Fox, CBS Score With Close Games

By Michael Hiestand

If the TV networks could fix NFL playoff games — as far as we know, they can’t — they still couldn’t have improved much what they got out of the weekend.

Each lucked out with tight games Sunday — and prospects for blockbusters next Sunday. CBS studio analyst Dan Marino declared both New England and San Diego “played real sloppy” in what game analyst Phil Simms called “a bitter, bitter defeat” for the Chargers.

But CBS has to be happy that it’s left with a battle of the league’s most famous quarterbacks: Tom Brady vs. Peyton Manning. Said CBS’ Jim Nantz, just after the Patriots sealed Sunday’s win: “We’re going to have another New England-Indianapolis showdown!”

And Fox has to be happy the big-market, brand-name Chicago Bears will be back next Sunday, especially given that unpredictable Bears quarterback Rex Grossman gives everybody something to talk about. Before the Bears’ win against Seattle Sunday, Fox’s Jimmy Johnson predicted he’d “play fine.”

After the win, Fox’s Terry Bradshaw announced “he’s exorcised all those demons, and he’ll be hot next week.” Johnson said Grossman “isn’t out of the woods yet.”

CBS, given the four teams remaining, looks like it will get an attractive Super Bowl. But Saturday’s playoff ratings, while solid, weren’t surprisingly strong:

*New Orleans might be America’s team, but the Saints didn’t automatically translate into boffo box office Saturday. Fox drew a 17.4 overnight rating for the Saints’ win vs. Philadelphia, which translates to 17.4% of TV households in urban markets — down 4% from CBS’ New England-Denver in the time slot last year.

*CBS’ Indianapolis-Baltimore game Saturday afternoon drew a 17.6 overnight, up 1% from Fox’s Washington-Seattle game in the time slot last year.

Spice rack: For all the psychoanalysis of Chicago’s Grossman, Fox’s Bradshaw went further in offering a prescription for San Diego quarterback Philip Rivers on Sunday: “Put him on a little Ritalin to slow him down.” Oyyy. … Fox analyst Daryl Johnston, as NFL Punt, Pass & Kick winners were on the field in a break in the Eagles-Saints game, recalled competing at age 10 and staying at the same hotel as the Pittsburgh Steelers. Johnston recalled asking Bradshaw for an autograph, and the then-Steelers star’s concise reply: “Go away, young man.” … TNT’s Charles Barkley, saying he could outrun NBA ref Dick Bavetta, suggested an idea with TV potential: “I know I’m a has-been fat guy, but nobody in the world who’s 67 can beat me.” Could be a regular TNT feature.

Say what? Fox, famous for its plentiful crowd shots, focused at the Saints game on a female fan wearing a T-shirt with an epithet that was decidedly not made for TV. Not tasteful. … Nick Saban, who left the Miami Dolphins coaching job for Alabama, in a two-part ESPN interview that concludes today, recalls arriving at his new job: “I needed a hug.”

Gone: ESPN axed Stephen A. Smith’s Quite Frankly ratings-challenged talk show; the last one aired Friday. ESPN will continue to use Smith, who’s better on-air in small doses, for cameos on various shows such as SportsCenter.

Not-so-local TV: ESPN, which owns or is invested in 31 foreign networks, figures SportsCenter is exportable. Overseas, ESPN tries to make the show look and sound like the U.S. version — the variable being the sports covered. But with the sun already never setting on SportsCenter, ESPN will take the next step today: For the first time, an first overseas SportsCenter will be made in ESPN’s Connecticut home office.

It will be beamed to Australia and other Pacific islands to viewers so far away they’ll see Monday’s live debut show when it’s Tuesday for them. Anchor Ryan Phelan, fresh from Sydney, says his fellow Aussies will get favorite sports and accents: “If you tuned in, there would be no way to know it’s not local.”

So why not just stage the show Down Under? “The technology here is better,” he says. “And as far as the look of television goes, they’re so much sharper here.”

But is Phelan crazy? Named as Australia’s Bachelor of the Year by a popular magazine, he moved from midsummer in Sydney, with its 70 beaches, to rural Connecticut in midwinter.

But he says Americans love his accent — “all I have to do is open my mouth” — and likes both New York and Boston being just two-hour drives away: “If I went two hours in Australia, I’d be out in the bush, and it wouldn’t be that interesting.” (c) Copyright 2005 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.