A Sad L.A. Story: KCBS Last Again for NCAA Field

There are about a million college basketball games on television this weekend, but just as important as any of the games is the announcement of the NCAA tournament selections and pairings Sunday afternoon.

CBS, as usual, will cover the selection process. And, as usual, Los Angeles won’t see this breaking story live.

Because CBS-owned Channel 2 carries the Raycom-produced Pacific 10 basketball package, Channel 2 again will televise the pairings show delayed, at about 5 p.m., 1 1/2 hours after most other parts of the country. The show will follow the 3 p.m. Pac-10 game between Washington and UCLA.

And if the outcome of that game had a bearing on the pairings, it would be a bigger mess than it is now. Talk about poor scheduling.

There is a roundabout way to get the NCAA pairings close to live.

ESPN will have a one-hour special at 3:30, during which the pairings will be discussed by Jim Valvano, Dick Vitale and Kentucky Coach Rick Pitino.

They have to wait until the pairings have been announced on CBS, but here, they’ll be ahead of CBS.

When radio station KABC tabbed Steve Edwards as its replacement for Ed (Superfan) Bieler on “Sportstalk,” the obvious reaction was, why Steve Edwards?

Why not Regis Philbin? Or Christina Ferrare? Or Oprah Winfrey?

But Edwards, who is also the co-host of Channel 7’s “AM Los Angeles” program and his own general-talk afternoon show on KABC radio, has made a successful entry into the sports world.

He has shown a fair knowledge of sports, and, what’s more important, his pleasing personality and class come across well. Some of the previous “Sportstalk” hosts have been a bit rough around the edges, to say the least.

Actually, this is a re-entry into sports for Edwards. He did sports on his first radio job, at 50,000-watt KTRH in Houston.

Edwards, who did his undergraduate work at the University of Miami in Florida, was working on a Ph.D in psychology at the University of Houston when, after 2 1/2 years, he decided he really didn’t want to become a clinical psychologist.

He literally talked his way into radio, persuading the KTRH boss to give him a shot.

From Houston, it was on to Chicago, where, among other things, Edwards was the host of “AM Chicago,” the show that later gave Winfrey her big break.

He came to Los Angeles in 1978, going to work for Channel 2. There, among other things, he was the host of “2 on the Town.” He went to Channel 7 six years ago.

“I’m a huge sports fan,” Edwards said. “I read the sports section before any other. At least I did before the war.”

Edwards grew up in the Bronx in New York City, where, he said, being a sports fan was a prerequisite.

“I’ve always spent most of my free time talking sports,” he said. “Now, I get paid for it.

“I don’t profess to be an expert. The way I look at it, I’m not the answer man, I’m the question man.”

Edwards’ “Sportstalk” predecessor, Bieler, has left radio station KTMS in Santa Barbara after a two-month stint.

According to the Santa Barbara News Press, Bieler resigned Monday. A factor in his resignation stemmed from a problem in the station’s coverage of last Saturday’s Southern Section Division I-A title game between Santa Barbara High and Huntington Beach Marina at the L.A. Sports Arena.

Because of technical difficulties, Bieler was asked to do the play-by-play by telephone, and Bieler reportedly refused to work under such “rinky-dink” conditions.

At one point during Channel 13’s Los Angeles Marathon coverage Sunday, commentator Larry Rawson showed the medals all runners receive. Partner Barry Tompkins replied, “We get a purple heart here in the studio. We have to absorb slings and arrows.”

Well, here come some.

Actually, Rawson and Tompkins were the high points of the show.

The low points included:

--Florence Griffith Joyner, who seemed to be miscast, running along with the pack asking a thousand times, “What’s your name? Where are you from? Is this your first marathon?” Where was Vic (the Brick) Jacobs when you needed him?

--Defending champion Julie Isphording, who smiled a lot and talked painfully slowly, didn’t offer much more than things like, “This is really exciting.”

There were other flaws, but they were minor compared to the most irritating aspect--race president Bill Burke’s omnipresence.

He looked like Caesar riding through his empire as he stood in a bright red convertible that followed the leader. He waved to the crowd as if he were the show. Not once did he sit down.

Promoters are supposed to remain in the background, but Burke must be taking lessons from Don King.

In a puff interview--actually, it wasn’t an interview, just Burke talking--he described the marathon as “my gift to the city of Los Angeles.” He also brought up, for no apparent reason, that he had been asked by the city of Atlanta to help organize the 1996 Olympics.

Of course, nothing was mentioned about a Times story on improprieties involving the money generated by the race.

The announcers simply said things such as, “Everybody really owes something to this man.”

It’s obvious that Burke controls the telecast.

Mike Tyson, in an interview taped this week, unloads on HBO boxing commentator Larry Merchant in an “Up Close” segment that will be on ESPN Monday. Tyson blames Merchant for his split with HBO.

“I didn’t want him commentating my fights,” Tyson tells Roy Firestone. “I have nothing against Jim Lampley. But I wanted (Merchant) off my fights.

“They didn’t back down, so I left. If it’s my night and you’re just a commentator. . . . You don’t even come close in significance to what I represent. You aren’t supposed to say derogatory, personal things.”

Backing Merchant might have cost HBO millions of dollars. But apparently, in this case, integrity was more important, and HBO is to be congratulated for that.

TV-Radio Notes

Prediction: CBS will get complaints from two sides for its early-round NCAA tournament coverage next Thursday and Friday. The soap opera fans will complain about their shows being preempted, and basketball fans will complain about the lack of round-the-clock coverage that ESPN offered.

ESPN is not covering the early-round games this year, but the network is hardly going away. Besides Sunday’s special on the pairings, there will be a preview special Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. It will be repeated Thursday at 8:30 a.m. Also, ESPN will have a special “SportsCenter” show Thursday at 2 p.m. and its 4 and 8:30 p.m. editions will be expanded to one hour and 1 1/2 hours, respectively.

For only the third time in 30 years, ABC’s Jim McKay has called in sick. A bout with flu will cause him to miss Saturday’s Santa Anita Handicap, which will be shown, delayed, on “Wide World of Sports.” Al Michaels will replace McKay as the host of the coverage. . . . The first in a series of pay-per-view fights will be on tonight at 7, with Tim Witherspoon taking on Carl (the Truth) Williams, and Bobby Czyz facing Robert Daniel. The price is $19.95. . . . A Channel 11-produced special, “The New Dodgers,” will be shown tonight at 7. The Dodgers’ first exhibition telecast is set for Sunday at 10:30 a.m. against the New York Mets.

This goes in the category of, you never know who’s watching. ESPN televised Tuesday night’s Mid-Continent Conference championship game between Northern Illinois and Wisconsin Green Bay, and during the studio show at halftime, studio commentator Jim Valvano made a case for Rutgers, where he once coached, being named to the NCAA tournament. ESPN in Bristol, Conn., soon got a call from someone in Las Vegas who wanted to make a case for Temple. The caller was Bill Cosby.