Is All the Wind in Those Sails Just a Lot of Hot Air?

Presumably, all this America’s Cup hoopla, the daily barrage of photo opportunities and analytical reports with headlines like “Wind Proves to Be a Big Factor in Early Races” are based on the belief that many, many people are ravenous for Cup information.

Of course, it is not quite clear who these people are and where they hang out, this silent majority who are tearing their hair out at the prospect of Dennis Conner competing with only one boat .

If surveyed, the vast majority of San Diegans would probably say the America’s Cup is “neat.” Or they might say it’s a good thing for San Diego. But if you were to put San Diegans up against a wall and ask them point blank if they really cared about the Cup, most people would probably eagerly admit that they think Conner is a spoiled brat and that a Chargers preseason showdown with the Colts is far more interesting than any sailing race.

Champion sailing enthusiast Conner said this year’s showdown will have all the excitement of a car race. It’s just like a car race, minus the speed, danger and personalities. It’s like a car race at 10 m.p.h.

That’s just the opinion of a non-sailing enthusiast, and it flies in the face of the perception that many San Diegans can’t get enough of this stuff. Unfortunately, outside of a few sailing enthusiasts, hotel executives and real estate agents, it’s difficult to actually ascertain who these America’s Cup fans are, and what it is about this event that makes it worthy of a thousand features on the relative merits of jibs and spinnakers.

Somewhere, there must be proof, absolute and finite, that people actually care, beyond the assurances of the Cup organizers that the event is the best thing for San Diego since the invention of the Frisbee. After all, San Diego media wouldn’t be pumping the America’s Cup just because the Chamber of Commerce thinks it’s a great idea. That audience must be out there.

The America’s Cup Press Corps seemed like a good place to start the search. But former-Channel 39 anchorman Dennis Morgino, who is organizing the media center, which is sponsored by a luggage company, was too busy to answer questions, and he referred the query to publicity head Tom Mitchell, a former Channel 39 news director, who didn’t return a call.

However, an official of ESPN, the national sports network that has forked over millions for the rights to televise the America’s Cup, was eager to discuss the letters and calls and fabulous ratings drawn by past races.

The ratings for the 1987 races were “seven times the average audience for that time slot,” said ESPN publicist Dave Nagle. That’s a thunderous stat, only weakened by the fact that said time period happened to be from 11 p.m. to 3:30 a.m. EST, which means the America’s Cup attracted seven times the audience ESPN normally receives for episodes of This Week in Badminton, or some such programming.

“True, but it still really stood out,” Nagle said.

Nagle reeled off a half-dozen impressive statistics. But did he personally know many America’s Cup fans?

“Well, I don’t have a boat myself and I don’t know a whole lot of the enthusiast crowd,” he said after a pause. “But my memory is that the stick and ball sports fan did get interested” in 1987.

And it’s not how many watch, it’s who they are, he pointed out.

“The hard-core sailing enthusiasts are not a large group, but it is an important one to advertisers,” Nagle said, noting the driving force of the America’s Cup phenomenon.

That explains how ESPN manages to sell advertising and why large companies pay big money to put their logos on the floating billboards that are the America’s Cup boats--but it falls far short of identifying the San Diegans who actually care.

For the local perspective, Channel 39 sports guy Jim Laslavic seemed a logical person to consult, since Channel 39 has been embracing the America’s Cup like Mickey Mouse welcoming little boys and girls to Disneyland. Channel 39 is an official host of the event and has been running ads touting the wonderful business opportunities provided by the race, in addition to airing sponsored Cup updates narrated by Laslavic.

Laslavic likes sailing, and he’s gotten personally involved in the event. He lives in Coronado, and members of the New Zealand and Spanish teams are staying nearby. Laslavic also has actually sailed on several of the boats, perhaps in an attempt to prove that the whole thing isn’t a set-up, a fake race being videotaped in some warehouse like that movie in which O.J. Simpson, in his greatest performance, played an astronaut who didn’t really go to Mars.

“Because I’ve gotten involved, I’m a fan,” says hard hittin’ sports reporter Laslavic, who has obviously given the race a lot of thought. He is “intrigued” by the theory that Conner is “sandbagging” in the early races. He thinks Conner is setting himself up as the hometown boy, the underdog.

Yet, Channel 39’s coverage has resulted in only a “couple of calls” about the race, Laslavic said.

“There is not an overwhelming interest in the America’s Cup,” he acknowledged. “But people are more interested in America’s Cup than (SDSU) Aztec basketball,” a statement that probably could spark some pitiful debates on Montezuma Mesa.

Like most, Laz has actually been slowing down on his America’s Cup reports recently, often relegating the daily results to late in the sportscasts. But that hasn’t dimmed his enthusiasm. It’s early, he points out. Plenty of action to come.

Laslavic has heard it from The One himself.

“Jim,” Conner reportedly told Laslavic several weeks ago, when Laslavic got to steer Conner’s boat, “they are not talking about the Super Bowl now. But just wait.”

Laslavic has taken those words to heart.

“When the news becomes more meaningful and more foreigners show up,” he said, “a lot of people will get caught up in it.”

Or maybe not.

Tacky is probably the best way to describe the way Roger Hedgecock was blatantly using his Channel 39 talk show last week to ask the show’s (few) viewers whether or not he should run for mayor. . . .

A note to the new hairstylists for KFMB-TV (Channel 8) anchormen: The wet head is dead. . . .

Call it desperation or call it realistic, but Channel 8 is running ads throughout the day urging people who might be watching Oprah Winfrey at 4 p.m. on rival Channel 10 to switch to Channel 8 for news at 5. Employees on Channel 8’s 4:30 p.m. newscast probably aren’t thrilled at the acknowledgment that viewers aren’t tuning in, but the fact is that Oprah is a ratings Godzilla, and all Channel 8 offers at 4 p.m. is “M*A*S*H.” . . .

Lisa Dent’s new morning show partner on KSON is Skip Mahaffey, most recently from St. Louis, a radical choice considering the little-known movement to ban people named Skip from the national airwaves. He replaces John Stone, who moved to Dallas.

CRITIC’S CHOICE

NOT A PRETTY PICTURE, BUT A FASCINATING ONE

“Hearts of Darkness” has the feel of a home movie, as Eleanor Coppola follows the trials and tribulations of her husband, Francis, during the making of “Apocalypse Now.” It is a portrait of a director out of control, flush with self-indulgence and artistic license created by his new-found wealth and popular acclaim. “Hearts of Darkness” is screening at the Hillcrest Cinemas.