s anticipating an emotional moment.”
Like SportsChannel, ESPN has gone through this work stoppage business before. “We’ll do some minor-league hockey,” said an ESPN spokesman Thursday. Among the alternate games scheduled for ESPN2: Syracuse at Binghamton Saturday night and Houston at Denver Sunday night.
Pass the mustard: ESPN Enterprises, in conjunction with Walt Disney World, is planning a 13,000-square foot interactive, multimedia entertainment center and full-service restaurant for the Orlando resort’s “boardwalk” scheduled to open in 1996. In addition to having “Fenway Franks” and “Dodger Dogs,” the center “will encompass a state-of-the-art broadcast facility, sports bar and interactive arcade all under one roof,” said ESPN senior vice president Dick Glover. In other words, a Chuck E. Cheese for adults. . . . ESPN debuts an interactive trivia game show, “The Perfect Match,” at 5 p.m. Monday.
Killing time: Kudos to ESPN’s “SportsCenter” for a delightful feature by Steve Cyphers earlier this week on Duke students waiting 36 hours for basketball tickets. A classic example of using some creativity to fill the highlights void left by the baseball strike. SportsChannel Chicago, meanwhile, uses longer interviews to help fill “SportsChannel Report.” Says SportsChannel’s Bogard, “The `Report’ has become one of our franchises. I want it to respond to what’s going on. There’s not a conscious effort to avoid features. It’s just seeing what’s there and striking at the opportunity.”
Legal eagles: Liberty Satellite Sports, which owns distribution rights to 24 regional sports networks, has filed suit against six Chicago-area bars for theft of signal. “Each of the establishments has been profiting from the illegal showing of Liberty Satellite Sports programming without paying for the service,” says Paul Rettberg, attorney at the law firm of Querrey & Harrow Ltd. “Our objective is to recover the full amount of damages to which Liberty Satellite Sports is entitled, as well as deter the illegal use of the service in the future.”
Other stuff: NBC reports its AFC telecasts for the first month of the NFL season have surpassed the NFC telecasts in ratings for the first time in 15 years. The network, using Nielsen’s “fast nationals,” has averaged an 11.8 rating and a 28 share, up 22 percent from last September. Fox’s NFC ratings won’t be known until Friday, but it had an 11.1 average with a 28 share for the first three weeks and an 11.2 overnight for last Sunday.
Programming notes: In addition to the Notre Dame broadcasts, WMAQ-AM has four more college football games scheduled: Florida State-Miami Oct. 8, Wisconsin-Ohio State Nov. 5, Syracuse-West Virginia Nov. 24 and Florida State-Florida Nov. 26. . . . Without a World Series or NFL telecast conflict, ESPN has added a Sunday night college football telecast: Texas at Rice, Oct. 16. . . . A trip to Australia by the Bulls’ B.J. Armstrong and an ode to Chicago Stadium are among the features on “NBA Inside Stuff” at 11 a.m. Saturday on WMAQ-Ch. 5. . . . Indians outfielder Albert Belle tells Jim Rome on ESPN “SportsCenter” Sunday night that he believes the White Sox were involved in the recent corked-bat incident and that he should be MVP over Frank Thomas. . . . George Castle hosts a reunion of the 1984 NL East champion Cubs on “Chicago Baseball Review” at 10 a.m. Saturday on WCBR-FM. . . . And Chet Coppock gets another chance to show off his “Newsport Talk” cable show at 8 p.m. Sunday on SportsChannel.