TV MONITOR: Last night's 11:00pm ET edition of CNN/SI's
"Sports Tonight" led with a possible trade between the Heat
and 76ers, followed by 76ers-Hornets. The first non-NBA
story, at 4:33 into the broadcast, was Vikings WR Randy Moss
being fined for spraying a referee with water during last
week's playoff game against the Rams. The 10:00pm ET
edition of FSN's "Fox Sports News" led with an update on
Michael Jordan, followed by 76ers-Hornets. The first non-
NBA story, at 2:29, was the MI State Univ.-OH State Univ.
basketball game. The 11:00pm ET edition of ESPN's
"SportsCenter" led with a Univ. of AZ-UCLA basketball game
update, followed by MSU-OSU. The first non-college
basketball story, at 3:10, was Sonics-Bucks (THE DAILY).
BILL OF WEB RIGHTS: USA TODAY's Michael Hiestand wrote
that former ESPN investor Bill Rasmussen has launched
Chicago-based Internet startup Sportsathome.com, which is
devoted to sports-themed games. Hiestand noted that the
site's promotional tag line, "All Games, All Sports,
Always!" is similar to ESPN's original slogan of "All
Sports, All The Time." Hiestand added that Rasmussen "plans
to air" six national TV games annually, "even if he has to
buy the time, to decide online contests." Each show "will
guarantee" paying one winner $1.25M. Rasmussen, who sold
his interest in ESPN in '84, said he received "lots of zeros
on the check" (USA TODAY, 1/20).
HAS PAT LOST HIS TOUCH? In Baltimore, Milton Kent
writes on criticism directed at Fox NFL announcer Pat
Summerall, who "made some noticeable mistakes" during last
weekend's games." Fox analyst John Madden, on the
criticism: "I don't like it. ... When you go out and you do
live TV for three hours, everyone is going to make mistakes.
... After it's all over, it's easy to talk, but when you're
doing it, it's difficult." More Madden, on how Summerall is
dealing with the criticism: "He won't bring it up. He won't
say a word about [the criticism]" (SUN, 1/21). In N.Y., Bob
Raissman: "Those who now are pointing fingers at Summerall
are holding him to a different standard than any announcer
working behind a mike in any sport" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 1/21).
FROM THE WEB: On CNNfn's "Entrepreneurs Only," Tony
Guida spoke with Sandbox.com's President & CEO Larry Cotter,
who explained Sandbox.com has "a portfolio right now of
about fifty different type of (fantasy) sports games. ...
The games are there to get people to come and basically
build a database of members so we can market products and
services to them. ... We've focused our time and attention
on direct marketing. ... One of the things we do is actively
obtain information" on members (CNNfn, 1/20).
NOTES: TENNIS' Larry Jeziak wrote that HBO's decision
"not to renew" its TV deal with Wimbledon "had nothing to do
with either ratings or money." HBO's "only explanation was
that they wanted to do new things." Jeziak noted that the
All England Club "accepted" HBO's $8M bid in '94, even
though they "had been significantly outbid" by Fox (TENNIS,
1/20)....In Toronto, William Houston reports that ABC Sports
has "plans" to include announcer Al Michaels as a studio
host for the Stanley Cup playoffs (GLOBE & MAIL, 1/21).
