CBS Now Stands for a Confusing Baseball Schedule

When baseball announced that the playoffs and World Series would be on one network, CBS, one selling point was a less confusing schedule. Everything would be neat and orderly.

It hardly turned out that way. With CBS also trying to cover college and pro football on weekends, the baseball playoff schedule is disjointed and haphazard.

Game 1 of the National League series is next Thursday at 5 p.m., PDT, and Game 2 is Friday at noon.

That’s not so bad, but then they won’t play Game 3 until Monday, Oct. 8. Only the American League teams will play Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 6-7.

The following weekend, two games are scheduled on Saturday, Oct. 13--one at 9 a.m., the other at 5 p.m.

If there is a Game 7 in the American League series, it would be Sunday, Oct. 14, meaning it will have taken 11 days to play two best-of-seven series. Usually it takes nine days.

The playoffs were supposed to have started next Tuesday and finish by that second weekend, with the World Series set to start Oct. 13, but the lockout-caused delay in opening the season pushed the schedule back.

“The lockout caused the playoff schedule to be pushed back into all previously scheduled programming, not just football,” said CBS spokeswoman Susan Kerr. “You can’t say the National League has a two-day break just because of football. A new schedule had to be made, and all parties agreed to it.”

The World Series won’t begin until Oct. 16, and Game 7 (if necessary) is scheduled for Oct. 24. A few rainouts could extend the Series into November.

Maybe it’s not that big a deal now, but the Dodgers’ game in San Francisco Saturday will not be televised.

Channel 11, not allowed to compete against CBS on Saturday, is covering only Sunday’s game. Tonight’s game will be on ESPN.

The CBS game in Los Angeles Saturday: San Diego Padres at Cincinnati Reds. Most of the country will get the Toronto Blue Jays-Boston Red Sox game.

Radio talk: KMPC General Manager Bill Ward says that, contrary to some reports, “Sportsline” with Paul Olden will not be dropped after the baseball season.

And KABC General Manager George Green says that “Sportstalk” host Ed (Superfan) Bieler isn’t going anywhere. Maybe all the rumors of Bieler’s vocational demise have played in his favor, making Green determined to prove everybody wrong.

But there is still talk of XTRA’s Lee Hamilton coming to KABC after the football season. Hamilton is the voice of the San Diego Chargers.

Add KABC: The station has been through a lot of “Sportstalk” hosts, but one constant has been Eric Tracy.

During his nine years at KABC, he has worn a lot of hats but, like a baseball utilityman, he has never quite cracked the starting lineup.

“I feel I’m well known in the business, but not that well known by the general public,” Tracy said. “Maybe one of these years, they’ll give me a chance.”

Said Green: “Utilitymen are survivors. They avoid bullets and shotgun blasts. I know Eric would like to be a star, and maybe someday he’ll get his chance.

“He’s had a long run at this station, and the reason he has is because he’s the best all-around guy in radio I’ve ever seen. Every radio station needs someone like Eric Tracy.”

This week, Tracy has been filling in for vacationing Stu Nahan on KABC’s morning show.

Tracy and Scott St. James did a fill-in stint on “Sportstalk” not long ago, and it went well.

Speaking of St. James, it’s surprising that the respected and well-liked veteran sportscaster, who has worked in both radio and television, hasn’t popped up on any Los Angeles stations.

Longtime L.A. sports personality Bud Furillo is job hunting. He gave up his KFOX-FM show, believing he was in line for a job at XTRA.

Furillo’s KFOX partner, Steve Hartman, was hired. Furillo wasn’t. “I believe it was a case of age discrimination,” said Furillo, 65.

John Lynch, XTRA owner, said: “That’s ridiculous. I guess Bud wasn’t listening. We told Bud we still wanted to talk about using him in another time slot.”

Hartman and Brad Cesmat were hired for the noon-to-4 p.m. time slot, with Hartman to cover the L.A. area, Cesmat the San Diego area.

Rich Marotta, the Raider radio commentator on KFI who also works mornings at KRLA, has taken over Furillo’s afternoon show at KFOX-FM. Marotta lives in Redondo Beach, not far from that station.

A sports talk show sometimes overlooked is Gabe Kaplan’s “Sports Nuts” on KLAC weeknights at 5 p.m.

Kaplan is a bit mellow, especially compared to the outspoken Bieler, but he’s witty and he has good guests.

He also is improving as an interviewer. A session Kaplan had with agent Leigh Steinberg this week was particularly interesting.

Co-host Lisa Bowman left the show recently to spend more time with her 7-year-old son, Stephen, but will fill in for Kaplan when he’s on vacation.

Channel 5 has hired former Atlanta Hawk Coach Mike Fratello as its Clipper commentator this season.

Fratello, one of NBC’s two new NBA commentators (Steve Jones is the other), liked the idea of the Clipper job providing him with on-air experience.

Channel 5 will televise 25 Clipper games this season. The Clippers don’t switch to Channel 13 until the following season.

Still without a cable deal for this season, the Clippers have reopened negotiations with Prime Ticket and are also talking with SportsChannel.

TV-Radio Notes

Both USC and UCLA will be on television again Saturday. The Trojans’ game at Ohio State will be televised by ABC at 12:30 p.m., with Keith Jackson and Bob Griese reporting. And UCLA’s game at Washington State will be on ESPN at 8 p.m., with Steve Physioc and Neil Lomax reporting. It will be Lomax’s debut. . . . ESPN will televise Washington State again the following Saturday when the Cougars play USC at the Coliseum at 7:30 p.m.

Notre Dame will appear on SportsChannel live the next three Saturdays at 10 a.m.--against Purdue, Stanford and Air Force. Ted Robinson and Paul Hornung are the announcers. . . . Fresno State, winner of 22 of its last 23 games, will appear on SportsChannel five times in the next six weeks, including Saturday, when the Bulldogs play Cal State Fullerton at 7 p.m.

The pro football lineup Sunday: Dallas Cowboys vs. New York Giants on Channel 2 at 10 a.m., PDT; Cleveland Browns vs. Kansas City Chiefs at 1 p.m. on Channel 4, and Washington Redskins vs. Phoenix Cardinals on TNT at 5 p.m. . . . This is the NFL’s first bye weekend, with all four NFC West teams not playing. . . . TNT has a winning team in Skip Caray and Pat Haden. Caray’s succinct style is particularly appealing. . . . Ever notice that nobody complains about an announcer not talking enough? It’s always the other way around.

CBS took some criticism for its first “NFL Today” show of the season, but the more recent shows have been good. Host Greg Gumbel should work out fine. As quality goes, there’s really not much difference among “NFL Today,” NBC’s “NFL Live” and ESPN’s “GameDay.” The problem is that with all three going head-to-head, it forces viewers to do too much channel switching. But ESPN isn’t about to switch “GameDay” back to an earlier start, because ratings are up 28%. . . . CNN now has a half-hour Sunday NFL pregame show with Vince Cellini and Ken Stabler, and it is unopposed at 8:30 a.m. . . . The best football show on television may be HBO’s “Inside the NFL,” with Len Dawson, Nick Buoniconti and opinionated newcomer Cris Collinsworth. It’s on Wednesdays at 7 p.m., and repeats Thursdays at 8 a.m. and again at 11 p.m.

Recommended viewing: Prime Ticket offers a look at baseball in the Soviet Union in an excellent one-hour special, “Diamond Diplomacy,” Monday at 8:30 p.m. The show chronicles a tour of the Soviet Union by an all-star team from the double-A Eastern League. Steve Garvey is the host and co-producer of the show.