SI View The Week in TV Sports
Saturday 9/5
Michigan at Notre Dame
Cheer, cheer for old Notre.... Hey! Who you calling old? I
didn't say old. Who called anyone old? The Irish have taken many
a lick in the wake of former offensive line coach Joe (Will ya
still need me, will ya still feed me?) Moore's
age-discrimination suit against the school after coach Bob Davie
fired him. Coming off that loss, not to mention six defeats last
season, factored in with an inexperienced quarterback in Jarious
Jackson, the Irish (ranked 25th by SI) should be down. But do
not count them out, even though the No. 8 Wolverines retain nine
starters, including their leading tackler, linebacker Sam Sword,
from the country's stingiest defense of 1997. It should be
close. The last five meetings between these two teams in South
Bend (two wins for each, with one tie) have been decided by a
total of nine points, with four games coming down to the final
play.
--NBC, 3:30 PM
Ohio State at West Virginia
Here's a multiple-choice question for the Buckeyes, whom SI has
ranked No. 1 in college football entering the season. The movie
Dead Man on Campus is 1) about a student looking to salvage his
grade point average through the death of his roommate, 2) about
the summer-school professor who flunks Ohio State linebacker
Andy Katzenmoyer or 3) about to go to video because it was a dud
in theaters. Should Butkus Award winner Katzenmoyer fail any one
of his three summer-school classes (grades are due on Friday),
fans will be deprived of watching him collide with fellow
Heisman hopeful Amos Zereoue (far left). Famous Amos rushed for
1,589 yards last season for the No. 18 Mountaineers. News out of
Morgantown is that campus leaders have voted that frat houses be
dry by the year 2000. Should Zereoue and Co. win tonight, the
school will party like it's 1999.
--CBS, 8 PM
Sunday 9/6
Jets at 49ers
As CBS returns to the NFL after a four-year hiatus, play-by-play
man Greg Gumbel teams in the booth with Phil Simms, whom Jets
coach Bill Parcells will try to lure out of retirement during
pregame warmups. In the off-season New York jettisoned
quarterback Neil O'Donnell and installed frisky Glenn Foley as
its quarterback of the future. Foley and newly acquired running
back Curtis Martin will be tested immediately against a San
Francisco defense, led by tackle Bryant Young, that was tops in
the league a year ago. Memo to the Niners brass: Don't the Jets'
new-old uniforms look sharp? Bring back those gold pants for
Jerry Rice (left) and crew!
--CBS, 4:15 PM
Monday 9/7
Mac and Sammy Watch
With apologies to the Starland Vocal Band:
Knocking bat and ball together makes the sparks ignite,
And the thought of hittin' 62 is so excitin',
Skyrockets in flight, Afternoon Delight, A-a-afternoon Delight
Labor Day loyalties will be divided between Jerry Lewis and St.
Louis (in France the terms are interchangeable) as the Cards'
Mark McGwire and the Cubs' Sammy Sosa play Home Run Derby at
Busch Stadium while Lewis tear-jerks us through his 33rd annual
telethon. At week's end Big-Mac-and-Flies-to-Go had belted 55
homers and Sosa had slammed 54. Other probable national McGwire
sightings this week: Saturday, 1 p.m., Fox; and Wednesday, 7:30
p.m., ESPN. As for Sosa, tune in to WGN on Saturday at 7 p.m.,
Thursday at 8 p.m. and Friday at 3 p.m.
--WGN, 2 PM; TUESDAY, FX, 8 PM
Tuesday 9/8
Roger Maris: Reluctant Hero
Maris, who died in 1985, would have been 64 on Thursday. Too bad
he isn't around to observe McGwire's and Sosa's assault on his
'61 home run record because, as this elegiac one-hour
documentary details, he surely didn't enjoy his own 61-homer
year. Such was the pressure that Maris (left) asked Yankees
manager Ralph Houk if he could sit out game No. 154 (by which,
ruled commissioner Ford Frick, Maris had to beat or tie Babe
Ruth, or an asterisk would be affixed to his record); Houk
convinced Maris to play, and Maris blasted No. 59 that night.
Even Yankee-haters will get chills as Maris's clouts parade
across the screen in ill-lit black and white.
--ESPN, 8:30 PM; ESPN CLASSIC, 10 PM
ALL TIMES EASTERN. SCHEDULES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE.
COLOR PHOTO: AL TIELEMANS [Amos Zereoue in game]
COLOR PHOTO: JOHN W. MCDONOUGH [Jerry Rice in game]
B/W PHOTO: ART RICKERBY [Roger Maris]
THE ! ZAPPER
CBS's The NFL Today, the patriarch of Sunday football pregame
shows, returns this week with Jim Nantz as the modern-day
Musburger, joined by Marcus Allen, Brent Jones and George
Seifert. Two programming ideas to fill the show's expanded
one-hour format: 1) Hire an in-studio band. Works for Letterman.
Aren't the WNB-Ays between gigs? 2) Enlist NFL Today alumna
Jayne Kennedy, now a psychic friend, to be the show's fearless
forecaster. After all, she's more telegenic than ESPN picknik
Hank Goldberg.