TV MONITOR: Last night's 10:00pm ET 60-minute edition
of FSN's "The National Sports Report" led with the Mets
placing OF Rickey Henderson on waivers, followed by Devil
Rays-Yankees. The first non-MLB report on "TNSR," at 8:14
into the broadcast, was Lakers C Shaquille O'Neal being
named the NBA's MVP. "TNSR" had 14:21 of NBA coverage and
3:28 of NHL coverage, and the first NHL report, at 12:44,
was Flyers-Penguins. Last night's 11:00pm ET 30-minute
edition of CNN/SI's "Sports Tonight" led with Knicks-Heat,
followed by Jazz-Blazers. The first non-NBA report, at
5:17, was Flyers-Penguins. "Sports Tonight" had 4:10 of NBA
coverage and 2:34 of NHL coverage. Last night's 11:00pm ET
60-minute edition of ESPN's "SportsCenter" led with Knicks-
Heat, followed by Flyers-Penguins. "SportsCenter" had 13:04
of NBA coverage and 5:24 of NHL coverage (THE DAILY).
NAMES: Turner Sports announced that Jim Courier will
team with veteran play-by-play announcer Barry McKay for the
network's 2000 Wimbledon coverage. Turner Tennis Producer
Howard Zalkowitz, on Courier: "If he works half as hard in
TV as he did in tennis, he's going to be tremendous"
(HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, 5/10)....HBO officially announced that
Dan Marino has joined its "Inside the NFL" show. Marino:
"It's a good fit in my life. ... I watched the show,
although I wouldn't say regularly." Marino says that he
will have "no problem being critical": "I've always been
pretty candid, and there are circumstances when you have to
be" (MIAMI HERALD, 5/10)....N.Y. Post columnist Michael
Shain, on speculation that Ted Turner is interested in
acquiring NBC: "It is true he did tell his [CNN] bureau
chiefs he'd like to buy NBC. How serious he is, only Mr.
Turner can tell us" ("Biz Buzz," CNNfn, 5/9).
NOTES: In Atlanta, Prentis Rogers writes that PGA Tour
Radio has "avoided the embarrassment of being able to secure
affiliates in 250 cities outside of Atlanta but none in its
home market" after reaching a deal with WGKA-AM (ATLANTA
CONSTITUTION, 5/10)....The Univ. of Southern CA and the
Univ. of MD have extended their agreements with the FANSonly
Network for the exclusive rights to publish their official
athletic Web sites, located at www.usctrojans.com and
www.umterps.com, respectively (FANSonly)....The N.Y. POST's
"Page Six" reports that the cover story for the premiere
issue of News Corp.'s Maximum Golf features "The Rocky
Horror Golf Show," written by Sylvester Stallone's golf pro,
Ron Del Barrio. But Del Barrio's article is facing
controversy because it was written "without telling Sly
first." Del Barrio: "I wrote the piece because I know Sly
can take a joke." But Stallone's attorney Marty Singer
said, "As far as we're concerned, this article is clearly
defamatory" (N.Y. POST, 5/10).
