Sunday, September 12, 1999
SPORTS ON TV-RADIO
Kozerski ready for brief stay in booth
BY JOHN FAY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Bruce Kozerski said he won't be like Dave Lapham.
“I won't even attempt to be,” Kozerski said. “Dave's been in the booth for 17 or 18 years. You reach a comfortable level after all that time. I can only hope that I get to be that good.”
Kozerski makes his debut in the Bengals' radio booth today when the Bengals play at Tennessee at 1 p.m. (WBOB-AM 1160, WUBE-FM 105.1).
Kozerski, the former Bengal, is subbing for Lapham, the regular analyst. Lapham is working the Detroit-Seattle game for Fox television. He'll also miss Carolina at Washington Oct.3.
Kozerski has been the sideline reporter on Bengals games since 1997, so he was the logical choice to replace Lapham. (WBOB will do without a sideline reporter today).
Kozerski said the sideline job was good preparation for the job in the booth, but they are completely different.
“On the sidelines, I would focus on the pregame and try to give a general idea of feeling on the field,” Kozerski said. “Then I'd try to update on injuries and how momentum was changing and things like that.”
Kozerski will take a different approach today.
“I'm not going to tell what happened,” he said. “That's (play-by-play man) Pete Arbogast's job. I'll try to tell why it happened — who had the big block on a Corey Dillon run, or who missed the block; why the safety didn't get over and make a tackle ...”
Kozerski has prepared for his new assignment by watching tape of the Titans and talking to coaches.
“I'll continue to do that up until game time,” he said. “Injuries can affect what a team is going to do.”
Kozerski has not called a game off a tape. TV announcers sometimes do that to prepare.
“Calling it off a monitor, you don't have all the angles,” Kozerski said. “You can't see 100 percent of the field. In radio, you get one chance to call it in the eight to 10 seconds after the play.”
Kozerski goes into the new assignment confidently.
“I know football,” he said, “and I know this football team.”
Kozerski would be interested in moving in the booth full time. Lapham's two-game stint with Fox could lead to a full-time gig next year.
“That decision would be based on my performance,” Kozerski said. “I think it's a natural progression from what I've been doing.”
ON THE BENGALS: Don Criqui and Steve Tasker will call the Bengals game on CBS (Ch.12, 7) today.
Criqui and Tasker are listed fifth on the CBS announcer depth chart.
FOX ENTERS FRAY: Fox Sports Net, which tries to have everything ESPN has, debuts NFL This Morning at 11a.m. today.
The show will go head-to-head with ESPN's NFL Countdown.
Chris Myers, the former ESPNer, will host. Jackie Slater and Marv Levy are the analysts.
Chris Spielman, the recently retired Brown, will be a guest analyst this week. If Fox can sign Spielman full time, it may pull some viewers from ESPN.
BROWNS RADIO: HOMER (1360 AM) will carry as many Cleveland Browns games as it can. The station definitely is carrying tonight's game with Pittsburgh.
“The lawyers are checking to see what we can and can't do,” assistant program director Tom Lueggers said.
Basically, HOMER can't carry games when Bengals games are going on.
BIG GAP: Fox Sports Net Ohio will go seven days between Reds broadcasts. The next Reds game on FSNO isn't until Tuesday.
That's not good during a pennant race.
John Fay covers radio/TV sports for The Enquirer. He can be reached at 768-8445.
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