Funny thing, rooting interests. Funny, too, how TV, which always used to provide audiences the best seat in the house, still now and then succeeds.

Saturday, I became a big fan of Tigers catcher Gerald Laird. I couldn’t help it: TV talked me into it.

The Tigers-Red Sox broadcast on FOX included the wiring of home plate umpire Dan Iassogna for its “Sounds of the Game” inserts.

Early in the game, Iassogna was seen and heard responding to a complaint by Laird that a strike call against him was low and outside. As disagreements go, it was brief and civil.

Then we heard Laird, back behind the plate, trying to do what many catchers do — make nice to the ump. Laird told Iassogna that he was right, that the pitch he argued over was a strike; Laird explained that he just had a hard time picking it up.

In the seventh, as rookie Ryan Kalish singled, his bat snapped, the barrel lashing Iassogna. Stunned, he stumbled then fell. FOX’s second view showed Kalish looking back at the fallen ump, even as he ran to first, as Laird did a good-instincts 180 toward Iassogna.

In the “Sounds of the Game” that quickly, wisely followed, Iassogna dismissed Laird’s concern with, “I’m OK, I’m good, I’m good.”

FOX’s Mark Grace then neatly wrapped it with: “That’s that fraternity back there — the guys who wear the masks.”

Yep, best seat in the house.

Laird, incidentally, a week earlier was nailed in the neck by a broken bat. He went down, stunned. He, too, got up and finished. I love that guy, my new favorite .187 hitter.

NCAA showboating: It’s in the game

The next time the NCAA hits you with one of those “Good Sportsmanship” image ads, remember this:

New TV commercials for the NCAA’s newest football video game from EA Sports stars players showboating — striking that “Heisman Pose” — as a come-on. Hey, as long as the NCAA gets its cut.

Meanwhile, the shot-callers at EA Sports have for years made it clear that their mission is to ensure that every sports-minded American kid acts like a self-absorbed creep.

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Attention fools, suckers and saps: The game between the Phillies and Mets on Sunday, Aug. 15, has been changed from a 1 p.m. start to 8 p.m., as per ESPN money. If that seven-hour change alters or even ruins your pre-purchased plans, cry me a river; that’s Baseball in the Age of Bud.

True or false? The New York media are more excited about Alex Rodriguez‘s 600th HR than are local fans. … MLB Network has assigned Bob Costas and Jim Kaat to Friday’s Red Sox-Yankees game, blacked out here and New England.

Reader Steve Green, Brooklyn-to-Pennsylvania-coal-country guy, is eager to beat ESPN to the news, notes that all five no-hitters, this season, have ended in walk-offs.

The only news entity that didn’t take credit for the Lance Berkman to the Yankees scoop was Weekly Reader, and that’s because it’s a weekly.

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Adam Schein‘s interview with Jets DL Kris Jenkins last week on SNY was strong — questions and answers — including Schein’s give-it-up pull that Kerry Rhodes, now gone to the Cardinals, put NYC style over football. Jenkins is pleasingly, winningly, read-between-the-answers honest.

In 2005, when Mark Shapiro left ESPN to work for Six Flags and its boss, Redskins owner Dan Snyder, few in the Bristol, Conn., plant minded. As head of programming — and only in his early 30s — Shapiro’s imperious style and a few very bad ideas were tough to suffer. Now out as Six Flags CEO, Shapiro has been hired as a consultant by the NFL Network, which needs fixing.

Stuart Appleby‘s round of 59, shown on CBS yesterday, was certainly special, but seemed a bit more a matter of the week’s 20-under standard than super-duper special.

Sure, we get on ESPN, but when it comes to keeping America up to date on X-Games results and schedules, who does it better?

YES, some stats aren’t like others

Any stat, any time: In the first inning of YES’s Yankees-Rays broadcast Friday, Michael Kay told us Evan Longoria has been “hitless in six of his last seven games, so he’s in a little bit of a slide.” Kay added that Longoria has “only three hits in his last 13 at-bats.”

But if that’s the case, that one game in his last seven had to be a biggie. Yep, two games earlier, Longoria was 3-for-4 with a walk and two RBIs. So, despite Kay’s claim, Longoria was three for his last seven, with two walks.

In other words, why bother with such stats? Why speak them as topical, insightful or even minimally helpful — when they mean nothing?

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WFAN should regard mornings as important update time. It not only should give a waking audience night-before results, but other info we would rely on sports stations to provide.

To that end, Peter Schwartz‘s cliché-dipped report on Saturday at 7 a.m., included word that Roy Oswalt, in his first start for the Phillies since being traded by the Astros, was smacked by the Nationals. Good.

In other games, Schwartz continued, the Astros beat the Brewers, 5-0. But there was nothing more about that game. Whoa! It apparently didn’t strike him that on the night when Houston’s longtime best starter was hit hard in his first start for his new team, his old team shut out an opponent; nor was the name of the Astros’ starter worth a mention.

The Astros pitcher Schwartz failed to mention? J.A. Happ, one of the three players the Astros received for Oswalt!

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We’re reliably told that John Sterling mocked the commercial signage throughout the stadium in Cleveland last week, noting that even the foul poles carry ads. Cool. Now let’s go back to John and Suzyn Waldman in the Lowes Broadcast Booth.

I don’t listen much to Sterling because — and I know this sounds crazy — I want to know what’s going on during Yankees games. I listen to the other teams’ broadcasts on XM Satellite Radio, which should salute Sterling as Salesman of the Year.