he 2003 Red Sox TV schedule seemed pretty simple when it was released in January: Tune in to NESN. If the game's not there and it's Friday, try Channel 38. But as we approach Monday's season opener at Tampa Bay, there are some footnotes to the schedule.
Footnote I comes with Game 1: NESN will broadcast the opener (a 5 p.m. start), then pick up the Bruins-Tampa Bay game in progress. That means neither a Red Sox postgame show nor a Bruins pregame show.
Footnote II comes Tuesday with Game 2, another Bruins-Red Sox conflict. This time, the Red Sox telecast moves from NESN to ATT3 (on Comcast) and similar alternate channels on other providers for the 7 p.m. start in Tampa Bay, complete with pregame and postgame shows. The Bruins at Ottawa game will be on NESN, also at 7.
Footnote III comes next Saturday, this time a matinee conflict, with the Sabres in town as the Bruins close out their regular season (NESN, 1 p.m.) The Sox at Baltimore game again moves to that list of alternate channels headed by ATT3. A list of those channels can be found on www.boston.com/NESN.
Footnote IV: The Boston market. Technically, it's called the Boston DMA or ''designated market area,'' but for Sox fans it means the communities that will get Channel 38's Sox telecasts as opposed to NESN's. Most of Eastern and Central Mass. and a few southern New Hampshire counties make up the Boston DMA. To check your community, there's a map at the Boston.com/NESN website. Tonight's Sox-Braves exhibition game (Channel 38 in the Boston DMA, NESN elsewhere, 7 p.m.) should be a good final test of the setup. The first regular-season game scheduled for Channel 38 is next Friday at Baltimore.
Footnote V: The games on Channel 38 in the Boston market will be the exact feed seen on NESN in the ''secondary market.'' So don't claim either has better camera work. The differences: The graphics, and the Channel 38 telecasts won't carry NESN's pregame and postgame shows.
True expert analysis
Sox fans can only shake their heads at this study in frustration-by-juxtaposition.
One of this season's big stories figures to be how the Red Sox bullpen will fare in the great ''Closer by Committee'' experiment.
Meanwhile, working the pregame and postgame telecasts in NESN's studios behind the left-field stands will be Dennis Eckersley, the onetime Red Sox starter who went on to fame and fortune as the premier closer of his time with the Oakland A's.
The Eck's credentials are a monument to achievement in his two careers: starter and closer. Cy Young Award, MVP, World Series ring. The numbers: 197 wins, 390 saves, 1,071 appearances. And add the mental toughness to come back from giving up Kirk Gibson's 1988 World Series home run to continue to dominate.
But playing until age 44 took a toll, too. ''I missed a lot of life,'' he said, a reference to travel, separation, and a battle with alcohol. Of the four years since, he says, ''Life has been a lot more interesting.'' With one grown and two growing children, he appreciates the opportunity at NESN, ''but I don't want to be at the park every day,'' he said. ''One or two games a week will be fine.'' In short, a closer's schedule.
He's scheduled to work pregame and postgame shows Tuesday and Wednesday. He worked a practice show with the NESN crew yesterday and already knows one thing after four years away from the game. ''There have been a lot of changes,'' he said. ''The game passes you by quickly.''
Radio daze
WEEI will carry all the Red Sox games, and it will be the 21st season for Joe Castiglione and the 11th for Jerry Trupiano. Both general manager Theo Epstein and manager Grady Little will be heard daily on the pregame shows. WEEI's regular baseball guests during the season include CEO Larry Lucchino on ''Dennis and Callahan'' Thursdays at 8 a.m. and Jerry Remy on the same show Wednesdays at 9 a.m. ESPN's Peter Gammons joins Glenn Ordway's ''The Big Show'' Thursdays at 3 p.m., and Sean McAdam visits with ''Dale & Neumy'' Wednesdays at noon. ''Red Sox Baseball Today'' with Bob Neumeier, McAdam, and Steve Buckley resumes Sunday from 9 a.m. to game time with Gammons joining via phone at 11 a.m. In addition, the station will broadcast from Fenway's Diamond Room before and after games ... The Spanish Baseball Network, with play-by-play man Uri Berenguer and analysts J.P. Villamon and Luis Tiant, will broadcast all 162 games on a network headed by flagship WROL as the flagship of a radio network with outlets in Hartford, Lawrence, Providence, Worcester, Webster, and likely Brockton. But the big news is the SBN's audio will be heard as SAP (second audio program) on all NESN telecasts.
Remy going distance
Remy is back for his 16th season, working the 151 games scheduled for NESN and Channels 38 and 4. He'll also likely be asked to do some Fox national broadcasts. On the 123 NESN-only games, he'll work alongside third-year play-by-play man Don Orsillo. On Channel 38, he'll work with former Channel 25 partner Sean McDonough, also working his 16th season of Sox telecasts. Instead of commiserating with McDonough's reduced workload, Remy dubbed his partner ''Sergeant Friday,'' a reference to McDonough's regular schedule of Friday games ... With the Bruins heading for the playoffs and almost certain additional conflicts with Sox telecasts, Tom Caron will remain on hockey when both teams play the same night. NESN newcomer Eric Frede will assume Caron's baseball duties for the first road trip and any subsequent Bruins conflicts ... Bob Rodgers will serve as host of both the ''Boston Globe Pre-game Report'' and ''W.B. Mason Extra Innings'' shows on NESN with a rotating team of new analysts that will include Eckersley, Bob Tewksbury, Jim Rice, and Sam Horn. Tewksbury will work Monday's opener. NESN also plans to do a second half-hour postgame show, ''Extra Extra Innings.'' ... Again this season, NESN will rebroadcast games in its two-hour ''Sox in Two'' format. Generally, games Sunday through Thursday will re-air both at midnight and noon while Friday and Saturday games will re-air only at midnight ... Channel 38's Sunday night ''Red Sox this Week'' show at 10:30 p.m. will be a ''must-see'' this week as it originates from the new seats above the Green Monster. Channel 4's ''Sports Final'' also will use the perch over the wall as its Sunday night set at 11:30 p.m. Channel 38 also plans a special version of ''Red Sox This Week: The Season Ahead'' tomorrow at 8 p.m. Lobel will be joined by Epstein, Gammons, and McAdam. The show also features segments on why Pedro Martinez stands apart from all other pitchers, a discussion among Lobel, Neumeier, and WTKK's Mike Barnicle on Martinez's place in Boston sports history, an Alice Cook interview with Pedro, and Cook moderating a round-table chat with prospects Freddy Sanchez, Julio Zuleta , and Kevin Youkilis.
ESPN kicks it off
ESPN has the season opener (as it did for the NFL last fall) with Texas vs. Anaheim Sunday at 8 p.m., the 14th season for the network's ''Sunday Night Baseball'' schedule. It's also the 14th season for Jon Miller and Joe Morgan. ESPN's Sunday baseball ratings were up 11 percent a year ago, to 2.04, a testimony to the innovations such as the ''K-Zone'' and overall quality of the productions. This year's technological news is that ESPN will kick off a major marketing push for High Definition TV with the opener. The Red Sox are scheduled for two early-season ESPN appearances: April 27 at Anaheim and May 11 at Minnesota, with more certainly to come. The ESPN Sunday night schedule only is complete through June 29 ... Fox has national baseball for the eighth straight season and third as home of the All-Star Game and all postseason play. The Sox start the Fox schedule May 17 against the world champion Angels at 1 p.m. The Sox join the Yankees, Cardinals, and Cubs with nine Fox games ... Of course Sox telecasts go from the national to the community. Wilmington's WCTV (community access) host Rick Aronofsky started his fourth season of ''Red Sox Weekly,'' March 11 with Rico Petrocelli in studio and Sox owner John Henry joining via phone for 20 minutes.
Bill Griffith's e-mail address is griffith@globe.com
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