Media Notes

Roy Jones Jr. discussed in Esquire how HBO treats fighters: "The night Marco Antonio Barerra got beaten by Junior Jones, I watched an HBO employee celebrate. He was yelling, `I told you! I told you! I can get anybody beat!' He didn't realize I caught him in the act. ... They want your ass beat because upsets make news. ... And excitement brings about ratings. The object is to bring you to the tower and then tear your ass down" (N.Y. POST, 2/7).

THEY LOVE THEIR CHUCKY: Tuesday's CBS "Late Show" with David Letterman, which featured Buccaneers coach Jon Gruden, earned a 9.8/24 on WTSP-CBS in Tampa/St. Pete. It was the station's highest Letterman rating ever, beating the 8.4/25 on September 21, 2000, when Letterman returned from heart surgery. It also marked WTSP's highest rating for the 11:35pm-12:25am ET time slot since the '94 Lillehammer Olympics (ST. PETE TIMES, 2/7).

NOTES: Former P Jack Morris has been hired as the analyst for WKBD-UPN's Tigers games (FREE PRESS, 2/7)....Chris Evert has decided to retire from tennis commentating. Evert began as an NBC Sports analyst in '90 (NBC)....SI's Pete McEntegart notes that the documentary titled "Raising Tennis Aces: The Williams Story" by Xenon Pictures, recently released on DVD, "has some nice moments," but "is, unfortunately, the Richard Williams show." Richard Williams says in the film: "I think (people) have meetings on how to beat Richard Williams out." Williams adds, "I feel I'm the greatest father on Earth" (SI, 2/10 issue).