TV MONITOR: The 11:00pm edition of "Fox Sports News"
(Fox Sports South) led with Payne Stewart's victory at the
U.S. Open, followed by Ramon Martinez's progress in joining
the Red Sox next month that was the lead to the Rangers-Red
Sox. CNN/SI's "Sports Tonight" led with the U.S Open,
followed by a Braves-D'Backs update. ESPN's "SportsCenter,"
which aired at 12:00am due to the Mariners-Indians game, led
with the U.S. Open, followed by Rangers-Red Sox (THE DAILY).
OPEN BOOK AT PINEHURST: NBC's coverage of the final
round of the U.S. Open yesterday earned a 7.9/20 overnight
Nielsen rating, up 18% from last year's 6.7/17. Saturday's
coverage earned a 5.3/15. For more ratings, see (#26). In
Charlotte, Langston Wertz writes that NBC "didn't get in the
way of the drama" yesterday, as it "did nearly everything
right" in presenting Payne Stewart's thrilling win
(CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 6/21). In Atlanta, Prentis Rogers
writes that NBC analyst Johnny Miller "was again a masterful
mixture of the technician," while Dan Hicks and Gary Koch
"were snappy and insightful." Course reporters Roger
Maltbie, Mark Rolfing and John Schroeder "were generally
dead-on in their assessments of upcoming shots" (ATLANTA
CONSTITUTION, 6/21). But in Toronto, Rob Longley writes
that NBC was "solid through most of the weekend," but
"unnecessarily laid it on thick down the stretch when the
action was conveying the emotion just fine" (TORONTO SUN,
6/21). USA TODAY's Rudy Martzke notes that NBC went 33
minutes "without a commercial break Saturday and another
half-hour Sunday to give un-interrupted closing hole
coverage" (USA TODAY, 6/21).
A SLAP TO THE FACE OF OLBERMANN: TBS commentator Skip
Caray, following Astros CF Carl Everett hitting a double off
the left field wall at the Astrodome and the Fox Sports News
ad featuring Keith Olbermann: "Carl Everett just did
something a lot of people in sports have wanted to do for a
long time. He hit Keith Olbermann in the face with a line
drive" (Mult., 6/20). Olbermann noted the hit last night:
"Carl wins a free suit" ("FSN Primetime," FSN, 6/20).
NAMES & FACES: Bills QB Doug Flutie has signed a one-
year deal with WGRF-FM in Buffalo to appear twice a week on
a call-in show during the '99 NFL season. The deal is
"supposedly worth as much as $60,000" and includes options
if the Bills appear in the playoffs (BOSTON GLOBE,
6/20)....In Boston, Howard Manly reviewed ESPN's upcoming
"Outside the Lines" special, which airs tonight and includes
a piece which examines the "tension between athletes and
non-athletes" in high school and wrote that it is "a good
program" (BOSTON GLOBE, 6/20)...In Charlotte, David Poole
wrote that the "courtship between NASCAR and potential
television partners has begun," as NBC execs "spent three
hours taking laps in some driving school cars" at Lowe's
Motor Speedway last Monday, before dining at the Speedway
Club (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 6/19).
