McEnroe, Carillo Still Compete

John McEnroe and Mary Carillo grew up in the same neighborhood in Queens, N.Y., playing tennis against each other as kids.

As adults, they played mixed doubles together, and now CBS is reuniting them this weekend as commentators at the U.S. Open.

But this match is not love-love.

Two years ago, McEnroe, on a conference call with reporters, said women should not be announcing men’s tennis, and he singled out Carillo.

He also said men shouldn’t be announcing women’s tennis because, among other things, they didn’t understand about particular times of the month.

McEnroe was on another conference call the other day. But this time, Carillo was also on the call. So was Martina Navratilova, who is also working for CBS on the Open.

McEnroe, asked about his comments two years ago, said, “What I said was no big deal. I think this whole thing has been twisted in a wicked way. It has been perpetuated by the press. I think the things I said were taken out of context, just like hundreds of other things I’ve said.”

As for his relationship with Carillo, McEnroe said, “It’s disappointing. Our long history has been marred by this. For that, I apologize. I’ll take my share of the blame, if Mary will take some of the responsibility. I feel bad.”

Carillo initially called it all “an honest disagreement,” but later, after McEnroe had left the conference call, said, “He said more than one comment. I don’t want to dredge it all up, but it was intentionally personal. If I thought a good talking-to would change things, I would do that. But I’m not sure we can clear the air by simply sitting down and talking.”

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McEnroe can’t seem to control what comes out of his mouth. While trying to make amends with Carillo, he said, “Let’s be blunt about it. Does Mary think she knows as much about men’s tennis as I do? I think I know more about men’s tennis than Mary does, and that’s the bottom line.”

Navratilova, realizing that the situation needed a little levity, said, “And I think I know more about women’s tennis than Mary, so let’s just get rid of Mary.”

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Football is in full swing. UCLA-Miami on ABC at 5 p.m., with Keith Jackson and Bob Griese, highlights the Saturday schedule, and Sunday there is a full slate of NFL games, including a Fox doubleheader.

Channel 11 asked viewers to vote on the first game, San Francisco at New Orleans or the St. Louis Rams at Green Bay. The 49er game was a landslide winner, 69% to 31%, with 3,575 viewers voting via a 900 number at 79 cents a call.

The voting was a one-time deal, with the proceeds going to a youth center in Compton.

Pat Summerall and John Madden will be the announcers on the 49er-Saint game, with the second game, Minnesota at Chicago, being handled by Joe Buck and Tim Green.

The NBC game at 1 p.m. is San Diego at Oakland, with Dan Hicks and Randy Cross.

Charlie Jones is Cross’ regular partner, but Jones has the weekend off because his wife, Ann, has just returned home from an eight-day hospital stay because of a bleeding ulcer.

Buffalo-Denver on TNT at 5 p.m. wraps up the day, with Verne Lundquist and Pat Haden announcing.

The Monday night game has Dallas at the New York Giants.

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Radio talk: Night-time talk-show host Scott Ferrall of San Francisco’s KNBR, who lives in the Los Angeles area and does his outrageous “Ferrall on the Bench” show from a Culver City studio, has been picked up by XTRA (690) and about 50 other stations across the country, including New York’s WFAN.

Ferrall did a special show for XTRA on Thursday night and will do another tonight. His syndicated show begins its regular run next Tuesday, 8-11 p.m. The first two hours will be live, meaning he can take calls from XTRA listeners, with the third hour on tape.

To make room for Ferrall’s show, XTRA has pushed Rick Schwartz back to 11 p.m.-2 a.m., replacing the “Pete Rose Show.”

“It’s no reflection on Rick,” said program director Howard Freedman. “His ratings have been great. He’s in the top five in men in San Diego, and his L.A. ratings have tripled in the last year.

“It’s just we wanted to find a way to get Farrell’s popular show in the mix and still keep Rick.”

Schwartz, however, is off UCLA broadcasts. UCLA sought to go back to a two-announcer format, with Chris Roberts and David Norrie.

XTRA’s Steve Hartman will do Bruin talk for two hours before game broadcasts and one hour afterward.

UCLA game broadcasts will also be carried by KLAC, at least until XTRA beefs up its power. The San Diego-based station recently dropped its KWNK (670) signal.

TV-Radio Notes

NBC’s “NFL Live” Sunday will be a special one-hour show at 9 a.m., with Joe Montana making his debut. This will be one of his periodic appearances. The next one will be Sept. 17. . . . Fox will counter with Homer and Bart Simpson. They’ll be in the animated opening. One thing for sure, Fox won’t be able to top what it did to open its first show last year, when Terry Bradshaw rode in on a horse. Players featured on the Fox show will be Jerry Rice and Ricky Watters.

ESPN’s “GameDay” will be getting a 15-minute jump on its competition, with an 8:45 a.m. starting time this season. . . . Channel 11 at 8:30 a.m. on Sundays throughout the season will show “NFL Films Presents,” formerly “This Is the NFL.” . . . TNT, fortunately, has changed its thinking and will use a score-all-the-time graphic similar to the ones used by Fox and ESPN. TNT was originally planning to show only the time remaining without the score. . . . ESPN has expanded its late edition of SportsCenter to one hour. It now begins at 11 p.m.

Cal Ripken Jr.’s record-breaking 2,131st game next Wednesday against the Angels will be televised by ESPN, and Ripken will be the focus of ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” show Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. . . . Baseball on the Internet? It’s happening for the first time Tuesday and Wednesday with broadcasts of Seattle Mariner-New York Yankee games. . . . Carlos Del Valle, the new No. 2 sportscaster at Channel 4 who came from a Seattle station, will probably do fine once he gets settled in. But the other night he twice called Fred Claire LeClair . . . . Mike Tyson’s fight against Peter McNeeley will gross more than $96 million worldwide, Showtime said, including a U.S. record $63 million for pay-per-view television.