TV MONITOR: Last night's 2:00am ET, 60-minute edition
of FSN's "NSR" led with Duke Univ.-Stanford Univ. NCAA men's
basketball Pete Newell Challenge, followed by a "Your Call"
online poll asking, "Who's the greatest college basketball
coach?" The first non-NCAA men's basketball report, at 7:35
into the broadcast, was Celtics-Knicks. The first NFL
report, at 16:51, was a report on the Rae Carruth murder
trial. The first NHL report, at 22:44 was Penguins-
Lightning, followed by an interview by NHL HOFer Phil
Esposito with Penguins Owner/C Mario Lemieux about Lemieux's
comeback. "NSR" reported on Venus Williams' Reebok deal at
45:37. Last night's 1:00am ET 60-minute edition of ESPN's
"SportsCenter" led with Duke-Stanford, followed by Univ. IL-
Univ. MO. The first non-NCAA men's basketball report, at
7:57, was Lakers-Rockets. The first NFL report, at 13:14,
was an injury update on Saints RB Ricky Williams. The first
NHL report, at 15:21 was Kings-Avalanche. ESPN reported on
Williams at 44:21. Last night's 11:00pm ET, 30-minute
edition of CNN/SI's "Sports Tonight" led with Carruth. At
3:53 into the show, "Sports Tonight" reported on 76ers coach
Larry Brown's leave of absence, followed by a discussion on
the NBA with CNN/SI analyst Kevin Loughery. "Sports
Tonight" did not report on Williams (THE DAILY).
O SPORTY NITE: In St. Petersburg, Sharon Ginn notes the
new format for CNN/SI's "Sports Tonight" and writes that the
show's "atmosphere is casual and the dialogue mostly
unscripted. The format is still evolving," but CNN/SI
Managing Editor Steve Robinson said that "he felt the need
to stray from the typical sportscast." Host Fred Hickman
said, "They've finally let me out of my box. I love this
format; it's right up my alley. ... We've been doing the old
Sports Tonight for over 20 years. That was good. This is
better" (ST. PETERSBURG TIMES, 12/22).
MARIO CHRISTMAS: In L.A., Tom Hoffarth notes that
ESPN/ESPN2 will air the first five games in the comeback of
Penguins Owner Mario Lemieux, starting with Wednesday's game
against the Maple Leafs at Mellon Arena (L.A. DAILY NEWS,
12/22). In Pittsburgh, Joe Starkey writes that Maple Leafs-
Penguins will begin at 7:30pm ET "to accommodate" ESPN.
Penguins VP/Marketing & Communications Tom McMillan said
that the team "has been inundated with credential requests"
for the game, including one from The Christian Science
Monitor. McMillan said that the request was "processed
immediately," and added, "We don't want to get in trouble
with God" (Pittsburgh TRIBUNE-REVIEW, 12/22).
JINGLE NOTES: After having accepted a network decision
not to send Sunday's Redskins-Cardinals game to Richmond's
WRLH-Fox, "opting instead" for Rams-Saints, WRLH "changed
its mind yesterday," and will carry the Redskins' game.
Originally, only 4% of the country was scheduled to receive
Redskins-Cardinals (RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH, 12/22)....USA
TODAY's Rudy Martzke gives out his "Rudy Awards" for '00 and
puts CBS Sports President Sean McManus in a tie for first
with Fox Sports Exec Producer Ed Goren as the "Dick Ebersol
network executive of the year." Fox Sports TV Group Chair
David Hill was third (USA TODAY, 12/22).
