Johnson to Try a Track and TV Double

Michael Johnson, who pulled off a unique double at the Olympics last year, winning both the 200- and 400-meter races, will be involved in another interesting double at the World Track and Field Championships in Athens.

He’ll be running in the 400 and also working as a commentator.

Johnson, who missed the U.S. trials leading up to the world championships because of a leg injury suffered in his 150-meter showdown with Donovan Bailey, was given a wild-card spot in the 400 but becomes available for television work after the 400-meter final Tuesday.

The world championships begin today with the opening ceremony. NBC begins its 10 hours of coverage over the next two weekends Saturday at 11 a.m., and TBS will provide Monday-through-Friday coverage next week, 9:30-11:30 p.m.

BASEBALL ACCORD

A settlement was reached Thursday that will keep Atlanta Brave telecasts on TBS.

TBS, a national superstation, will become a national cable network Jan. 1 so that it can get subscriber fees from cable operators, a move that angered ESPN and Fox. They own exclusive national cable rights to major league baseball and objected to TBS continuing to carry the Braves as a cable network.

Reaching an accord wasn’t easy. One factor was that major league baseball offered ESPN a two-year contract extension. Maybe more important, Time Warner cable systems agreed to begin carrying the Fox News Channel. TBS is part of Time Warner, which has been at war with Fox.

As part of the settlement, TBS will cut the number of Brave telecasts from 125 to 90. . . .

Baseball’s Hall of Fame inductions, featuring Tom Lasorda, will be held Sunday at 8:30 a.m. PDT and shown by ESPN2 at 3 p.m. and ESPN at 9:30 p.m. ESPN is showing the event on tape-delay so it can be edited into a one-hour show. . . . The Cubs’ Scott Servais will wear Fox’s “catcher cam” during Saturday’s game against the Dodgers.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL GALORE

Fox Sports West and Fox Sports West 2 announced a 58-game college football schedule Thursday. “The two channels allow us to televise even more college football than we have in the past,” Fox Sports West General Manager Kitty Cohen said.

Although most UCLA and USC games will be tape-delayed on one or the other, a few will be shown live only on Fox Sports West 2. One is already set--Nevada Las Vegas at USC at 7 p.m. on Oct. 4. . . .

Tom Ramsey, former UCLA announcer for Fox Sports West, has been named to replace Danny White on the Pacific 10 package televised nationally on Fox Sports Net, which includes Fox Sports West. Ramsey will be paired with Barry Thompkins. . . .

David Norrie will work Fox Sports West’s UCLA telecasts with Bill Macdonald when he’s available, but Norrie also does a separate Pac-10 syndicated package with Steve Physioc. . . . Tom Kelly and Craig Fertig return as Fox Sports West’s USC announcers. . . .

Former UCLA basketball star Roy Hamilton, longtime CBS producer, will serve as a coordinating producer of Pac-10 telecasts on Fox Sports Net. The highly respected Hamilton left CBS after it lost the NFL and has been working as a free-lancer since.

FILLING THE VOID

Los Angeles may be without an NFL team, but Fox Sports West will televise all four of the Charger exhibition games, beginning with Saturday’s game against the San Francisco 49ers. And Channel 9 will televise three Raider exhibition games, beginning Saturday, Aug. 8, when Green Bay visits Oakland. The Raiders’ game this Sunday at Dallas will be on TNT. . . . Terry Donahue returns as Fox Sports West’s Charger commentator. He will do Saturday’s game with Macdonald, then one game with Charlie Jones and two with Dan Fouts.

SHORT WAVES

The Fox network and the Fox Sports Net cable network are teaming to televise this weekend’s Challenge tennis event featuring Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, Bjorn Borg and Yannick Noah. The Fox Sports Net will televise the first day of the three-day event today; Fox will handle the weekend coverage. The Challenge is a Jack Nicklaus Productions event. . . . Volleyball may have provided Paul Sunderland with an entry into broadcasting, but these days he is one of the busiest men in the business and does many sports. He and Pam Shriver will be working the Toshiba Tennis Classic at La Costa this weekend for Fox Sports Net.

Radio beat: XTRA 1150 will be broadcasting from the Hollywood Sports Grill at Universal City Walk from noon through midnight. . . . XTRA’s Joe McDonnell had the Rams’ Lawrence Phillips as a guest this week, and Phillips indicated he is trying to put his personal problems behind him. . . . XTRA’s new midday baseball show (11 a.m.-noon) with Ben Mahler and Jeff Biggs got off to a good start this week. . . . XTRA’s Sports Gods, Dave Smith and Joey Haim, make a good point when they say that Jerry West may deserve credit for the success of the Lakers but so does former GM and president Bill Sharman, particularly for the championship seasons of the ‘80s.

Boxing beat: HBO has another attractive fight card Saturday, this one featuring Philip Holiday against Shane Mosley. It will be shown, delayed, at 11 p.m. Roy Jones Jr., who will meet Montell Griffin on TVKO pay-per-view Thursday, will serve as a commentator. . . . For fans of women’s boxing, promoter Rick Kulis presents a pay-per-view $14.95 card from Biloxi, Miss., Saturday night at 6. This show is available on cable and satellite television. . . . More evidence that Larry Holmes and George Foreman eventually will get together is that Holmes’ victory over Maurice Harris on Tuesday night got a 2.6 rating on USA, its highest boxing rating in more than a year.

Mary Murphy, recently fired as coach of the WNBA Sacramento Monarchs, will be interviewed by Maura Driscoll at halftime during tonight’s Lifetime telecast of the Sparks’ game against the Houston Comets at the Forum. . . . The Game Show Network will do a salute to baseball managers on “Wide World of Games” this weekend. The show, which airs Saturday at 7 p.m. and again Sunday at 5 p.m., offers Leo Durocher and Casey Stengel on “What’s My Line” and Tony La Russa on “To Tell the Truth.”

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What Los Angeles Is Watching A sampling of L.A. Nielsen ratings for sports programs July 26-27.

SATURDAY

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Event Ch. Rating Share Pro football: Hall of Fame game 7 5.1 15 Boxing: Hector Lopez vs. Mark Lewis 9 4.5 8 Baseball: Seattle at New York Yankees 11 3.5 10 Beach volleyball: U.S. Championships 4 2.9 9 Golf: British Senior Open 7 2.4 7 Golf: Greater Hartford Open 2 1.8 5 Women’s basketball: Cleveland at Utah 4 1.5 4 Auto racing: NASCAR Busch Grand National 2 1.2 4

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SUNDAY

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Event Ch. Rating Share Pro football: Chicago vs. Pittsburgh 11 5.3 14 Baseball: Angels at Boston 9 3.4 9 Golf: Greater Hartford Open 2 3.0 8 Soccer: Galaxy at Colorado 34 2.4 6 Beach volleyball: U.S. Championships 4 2.3 6 Golf: British Senior Open 7 2.2 6 Beach volleyball: Women’s team tournament 2 2.0 5 Auto racing: CART U.S. 500 7 1.4 4

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Note: Each rating point represents 49,424 L.A. households.