A Timely Hit Series for Network

The NBA is getting what it needs. If a series between the Lakers and San Antonio Spurs, the two best teams in the league, can’t jump-start sagging television ratings, nothing can.

The only problem is, the series is not for the NBA title, even though people are saying it is.

“This series will provide some of the best basketball we’ve seen in years,” NBC analyst Bill Walton said. “It has all the elements--great players, dynamic personalities, bitterness between the two teams.

“In an age where players come out and hug and kiss each other, these are two franchises who don’t like each other. And that’s the way it should be. You’re supposed to be enemies.”

Walton says that Tim Duncan finishing second in the MVP balloting, ahead of Shaquille O’Neal, was justified. “You don’t win the regular-season MVP with three good weeks of basketball,” he said.

Walton realizes it’s now a different Shaq.

“The key to this series is David Robinson,” Walton said. “David has to slow down Shaq. It’s been a long time since anybody was able to do that, but he is by far the most capable player in the NBA of doing that.”

With Game 1 Saturday, this anticipated series comes at a time when NBC’s playoff telecasts are off 9% from a year ago. After 20 games, the network is averaging a 4.2 rating. The average at this point last year was 4.6. And NBC’s regular-season average was 3.0, down 12% from last season’s 3.4.

Turner Sports’ playoff ratings have dropped from a 2.5 average to 2.2 after a decline in the regular-season average from 1.3 to 1.1. Channel 9’s average rating for regular-season Laker telecasts dropped from 5.8 to 5.0.

Channel 9, as well as Fox Sports Net, ended up getting short-changed during the playoffs. The two local entities were limited to only two telecasts apiece because of the NBA-NBC schedule makers and the Lakers’ unbeaten run. Channel 9’s second, and last, Laker playoff telecast will be Monday’s Game 2. Fox Sports Net is already done.

NBC takes over the Western Conference finals exclusively with Game 3 a week from tonight.

Extreme Measures

NBC is going from one Xtreme to another.

Gone are the XFL and league champion Xtreme.

Coming to NBC on Saturday is the first of a series of programs involving extreme sports, or core sports, such as skateboarding, snowboarding, BMX, surfing, wakeboarding and freestyle motocross.

NBC has entered into a three-year agreement with Vans, a Santa Fe Springs company that is a leader in the core sports apparel business, to carry the Vans Triple Crown Series.

Kicking off the series Saturday at 12:30 p.m. is taped coverage of the Vans City Slam, a skateboard competition taped in Vancouver, Canada.

The next show, June 23, will feature wakeboarding.

NBC plans to use the Vans series to promote its own Gravity Games, which will be held in Providence, R.I., in September, then carried over seven weeks on the network.

This extreme sports craze was started by ESPN and its success with its Xtreme Games.

“It’s definitely a way to reach young men and women,” NBC senior vice president Jon Miller said. “Extreme sports are growing and getting stronger.”

A recent survey conducted by American Sports Data Inc. showed snowboarding, skateboarding and wakeboarding were the three fastest-growing sports last year. Participation in skateboarding last year rose 49% from 1999. Meanwhile, participation in team sports is declining.

A Fix for FX

Fox is paying an average of $200 million a year over eight years to carry NASCAR racing the first half of the year. (NBC and TNT carry the second half.)

Fox was willing to pay such a hefty price because it saw NASCAR as a way to build its entertainment and sports network, FX. And it’s working.

“It has exceeded all expectations, in every way,” said Peter Liguori, president of FX.

FX, which is carrying 12 Busch Series races, has the second of its three Winston Cup races at 4 p.m. Saturday. It’s The Winston, a non-points all-star race from Concord, N.C. FX also has a Busch race from Nazareth, Pa., at 10 a.m. Sunday.

FX, available in more than 65 million homes, is the nation’s fastest-growing cable network, having added 17.1 million homes since May 2000.

Still, some cable systems are not carrying FX. But Liguori said deals are in the works.

“We’re making headway at breakneck speed,” he said. “We are working with them, they’re working with us. There are no acrimonious relationships.”

Short Waves

The Vans Triple Crown Series kicks off another odd programming day for NBC on Saturday. At 1:30 p.m., after skateboarding, will be the “NBA on NBC” pregame show. Then comes the Preakness, and then the Lakers and Spurs. . . . The Angels’ game against the Cleveland Indians at 5 p.m. Sunday is on ESPN. Something for Spanish-speaking viewers to keep in mind is that the game will also be carried on ESPN Deportes, which was launched April 1 and reaches 10 million homes. The service, which offers a block of Sunday night programming, is free to cable affiliates. Among Southern California communities offering it are Huntington Beach, Long Beach, Compton and Riverside. . . . ABC announced it will televise UCLA’s football game with Ohio State at the Rose Bowl Sept. 22 to most of the nation. ABC also selected UCLA games against Stanford on Oct. 27 and Oregon on Nov. 10 for regional coverage.

ABC’s Al Michaels will be honored at a dinner Monday at Riviera, after the Los Angeles Sports and Entertainment Commission’s celebrity golf tournament. Among those competing in the tournament will be CBS Sports’ Jill Arrington and tennis commentator Pam Shriver. . . . Channel 7 sportscaster Curt Sandoval, who is married to Fox’s Jeanne Zelasko, will compete in Saturday’s Ironman California triathlon at Camp Pendleton. Sandoval is raising money for the Challenged Athletes Foundation. . . . Fox Sports Net’s “Southern California Sports Report” has had some weak features, but Jack Haley reached a low Tuesday night. Haley, supposedly a TV journalist, not only glorified Dennis Rodman’s 40th birthday party, he concluded his report by smearing cake in his close friend’s face and kissing him. Yes, it was as bad as it sounds.

In Closing

Attention Keith Olbermann: There’s an opening for a weekend sports anchor at Channel 5.

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What Los Angeles Is Watching

A sampling of L.A. Nielsen ratings for May 12-13:

SATURDAY

*--*

Over-the-air Channel Rating Share NBA playoffs: San Antonio at Dallas 4 6.2 17 Baseball: Atlanta at Dodgers 5 3.6 7 Golf: PGA Byron Nelson Classic 2 2.6 7 Golf: LPGA USA Championship 2 1.3 4 Auto racing: Indianapolis 500 time trials 2 1.2 2 NHL playoffs: St. Louis at Colorado 7 0.7 2

*--*

*

*--*

Cable Network Rating Share Soccer: WUSA, San Diego at Atlanta TNT 0.8 2 Horse racing: Hollywood Park Today FSN2 0.7 2 NHL playoffs: Pittsburgh at New Jersey ESPN 0.6 2 Soccer: MLS, Galaxy at New York/New Jersey ESPN2 0.6 2 Baseball: New York Mets at San Francisco FX 0.3 1 Horse racing: 2Day at the Races ESPN2 0.3 1 Auto racing: Busch Grand National 200 FX 0.3 1 College baseball: Oregon State at UCLA FSN 0.3 1 Golf: Senior Match Play Championship CNBC 0.2 1

*--*

*

SUNDAY

*--*

Over-the-air Channel Rating Share NBA playoffs: Lakers at Sacramento 4 15.8 38 NBA playoffs: Philadelphia at Toronto 4 8.1 22 NBA playoffs: Milwaukee at Charlotte 4 6.7 19 Golf: PGA Byron Nelson Classic 2 3.6 10 Baseball: Atlanta at Dodgers 5 2.2 6 Golf: LPGA USA Championship 2 1.4 4 Soccer: Mexican, America vs. Pachuca 34 1.3 4

*--*

*

*--*

Cable Network Rating Share Baseball: Houston at Cincinnati ESPN 0.8 2 Horse racing: Hollywood Park Today FSN2 0.7 2 Tennis: ATP Masters Series ESPN 0.6 2 Tennis: WTA German Open ESPN 0.5 1 Golf: Senior Match Play Championship CNBC 0.2 0 Auto racing: Indianapolis 500 time trials ESPN2 0.2 0

*--*

Note: Each rating point represents 53,542 L.A. households. Cable ratings reflect the entire market, even though cable is in only 63% of L.A. households.

Look Who’s Talking

Sports figures to be featured on TV and radio, today through Thursday:

Rick Mears--”SportsCentury,” tonight, 5 and 8, ESPN Classic

Darrell Russell, Motley Crue singer Vince Neil--”The Last Word With Jim Rome,” tonight, 5:30 and 11:30, Fox Sports Net

Boxing announcers, Oscar De La Hoya, Lou DiBella--”Rich Marotta’s Neutral Corner,” tonight, 10-midnight, KXTA (1150)

WNBA president Val Ackerman, Dean Chance--”The Irv Kaze Show,” Saturday, 6-7 p.m., KRLA (870)

Kobe Bryant, Charles Barkley--”Page One,” Saturday, 9:30 a.m., CNN, 10:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., CNN/SI.

Tim Salmon, Troy Percival--”You Gotta See This,” Saturday, midnight, Fox Sports Net

Roy Jones Jr.--”Beyond the Glory,” Sunday, 8 p.m., Fox Sports Net

Fernando Vargas (in studio)--”Ringside With Johnny Ortiz,” Sunday, 8-10 p.m., KSPN (1110)

Elgin Baylor--”Southern California Sports Report,” Sunday, 10 p.m., Fox Sports Net

John Hart--”Up Close,” Monday, 2:30 p.m.; ESPN, 11:30 p.m., ESPN2

Mario Andretti--”SportsCentury,” Monday

Rob Schneider--”Sports Roundtable,” Monday, 9 p.m., Fox Sports Net 2

Mike Dunleavy--”Up Close,” Tuesday

Tim Flock--”SportsCentury,” Tuesday

Luc Robitaille--”Up Close,” Wednesday

A.J. Foyt--”SportsCentury,” Wednesday

Richard Petty--”SportsCentury,” Thursday