COMMENTARY : Noise Rule to Go When It Costs TV Ad Money

The TV repairman:

Tell you what’s going to kill that nonsensical anti-noise rule in the NFL. When the networks notice that the home team has lost all its timeouts and they can’t slip in commercial after commercial during the usually protracted last two minutes of a half and at the end of a game, wham, it’s gone.

No doubt Baltimoreans have long since given up on the “Dream Season” being run Sunday evenings on ESPN. The beloved Colt squad of ’59 carries a record of 0-2. They play the ’51 Rams this week. Watch out for Tom Fears and Elroy Hirsch deep!

One of the nifty things about ESPN sending along 175 baseball games next season is the cable will do at least one game from each of the 26 big-league parks.

Even though George Foreman hand-picked the opposition during his five-fight deal with USA Network, his bouts provided a 3.3 rating, far above the norm for sports on the cable. Just think if some of the opponents had been completely alive.

Of course baseball managers come out of the dugout more when the games are on the telly. As for why, maybe the main reason is to avoid all the spit flying around in the dugout.

Georgia Tech hasn’t come up with a corporate sponsor for the Maryland game in Atlanta on Oct. 7. Maybe after the Terps finish playing Clemson and Michigan on the road, Blue Cross-Blue Shield will be interested.

Soviet hockey star Viacheslav Fetisov, now playing defense for the New Jersey Devils, says watching American TV is helping him to learn English. See, the Morton Downey Show was good for something.

USA Network began its coverage of the Ryder Cup matches from England Friday and has shows Saturday and today.

The U.S. team -- Tom Kite, Payne Stewart, Tom Watson, Mark Calcavecchia, Fred Couples, Curtis Strange -- would seem to suggest it will be a cakewalk for the Yanks over the European squad, but remember it’s match play and there’s very little of that here.

A good matchup on Battle of the Network Stars might be pitting the egos of Brent Musburger (CBS) and Bill Walsh (NBC). The ex-49er coach very humbly pointed out the offense he developed in San Francisco “may even become an art form some day” while, during a pre-game show, Musburger said to a guest, “Are you available if I can get you elected (NFL) commissioner?”

SportsChannel will send along 72 NHL games between opening night Oct. 5 and the first of the year, including all games involving Wayne Gretzky. Fortunately, no King practices are included.

As the rain pelted down during the Notre Dame-Michigan game, ABC analyst Bob Griese said, “Coaches have to motivate their players more in the rain.” He then fell silent leaving us to ponder. And ponder. For days. I still haven’t come close to a reason.