The Dallas Morning News Barry Horn column: Hot Air: World Series tanking

Oct 25, 2008 (The Dallas Morning News - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- DIS | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- An inning-by-inning incidental World Series TV report:

I. The Rays and Phillies are tanking. Through two games, the series is averaging an 8.7. The all-time lowest rated Series is the 10.1 posted in 2006 by the Cardinals-Tigers, which went five games.

II. Game 3 today won't offer any relief. It's the worst night for TV ratings because people head out. You have to go back to 1996, Fox's first in the World Series business, to find a first Saturday that wasn't the lowest rated game of that World Series.

III. You can be sure that with rain in Philadelphia's forecast for today, the Fox folks are praying for a rainout. Will one raindrop be enough to put down the tarp and call it a night? Today's game would be replaced by a game Tuesday, which is a much better night for TV viewership.

IV. Dallas-Fort Worth is back near the bottom of the ratings heap. There are 56 metered major markets where ratings can be dissected daily. D-FW ranks 53rd after posting ratings of 5.0 and 4.9.

V. That puts us ahead of only Oklahoma City (4.8), Pittsburgh (4.6) and Knoxville, Tenn. (3.7). Who knew that Oklahoma City and Knoxville were major markets. Okay, at least OKC has an NBA team. But Knoxville?

VI. Worse: In D-FW, Channel 4's World Series finished dead last among the four major network affiliates Wednesday and Thursday nights.

VII. There are markets intently watching. Philadelphia is No. 1 (33.2), Tampa-St. Pete (31.6), Orlando, which is just east of Tampa-St. Pete, (13.8), Fort Myers, which is just south, (13.2), and Minneapolis-St. Paul, whose Twins traded Matt Garza to the Rays, (11.6).

VIII. It's a good thing for baseball that ABC scheduled the Texas-Oklahoma State game for this afternoon instead of prime time or else tonight's Rays-Phillies game might get shutout.

IX. If I was Channel 4, I'd talk to the Cowboys about filming today's walk- through at Texas Stadium and broadcast that instead of the World Series.

Hot seat: Tony Siragusa

Tony Siragusa is network television's only on-field NFL analyst. He works on Fox's No. 2 team with Kenny Albert and Daryl Johnston. He played defensive tackle for a dozen NFL seasons with the Colts and Ravens and was a pivotal player on the Ravens' Super Bowl XXXV championship team. He was one of the stars of the first Hard Knocks and appeared in Spike Lee's 2002 film, 25th Hour playing a member of the Russian mob. He's also appeared in five episodes of HBO's The Sopranos. These days, he also co-hosts Man Caves on cable's DIY network. The premise there is to turn basements into men's ideal hangouts.

The idea of an on-field analyst has yet to reach critical acclaim. Do you pay attention to criticism?

We didn't know what we were doing when we started this five years ago. It's grown and we think has gotten much better...My job out there is telling people what's happening on the field, not telling them what happened in practice on Wednesday...I learn more about this every week from watching what I did. I've never been afraid to fall on my face. I take criticism easy. When I look in the mirror, I smile every morning.

What are some of the difficulties of essentially working solo in the end zone with two guys up in the booth.

You have no clue what it's like. I can't see the people I'm talking to. I can't see their expressions, their body language. I have no idea when they are going to include me in the conversation.

Why do you station yourself behind the end zone instead of on the sideline?

Players and coaches watch game film from the end zone. It's the place where you can see everything develop. That's the best place to look at tendencies and habits and see exactly where they are lining up. You can see players' eyes from there. That's a tremendous advantage...I can't tell you how many times during a game players will come up to me and say, "Goose how's it looking out there. What are you seeing?"

What was working on The Sopranos like for a New Jersey-born guy like you?

Everyone thinks doing movies and TV shows are really fun. I was bored out of my mind on The Sopranos. We did a lot of sitting around for five or six hours just waiting to go. Most of those people want to go around, eat tofu and talk about how good they are.

From where you stand, how do the Cowboys look?

I see no leadership on defense. I see no leadership on offense. Brad Johnson had no timing with his receivers. I see a team struggling. Jerry Jones is just trying to patch things up with his moves. Nothing really excites me about this team.

About time: 24/7

HBO had pretty good success with its first two boxing 24/7 training camp shows designed to build the hype for its pay-per-view fights. Floyd Mayweather's split decision over Oscar De La Hoya in the Spring of 2007 became the all-time pay-per-view champion with 2.4 million buys and $134 million in revenue. Mayweather's subsequent mugging of Ricky Hatton last winter attracted 850,000 buys and $47 million in revenue. They were boxing's top pay-per-view events of 2007.

At 7:30 p.m. today, HBO launches its third 24/7. This time it's in advance of the Nov. 8 light heavyweight bout between Roy Jones Jr. and Wales' Joe Calzaghe at Madison Square Garden.

Of course, the absence of Mayweather, a one-man soap opera, should take some of the buzz off 24/7.

"I don't think it will," says Ross Greenburg, the HBO Sports boss. "We have a formula for this and we have two great characters, boxers who will jump off the screen. There is nothing like two fighters preparing for a prize fight."

Even if one is named Calzaghe and he is from Wales? We'll see.

Radio daze

Arbitorn ratings for Summer 2008 -- June 25-Sept. 17 -- are in and the news is good for The Ticket and ESPN-FM 103.3

In sports talk's all-important demographic, men 25-54, The Ticket averaged a 6.5 share for its weekly programming, good for second place behind only Spanish Language KESS-FM (107.9). ESPN averaged a 3.5 share, which was No. 8 in the market.In the 12-plus category, which measures all listeners 12 and older, The Ticket scored a 2.6 (12th) and ESPN came in with a 1.7 (tied for 20th).

ESPN programming boss Tom Lee points out that it was his station's best-ever summer ratings period. The Michael Irvin Show, which debuted in January, more than doubled the station's rating in men 25-54 in the 11 a.m.-2 p.m. slot over last summer. Irvin is No. 4 in the market. That said, he still trails the final hour of The Ticket's Norm Hitzges Show and the first two hours of BaD Radio.

Around the horn

Today's Oklahoma State-Texas regional game on ABC will be in high definition, which is unusual for a 2:30 p.m. Big 12 game...The 25.5 rating for the loss to the Rams on Sunday was the lowest in Dallas-Forth for a Cowboys game since the 14th game of the 2005 season, a blowout loss to the Redskins...HBO has the replay tonight of last week's pay-per-view Bernard Hopkins boxing lesson to Kelly Pavlik...NBC begins its 2010 Winter Olympics hype with live coverage of Skate America from 3 to 5 p.m. Sunday... Barack Obama and Sarah Palin tell ESPN's Outside the Lines about their basketball lives at 8 a.m. Sunday. Presumably both will get equal time.

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