Sunday, October 24, 1999
SPORTS ON TV-RADIO
A little goofiness does a lot of good
BY JOHN FAY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
To have a top-flight pregame show, you need your goofy guy. If you overlook the goofy factor, the show falls flat.
That's why Fox's NFL show is the best — off-the-chart goofy factor. Terry Bradshaw owes his career to goofiness and is proud of it.
It's the all-important goofy factor that makes ESPN's College GameDay work. Lee Corso takes care of that. Love him or hate him — and it's a close split — Corso gets your attention.
GameDay is full of nice features and thoughtful commentary by Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit.
But Corso steals the show with his props and his goofy lead-ins.
Saturday, he put on the Longhorns mascot head after picking Texas over Nebraska in a disagreement with Herbstreit.
When Herbstreit took Alabama to beat Tennessee, Corso countered with a butchered version of Rocky Top to lead into his pick.
A lot of Corso's gags are so bad you have to laugh at them. He often struggles to get his commentary across; he has to glance at his notes to check names. But he's a little like Dick Vitale: You can tell he loves the game and he's having fun.
Herbstreit is the perfect foil. They almost always disagree on games and love to tweak each other. Herbstreit and Fowler both correct Corso when he gets off track too much.
Herbstreit is as smooth as Corso is rough. Flawless delivery on GameDay is rough because GameDay is on location — it was in Austin Saturday for Texas-Nebraska — with several thousand screaming fans just behind the set.
The show gives you a great feel for what's going on that day around the country. They hit all the big games, going live from the biggest. The feature on the Bowden Bowl Saturday was a highlight.
But without the goofy factor, thanks to Corso, it would have been just another pregame show.
RADIO DAYS: If you thought that all three all-sports stations in town would survive the Clear Channel-AMFM merger, check the recent Arbitron ratings. WBOB (1160 AM) was tied for 19th at 0.7, HOMER (WCKY, 1360 AM) was 22nd at 0.5, and BOB2 (WUBE, 1230 AM) wasn't even among the 32 stations that registered.
Both BOB and HOMER earned a 0.8 the last rating period.
The guess here is one all-sports station will be among the eight stations in the area that Clear Channel keeps, and it will be some combination of BOB and HOMER. The problem for Clear Channel will be squeezing all the games onto whatever stations it keeps. Assuming it keeps the Bengals, the company will carry Reds, Bengals, UC, XU, Cyclones and Miami, plus all the coaches shows, plus the ESPN package.
PROPS TO HARVEY: Channel 12's Harvey Smilovitz was the only electronic media person to interview Reds manager Jack McKeon post-negotiations Friday.
The interview was excellent, covering all the points, even getting a bit of emotion out of McKeon.
SAY WHAT? Greg Hoard said on Friday night's sportscast on Channel 19 that someone called saying Ken Griffey Sr. was seen having dinner at the Maisonette with John Allen and Jim Bowden.
Hoard said the call may have come from a “prankster.” The prank worked. Griffey was still in Baltimore, where he interviewed for the Orioles job, which Hoard had reported earlier on the broadcast.
ON THE BENGALS: The CBS team of Ian Eagle and Mark May will call the Bengals game against the Indianapolis Colts today. Kickoff is 1p.m. on Channel 12.
SOMETHING DIFFERENT: Fox Sports Net will carry the Chicago Marathon today beginning at 8:30 a.m. Charlie Jones, Frank Shorter and Joan Benoit will call the race.
John Fay covers radio/TV sports for The Enquirer. He can be reached at 768-8445.
Sports Stories
Mistakes make winners of Yanks
Yankees 4, Braves 1
OHIO STATE 20, MINNESOTA 17
GEORGIA 49, KENTUCKY 34
Hanover 29, Mount St. Joseph 25
THOMAS MORE 28, MERCHANT MARINE 0
Redhawks dismiss low expectations
Reese can fill OSU void
Falk takes inside track to state tennis title
Hall fades to fourth in state golf
St. Ursula wins sectional volleyball title
A first: Kings wins cross country title
CINCINNATI OHIO HIGH SCHOOL RESULTS
Colerain girls blow away field for district title
Elder runners beat La Salle; St. X cruises
Fresh blood runs Bacon to victory
ND, Campbell Co. win regional volleyball titles
St. Xavier 50, Cle. St. Ignatius 33
Badin 28, Meadowdale 12
Bellevue 37, NewCath 23
CovCath 39, Scott 7
Indian Hill 28, Wyoming 14
Smith, Lorenzen happy to bide time on UK bench
 A little goofiness does a lot of good
Grand Rapids 2, Cyclones 1
ROCHESTER 4, MIGHTY DUCKS 1
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Rose, Bench on century stage
All-Century team voting
Gehrig top vote-getter on All-Century Team
McKeon deserves better but lacks leverage
Vaughn's agent: Market not set
Akili has new No. 1 motivation
Akili may lead, but will Bengals follow?
Colts have Bengals in a corner
Bengals-Colts by the numbers
Who's got the edge?
Players to watch
O'Donnell's success begs: Why not here?
Healthy Tate wants ring
SOUTHERN MISS 28, UC 20
Muskies court high school big men
