THE TRUTH of the matter is that Major League Baseball, despite its last-to-know public awakening on steroids, is still happy to cash in on the most suspicious muscle.
The Mets, for example, again will charge extra for games against the Giants. The Mets are eager to again exploit the presence of Barry Bonds even though he may not play, even though the Mets may again walk him if he does, and even though Bonds is widely suspected to have become an attraction fueled on BALCO premium.
The Cubs will play host to the Giants three times, on a Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday in July. Yet the Cubs have designated these dates “Prime Games,” in some cases more than doubling the price of tickets to other weekday games.
Thus, no matter why Bonds hit three times the number of home runs at 37 than he did at 27 – Bonds, Tuesday, implied that his hand-eye coordination had tripled – and no matter why and how he began to amass muscle in middle age, teams remain juiced to juice their take.
Commissioner Bud Selig, as first steward of the game, first should have precluded teams from price-gouging by establishing added-cost, pre-determined values on games based on the appearance of sluggers who weren’t guaranteed to appear, let alone see a pitch close near the plate.
But seeing how Selig allowed that, he months ago should have quietly told teams to cease trying to cash in on sluggers who astonishingly and suspiciously began to show up with extraordinary muscle mass and power at an age when muscle and power naturally decline.
But he didn’t. Selig swears he’s worried about maintaining the integrity of the game when he doesn’t seem much interested in restoring it.
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Never let it be said, at least this week, that NBA TV is uncaring or unresponsive.
On Super Bowl Sunday, it got into the New England vs. Philadelphia swing by airing some old Celtics-Sixers encounters, culminating with the rarely seen Game 4 of the 1967 Eastern finals.
Bill Russell, John Havlicek, Bailey Howell, Larry Siegfried, Don Nelson, Wayne Embry, Tom “Satch” Sanders, Sam Jones and K.C. Jones for the Celts. Wilt Chamberlain, Chet Walker, Hal Greer, Billy Cunningham, Matt Guokas, Luke Jackson and Wali Jones for the Sixers. Fabulous stuff.
Trouble was, as we scolded here, NBA TV aired it during the Super Bowl. But tomorrow at 11 a.m. it will make good, again airing a remarkable game – and a remarkable telecast.
NBA TV, now planning to air several 1960s classics, has only the second half of the game (the first half is who knows where), but it was played on April 8, 1967, two months earlier than conference finals are now played.
The game was on ABC but, due to an AFTRA strike, producer Chuck Howard and director Chet Forte subbed for either Chris Schenkel or Keith Jackson and analyst Jack Twyman. (Forte, then Howard, died 10 years ago.) Forte, who in 1970 became the first director of “Monday Night Football,” was Columbia’s 5-foot-8, 29 ppg first-team All-America guard in 1957, the same year Chamberlain, for Kansas, was first-team center.
“Remember that game? I wound up producing it,” Jim Spence said yesterday.
Spence, former senior vice president of ABC Sports, now teaches sports TV at William & Mary.
“Chet was such a character; he kept hollering, ‘Put me on camera!’ We got it done, though,” Spence said. “That was one of those very special, very crazy days in TV.”
Sam Jones scored 32; Havlicek had 31; Russell held Chamberlain to 20. Who won? Look it up or watch it. Why ruin it for all the kids under the age of 50?
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The state of ESPN can be found in the fact that Chuck Wilson, the first host heard on ESPN Radio (January 1992), has been told he’s out come Aug. 1, the expiration of his contract.
Of course ESPN wants Wilson out. He’s 51. Worse than that, he behaves like an adult. He’s clean, he doesn’t shout, and he aims for the brain, not the crotch. He’s a pro with a conscience and a genuine regard for sports. You bet ESPN wants him out.
