Tiger Woods will be named Sports Illustrated's 1996
Sportsman of the Year this afternoon in Orlando, FL (ORLANDO
SENTINEL, 12/17). CNN/SI's Nick Charles also revealed the
Woods honor on "CNN/Sports Illustrated" last night.
Charles: "Woods burst onto the scene like a bomb in his
rookie season" ("CNN/SI," CNN, 12/16)....NEWSDAY's Steve
Zipay of NEWSDAY examined CNN/SI. Zipay notes due to its
limited carriage, "It's difficult to assess the value of
CNN/SI. Over the weekend the pace of the show seemed slow
and I longed for more highlights" (NEWSDAY, 12/17)....Zipay
also reports that MSG Network will produce 12-20 Knicks and
Rangers games starting in January on WBIS+ in New York and
up to 50 Yankees telecasts next season (NEWSDAY, 12/17).
...Saturday's Riddick Bowe-Andrew Golota fight has roughly
170,000 buys. Several operators mentioned the fact that
holiday parties and holiday budgets may have hurt the buys
for the fight (GOULD MEDIA SERVICES, 12/16). HBO Sports will
broadcast the Bowe-Golota rematch Thursday at 9:30pm ET
(HBO). In New York, Richard Sandomir called TVKO's
production of Bowe-Golota fight "typically first-rate" (N.Y.
TIMES, 12/17)....Wayne Hagin, the Rockies' radio play-by-
play broadcaster since '93, may be leaving the booth for the
Padres' TV booth as the Padres are expected to make Hagin an
offer (Colorado Springs GAZETTE TELEGRAPH, 12/17).
