Chicago Tribune from Chicago, Illinois • Page 59

Chicago Tribune, Friday, August 28, 1998 Section 4 9 SOCCER SPORTS MEDIA CLTV turning into Wood's best receiver HB- BW.lliMilliMWJMltltipilttl-UI.J. fTW" A- A. r- i Michael Hirsley On Sports Media erry Wood wants all his remaining starts this season to be caught by CLTV because of his phenomenal success with that battery Mill IL.UIJ,I1WWIWWMIJIIMIII1WWJ1 W-ll 1 -V 1 a chance to talk to me definitively." Unreal: There has been a bit of "virtual not really there reality" in the Bears' preseason telecasts. And we're not talking about the Bears' offense. Virtual advertisements, a new presence on sports telecasts, look like billboards or on-field logos to TV viewers, but are electronically created and do not actually exist at the stadiums.

The Bears are selling such ads and sharing revenue with Princeton Video Image, one of this technology's innovators. PVI is displaying virtual ads on the four exhibition games on WBBM-Ch. 2. Where do you see these ads? They've; Photo for the Tribune by Mike KlngAP "I never, ever, envisioned myself refereeing at the professional level." Sandra Hunt, visiting with fellow official Tarek Khan above: popped up lixe electronic signs just to the right of goal posts, superimposed I over the first few rows of spectators, or empty seats, in the end zone. We've I spotted some for Subway and (uh-oh) Bears tickets.

The technology preserves the fantasy) of a real sign by letting the image be blocked, or by picking up shadows, i whenever fans or players pass in front! 'If I'm not nervous, then I'm not normal. I'm anxious. It's a long time to wait for a big Nancy Lay of it Players could likewise walk over mate. Just kidding. As superstitious as baseball players often are, Wood hasn't said he needs to be on cable channel CLTV rather than WGN.

Nope. That's just my superstition, based on CLTV's incredible knack for catching plenty of Wood's best outings 13 strikeouts against the Arizona Diamondbacks, a head-to-head victory over nearly unbeatable Greg Maddux of the Atlanta Braves and 16 strikeouts in eight innings Wednesday against the Cincinnati Reds. Of course, the reason a lot of Cubs fans don't want Wood on CLTV is because they can't see him there. The cable channel reaches 1.7 million Chicago market homes, while WGN-Ch. 9 reaches 3.1 million over the air in the Chicago market and many more across the country as a superstation.

There are 28 Cubs games left in the regular season. Ten are scheduled for CLTV. With the Cubs, Sammy Sosa and Wood still in the hunt, respectively, for the playoffs, home run record and rookie of the year, WGN is again in the position it was a month ago: It's considering switching some games from CLTV to WGN. No decisions have been made, but prime candidates are Sept. 8 against the Cardinals and Mark McGwire, Sept.

14-16 against the National League West-leading San Diego Padres and Sept. 22-23 against the Milwaukee Brewers. Cubs ratings on Ch. 9 have picked up dramatically in August, averaging 7.2. That has pulled the season average, which had been flat compared with last season, to 5.4, up 8 percent over last year's 5.0.

Each Chicago market ratings point represents 31,400 TV households. Running out the clock: Keith Jackson will retire after this, his 32nd season calling college football play-by-play for ABC Sports. Over those years, he says, the most dramatic innovations he has seen are use of shoulder cameras and videotape replays off the field, and "freeing the arms of offensive linemen when blocking" on the field. The worst intrusions of modern technology? "The Telestrator and replay are overworked," he complains. "The viewer needs time to breathe." Meanwhile, on ABC's team for NFL coverage, Frank Gifford says he's primed for "Monday Night Blast." He'll work with Chris Berman on the new 20 minute show preceding "Monday Night Football" this fall.

After 27 years in the MNF booth, Gifford will be narrating player profile features. While saying he looks forward to spending more time with his family, Gifford says passing the game-analyst baton to Boomer Esiason was "not handled very well by ABC." He cited "miscommunication," whereby the switch was "leaked out before they had the ads, but the NFL "has not yet approved for us to display it on the field," says Sam McCleery, PVI vice president of sales and marketing. I Virtual ads allow sponsors to get their product placement on TV during game action when viewers aren't clicking their remotes, instead of during commercials when they are channel-surfing. For viewers annoyed at the prospect of virtual ads proliferating, McCleery says a prize might come with the curse: "For people who want to reduce-; Baseball's Postema: The officiating pioneer who fell short of her goal Before Sandra Hunt, Nancy Lay, Dee Kantner and Violet Palmer, there was Pam Postema. Unlike her basketball and soccer counterparts, Postema, a baseball umpire, never reached the pinnacle of her profession, reaching the Class AAA level and working spring-training games but never landing a regular-season assignment.

Postema is thrilled that women are starting to clear the gender barrier and that she might have had a hand in it. "I think it's great," she said from her Mansfield, Ohio, home. "I think I might have helped. Finally, different sports are coming around. I think baseball will be the last.

The very last." Postema was a minor-league umpire from 1977 to 1989, spending seven of those years in the Class AAA Pacific Coast League. Despite regular work in spring training, she was never promoted to the majors. Baseball executives claimed she wasn't qualified; Postema claimed it was because she was a woman. She finally sued Major League Baseball, accepting a settlement in 1997. Now she works in a Honda auto plant in Mansfield.

"I miss umpiring," she said. "I don't think about it much anymore. I've been out of the game for nine years. I've moved on." She isn't surprised that four women are officiating in major pro leagues. She compares it to breaking the color line in sports.

"Before, people would say, 'Look, it's a she said. "Now, nobody cares as long as they're doing the job." While the sports world watches every at-bat of Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa and follows the Yankees' challenge of the single-season record for victories, Postema doesn't have much interest in baseball anymore. "I rarely watch a game, except for the World Series," she said. "I don't care much about it. They didn't care much about me." Bob Foltman Referees Continued from Page 1 "They have the skills and they have demonstrated it at all levels," Silva said.

"I think the assigner gritted his teeth one time and put our names down," Hunt said. "Then the feedback was positive and they said, 'What the heck, if they can do it, let's give them a I think it takes a lot of courage for them to put our names down, and I'm grateful for the opportunity." Said Lay: "If I'm not nervous, then I'm not normal. I'm anxious. It's a long time to wait for a big event." Hunt and Lay played competitively before becoming referees, Hunt in Seattle's Division I Open League and Lay at the University of Central Florida. Lay played in the first women's NCAA championship game in 1982.

Lay started her officiating career out of necessity. Hunt? She let her mouth get the better of her one day. "After games, I found myself most frustrated with the officiating and suggested that I could do a better job with one eye closed, hopping around on one foot," Hunt recalled. "I was encouraged to try it. I started doing it and started to enjoy it.

I realized that it's not as easy as it looks. I never, ever, envisioned myself refereeing at the professional level." After her playing days ended, Lay was a program director at a YMCA, running a soccer program involving 800 children. One night one of the referees failed to show up. Thus a career was born. Lay blended coaching and refereeing until 1993, when she decided to pursue just the officiating.

"I figured I can coach when I'm 50," she said. "I probably won't be able to run up and down when I'm 50." Hunt and Lay hope to make as smooth an entrance into the officiating ranks as the NBA's Dee Kantner, who along with Violet Palmer became the first women tne lengtn oi game telecasts, virtual advertising would allow sponsors to show more ads without commercial breaks." Sofa surfing: HBO's "Boxing After Dark" earned an impressive 7.4 rating Saturday, fueled by a season-high 8.1 I during the main event, a split-decision slugfest victory for Ivan Robinson over! Arturo GattL Their lightweight fight earned the series' highest rating this season, watched in more than 210,000 TV homes Brent Musburger and Orioles Hall of Fame pitcher Jim Palmer, both former Little Leaguers, will announce the Little League World Series championship live at 2:30 p.m. Saturday on WLS-Ch. 7 Showtime is set to air two middleweight title fights beginning at 9 p.m. Friday.

Bernard Hopkins defends his title against Robert Allen, while William Joppy meets grizzled Roberto Duran, whose 115 fights are 27 more than the other three fighters' combined. to officiate NBA games last season. "My experience the first year was wonderful," Kantner said. "I don't think I experienced anything unusual because of my gender. I really believe that most people respected the fact that if the NBA or MLS or any professional league is going to hire women, they would have to be qualified, because the scrutiny is going to be kicked up just a tad." Kantner heard plenty of abuse from the players and coaches but said it was more because she was a rookie than a woman.

She also said her presence gave the hecklers an opportunity for new material. "I was allowing the fans to use their vocabulary in a different way," Kantner joked. "They got to think of abuses for referees in ways they haven't before." Kantner has some simple advice for Hunt and Lay: Be confident and strong. "Obviously the scrutiny is going to be higher, and there are going to be people who try to intimidate them," she said. "But if they exhibit strength, the scrutiny will dissipate." Joe Machnik, MLS vice president of game operations, conceded that MLS and U.S.

Soccer had ulterior motives for grooming Hunt and Lay. The organizations hope to prepare women officials for next year's Women's World Cup, which will be in the United States. FIFA will assign the World Cup officials, and Hunt and Lay hope their performance attracts FIFA's attention. "Right now there isn't a woman international referee from the United States," Hunt said. "Hopefully that will change." pfE RATED In the Top 25 ITik A -V 1 i fa Public Courses LlflkS S0)n 1 FiSOjK I 27 Championship ttfF VJr 2 a (lit wn vivn $17 wttu part I $10 WALKING $17 WITH CART Fire's quest for a title blown away by Bonnie i Brae Loch, Qrayalake Your Ouimg Sfcu.l, CtU Utf (847) 223-5542 Fort Sheridan Hlghwood (847)266-2120 Countryside Mundelein (847) 566-5544 before 3pm; Fri.

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With the Norfolk Airport closed Wednesday, the Fire had to be bused to Washington, D.C., and get a flight directly to Kansas City, where it will play the Wizards on Saturday. A Fire victory will clinch a playoff position for the first-year team. The Crew will face the Galaxy on Saturday in Los Angeles. Columbus also was bused to Washington for a flight to Pittsburgh en route to Los Angeles. The Open Cup committee will meet with the Fire, Crew and MLS officials next week to try and reschedule the championship match.

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Hurricane Bonnie slammed into North Carolina on Wednesday, when the U.S. Open Cup championship match between the Fire and Columbus Crew was to be played in Virginia Beach, Va. Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore declared a state of emergency for the area and the match was rescheduled for Thursday night Strong winds and up to 10 inches of rain were forecast for the Virginia Beach area Thursday prompting U.S. Soccer to again postpone the match Thursday morning.

"After consulting with MLS Commissioner Doug Logan, it was determined that it was in the best interest of the fans and teams to postpone the game indefinitely," U.S. Soccer's Secretary General Hank Steinbrecher said in a statement Thursday. "Clearly we were caught in a no-win situation," Steinbrecher said. "We had hoped by delaying for one' day we would be able to fit the game in, but when the hurricane slowed down it took away any chance i MJ-S WHOLESALE GOLF, LTD 888-647-1 OGO Put your corporate logo or name on a titleistl We buy direct from factory WEEKENDS AFTER 2 PM WEEKDAYS ANYTIME 18 Hole Championship Course Driving Range Golf Outing PackagesFull Pro Shop Deli Permanent Tee Times Available $37 Weekday Green Fees Cart $44 Weekend Green Fees Cart $2S Foursome Special Mon thru Thurs Course in Country 1986 Golf I by Oolt Dicks! SENIORS WEEKDAY 15 ANYTIME (F1ATF PFR PERSON FOR TWO OR MORE GOLFERS PLUS fAX COUPON REQUIRED) EXPIRES 9tiya GOLF DIRECTORY Runs on Friday in the CHICAGO TRIBUNE SPORTS Section. For advertising rates and information on ad placement, contact Jenny Diaz at (312) 222-4073.

Tim Bob Foltman.