A real made-for-TV finale
There's no putting this weekend's Red Sox-Yankees series in perspective.
It's grown beyond the bounds of any normal regular-season finale, given the NY-Boston rivalry.
Fans love it . . . almost as much as the TV people. Locally, Channel 38 (NESN outside the Boston area) has tonight's game at 7 with Fox in town tomorrow afternoon, and NESN carrying Sunday afternoon's wrap-up. In addition, ESPN will be in town tonight and Sunday, carrying the games outside New England.
The Fox folks consider tomorrow's Yankees-Sox telecast from Fenway (Channel 25, 1:15) a bonus. Over the past two seasons, Fox Saturday games between these teams have outrated all other games by 24 percent, a 3.1 rating (8 share) vs. a 2.5 (7 share).
''As far as we're concerned, it's our first postseason game," said Fox Sports president Ed Goren this week. ESPN and Fox are scheduled to start coverage of the divisional series Tuesday, with ESPN carrying any playoff games.
Tomorrow's game is big enough that No. 1 baseball announcer Jack Buck, who wasn't scheduled to call baseball this weekend, is coming to Boston to work the game with analyst Tim McCarver and field reporter Chris Myers. After the game, Buck heads for Kansas City to call Fox's national NFL game -- Eagles-Chiefs -- Sunday (Channel 25, 4:15).
''Depending on the scenario when we get to Saturday, this game, in a way, could be more than a playoff game," said Goren. ''It could be win or go home. Over the years, a lot of people questioned commissioner [Bud] Selig on adding the wild card and expanding the postseason. But now everyone realized how effective the formula has been."
If the Fox folks had their druthers, the Sox and Yankees would be meeting in the ALCS for a third straight season. ''From our perspective, we just want good games, but I think a lot of baseball fans are going to be looking forward not only to this weekend's series but also to these two teams meeting again in the ALCS," said Goren.
Both NESN (Sunday) and Channel 38 (tonight) wrap up their record-setting ratings years this weekend.
NESN averaged double digits for the first time ever, an 11.7 rating through 119 Sox telecasts, including a 12.6 average rating for its eight Yankee-Sox games to date. For the second consecutive season, Channel 38 posted a 20 percent ratings increase for Sox broadcasts, averaging a 12.8 rating for 25 telecasts.
Assuming the Sox go to the playoffs, plans are to continue pre- and postgame shows, with Sox game analyst Jerry Remy moving to the studio to work with host Tom Caron and one of the studio analysts in the NESN rotation: Dennis Eckersley, Jim Rice, Gary DiSarcina, and Sam Horn. Play-by-play man Don Orsillo will become a reporter for NESN, doing pieces for the pre- and postgame shows and ''Sports Desk" operation.
''The worst thing for us is when we don't do games like Saturday and have to step aside for the networks when the playoffs arrive," said Orsillo. ''The team works all year to get there and you look forward to the postseason, but then you're not part of the game telecasts once it arrives."
Reporter Eric Frede will be moving to Bruins duty. Remy and the NESN crew gave Frede's work this season a salute during Tuesday night's telecast. ''Jerry started it, thanking him for two years of great work," said Orsillo. ''We're all appreciative of the great job [Frede] does."
Timing is everything
Patriots quarterback Tom Brady dropped a nugget in his postgame media session Sunday in talking about the winning drive. ''What more could you ask? There's 1:21 left I mean, we've seen that before." Sure have. That was what was on the Superdome clock in the fourth quarter of Super Bowl XXXVI against the Rams the night analyst John Madden suggested that the Patriots run out the clock and take their chances in overtime. Instead, Brady engineered the winning drive that culminated with an Adam Vinatieri 48-yard field goal and the Patriots' first Super Bowl championship . . . Hockey fans can get an NHL preview tomorrow (Channel 7, 2 p.m.) with the NBC broadcast team of Mike ''Doc" Emrick, John Davidson, reporter Pierre McGuire, and studio host Bill Clement. Later in the day, NESN has Rangers-Bruins from the Garden tomorrow night at 7 with Dale Arnold and Andy Brickley calling the team's only televised exhibition game and first televised game of any sort in more than a year . . . Rob Simpson, who will debut in tomorrow night's game, will be the Bruins' rinkside reporter for NESN and will host the week in review program, ''Granite City Electric Bruins Breakaway" . . . Interest in tomorrow's Purdue-Notre Dame matchup (ESPN, 7:45 p.m.) has been spurred by the Charlie Weis factor. And next Saturday's USC-Notre Dame matchup (Channel 7, 3:30 p.m.) has local ties for both teams with Weis and Southern Cal coach Pete Carroll (former Patriots head coach) squaring off . . . One Wildcat team will win tomorrow when UNH hosts Villanova (CN8, 12:30 p.m.). The local CN8 crew of Ed Berliner, Bob Norton, and Phil Burton call the game . . . The Revolution host San Jose tomorrow (Channel 56, WEEI radio, 7:30 p.m.) in a matchup of conference leaders in a battle for the season points lead -- the Revolution have 55, the Earthquakes 57 . . . North Shore listeners have been able to catch Sox games on a clear FM signal -- North Shore 104.9 -- since the All-Star break. For early risers, Bill Kipouras and Paul Halloran have a North Shore-oriented sports show Saturdays from 8-9 a.m. . . . Also on the regional radio front, Paul McNamara is doing a Middlesex League game of the week on WWZN (1510-AM) with Russ Rubin (voice of Agganis Arena at BU) and longtime Middlesex League observer Ed Maguire. Tonight's game is Burlington at Wakefield at 6:55.
