Greeley Daily Tribune from Greeley, Colorado • Page 35

TV Sports Boom-Part II Nov. 21,1975 GRKKLEY (Colo.) TRIBUNE 35 NBC sports claims more prestige events, more hours By WILL GRIMSLEY By WILL GRIMSLEY AP Special Correspondent NEW YORK (AP) When the boys on Madison Avenue start talking about the sports network war between ABC's Roone Arledge and CBS 1 Bob Wussler, the old pro, Carl Lindemann, smirks and tilts the leather chair in his Rockefeller Plaza office. "At NBC, we carry more hours on sports than either of the other two," he says proudly. "About 400 this year. I think each of the other guys is in the 350 range.

"That's not all, we show more prestige events and have more live hours. About six- eighths of what we do is live." Lindemann, 52, started out as an engineer and moved up -pers on the network's plans for through the ranks of the net- televising the Rose and Orange work. As he spoke he admired the latest research figures showing that the recent World Series shattered all records for a TV audience, with a total of more than 393 million and close to 76 million foe the final game. At the same time, he was shuffling through sheaths of pa- Bowl football games, a 90-game NCAA college basketball schedule, the World Championship Tennis series plus Wimbledon and other tournaments and an additional four golf tournaments for 1976. No one would suspect that sports network television -was AFC Team Baltimore Buffalo Cincinnati Cleveland Denver Houston Kansas City Miami New England New York J.

Oakland Pittsburgh San Diego LastWeek: 11-2 Ratings NFC Team Atlanta Chicago Dallas Detroit Green Bay Los Angeles Minnesota New Orleans New York G. Philadelphia San Francisco St. Louis Washington Rating 101.82 101.39 103.08 90.61 96.89 103.30 99.96 109.89 96.89 92.78 109.99 111.57 90.96 Rating 92.33 88.99 102.11 98.21 96.00 106.01 109.27 90.07 97.56 100.29 101.11 Season: 89-28 76.1 per cent The NFC East Division has one of the closest races in recent years. St. Louis leads Washington and Dallas by one game in the fight for the Division title with Philadelphia and the Giants just filling out the remainder of the schedule.

In the NFL, a team plays each team in its own division twice during a season. Dallas began the divisional play by defeating St. Louis, 3731, in an overtime game in Dallas. Washington then defeated Dallas, 30-24, also in overtime, in Washington. St.

Louis completed the cycle last week by defeating Washington, 20-17, in sudden death in St. Louis. The odds are astronomical against three teams playing three overtime games with each other where each team wins one game at home and loses one game on the road. St. Louis lost to Washington earlier in the year, 2717, in Washington.

That game must be classified as a rout in light of the other games between the three teams. The loss to St. Louis put Washington in a precarious position with respect to the playoffs. First, the Redskins now trail St. Louis by one game and do not play the Cardinals again.

Second, the Redskins have lost a game to Philadelphia in their division and the divisional record is the second tie breaker rule THEPEOPLEAT the ALPINE HAUS will fit ALL your NEEDS equipment, clothing, and rentals. flLPUlE BflUS GREELEY 1600 EIGHTH AVE.332-2363, 231911th AVE.330-2450, for the playoffs. Third, Washington must play Oakland and Minnesota the next two weeks besides meeting Dallas in Dallas. The playoff hopes of the Redskins are.doubtful, though not impossible. Not to be outdone, the AFC Central Division is a dogfight with Cincinnati and Pittsburgh tied for the lead, with Houston one game back at 7-2.

Cincinnati and Pittsburgh have been responsible for Houston's two losses and Pittsburgh gave the Bengals their only defeat. With Cincinnati's victory over Buffalo on Monday night, the Wild Card team is assured of coming from the Central Division. Baltimore and Buffalo are 54 and trail Houston by two games and both Cincinnati and Pittsburgh by three games with only five weeks left. If Buffalo and Baltimore win their last five games, they could tie Miami at 104, hut that is really no chance at all. Detroit has jumped into the playoff picture with a 6-3 record.

With.Joe Reed at quarterback, it is hard to seriously consider the Lions as a threat, but the fact remains that they are tied with Washington and Dallas for the best second place record at this moment. The Lions finish with Los Angeles, Minnesota and St. Louis so I will stay with my prediction of St. and Dallas as playoff teams. Baltimore at Miami Miami by 10 Chicago at Los Angeles Los Angeles by 20 Cincinnati at Cleveland Cincinnati by 10 Denver at Atlanta Denver by 3 Detroit at Kansas City Kansas City by 3 New England at Buffalo Buffalo by 7 New York G.

at Green Bay Green Bay by 1 Oakland at Washington Oakland by 7 Philadelphia at Dallas Dallas by 8 St. Louis at New York St. Louis by 6 San Diego at Minnesota Minnesota by 21 San Francisco at New Orleans San Francisco by 7 Pittsburgh at Houston Pittsburgh by 6 Pittsburgh-Houston is a rematch of the teams that fought down to the wire in Pittsburgh two weeks ago. The Steelerb pulled it out with a touchdown pass in the closing minutes to win 24-17. The Steelers have won seven straight games with Terry Bradshaw directing-the offense in flawless fashion.

The defense is not as awesome as last year, but it allows fewer points than the offense scores and that's all that counts. I still think Houston is playing better than it knows how in much the way that New England played last year in Uie first eight games. Houston is proof that a team can play solid football without relying on a "superstar." Dan Pastorini is adequate at quarterback with good wide receivers in Billy Johnson and Ken Burrough. The running backs, Ron Coleman and Don Ilardeman, are good but not explosive. The defense is a patchwork of castoffs from other teams.

expect a low scoring game with Pittsburgh winning on a couple of Roy Gerela field goals. The Oakland-Washington game should be a bruising battle. I am anxious to see how the Washington secondary fares against Cliff Branch and Fred Biletnikoff. I think Stabler will carve up the Redskins' defense for 30 points or more. The Washington offense will be in severe trouble against Oakland.

The Raiders pick up backs out of the backfield as well as any team in the NFL. That should force Randy Johnson to throw longer passes into the fine defensive secondary. It will he interesting to see how Charlie Taylor and Southern Colorado's Frank Grant match-up against the Ohio State headhunters Jack Talum and Neal Colzie. If Johnson is on target, it will be a highscoring game. I like Oakland, even though the Raiders can afford to lose a couple of games.

The Baltimore Colts' honeymoon will end this week in Miami. The Colts have won four straight and over that stretch have averaged 40 points per game. The defense has allowed 22 points a game, though. Bert Jones will be fortunate to score half of the 40 points against Miami. Bob Griese will lead the Dolphins to at least four touchdowns against the porous Colts' defense.

at the saturation point, as trade journals have suggested. "I don't see any falloff," Lindemann said. "But we may have reached the limit of the advertising dollar for sports. So the best thing for us to do is say to ourselves, 'Okay, fellows, this is it. Now let's make it Lindemann is a realist.

It is his feeling that the sports fan has had his fill of the way-out gimmickry--demolition der- ies, barrel-jimping, arm-wrestling and is ready for a steak- and-potatoes diet. "We take the position that the event is the most important thing," he said. "We are as concerned as anybody over the quality of our announcers. We strive for attractive personalities. But our direction has been away from the wild and the off-beat." This concept is carried over to NBC's weekend piece de resistance, Sunday's "Grand: stand," the network's answer to ABC's "Wide World of Sports" and CBS' "Sports Spectacular." "This is an idea borrowed from overseas, mainly Britain's BBC, which keeps sports going wil keep j(a Saturd throughout the weekend, Wus- and ABC will televise a Mon- sler said.

"We build the pro- dsy night game as jt now does gram around one main event-a big golf tournament or a tennis tournament--and we cut away for other events that are in progress elsewhere. It's all live, all topical, all fast-paced." ABC's 'Wide World' has been the popular pace-setter in this type of entertainment, usually offering a wiae variety. CBS is throwing a lot of money--a 40 to 60 per cent increase in the budget--into The jury is still out on "Grandstand." Lindemann, of Hackensack, N.J., joined NBC as a student engineer in 1953. Later he became associate producer of the "Kate Smith Show." He was made head of NBC Sports in 1963. In the ensuing 12 years, he has won some and lost some.

NBC had a monopoly on major league baseball until recently, when Commissioner Bowie Kuhn signed a new $92.8 million contract dividing the spoils between NBC and ABC. Under the agreement, NBC in football. The two will alternate on the big features. When NBC has the World Series, as it does in 1976, ABC will get the league playoffs and the All-Star Game. In 1977, it's the other way around.

NBC dropped its $6 million contract with the National Hockey League, claiming the sport lacks national appeal, and paid $4.5 million to televise 90 college basketball games. Lindemann insists this has been a successful move. He scored a coup in 1964 when he signed a $42 million contract with the then-struggling American Football League and went head-to-head with the powerful National Football League on CBS. This move saved the AFL and brought about a merger, putting NBC solidly into football. Ironically, while CBS' games of the older National Conference, and ABC's Monday night game sagged in the ratings last year, NBC showed an increase.

Colorado has four make all-Big fight By ROBERT MOORE AP Sports Writer KANSAS CITY (AP) Take a speedster, add a star with magic in his feet, a natural runner and a big bruiser and you have the backfield of the 1975 All-Big Eight Conference football team named today by The Associated Press. The speedster is Nolan Cromwell of Kansas, the change-of- pace artist Joe Washington of Oklahoma, the do-il-with-ease ace Terry Miller of Oklahoma State and the grind-it-out guy Terry Kunz of Colorado. Cromwell, converted from safety, is the quarterback. He leads the conference in rushing, Kunz is second, Miller fourth and Washington sixth. Who does the passing? Really, who needs passing with a quartet that can run like this one but if you do, lap Steve Pisarkiewicz of Missouri off the vidual offensive stars but are a collection of outstanding players who have jelled into a crack club.

Cromwell, who has averaged 107.1 yards a game, is the big surprise of the Big Eight. He is the only player in the league who has run for more than 1,000 yards this season. Kunz has averaged 92.7 yards, Miller 90.6 and Washington 83.6. Washington also leads the conference in scoring with 74 points. Marshall has caught 39 passes for 894 yards and seven touchdowns and Hasselbeck 20 for 214 yards and three TDs.

All torn- players aru among the league's top 10 in total offense. The placekicker? Tony DiRienzo of Oklahoma, who tops the circuit in his specialty with 67 points on 13 field goals and 28 extra points. The front five on defense, led Miller was the only sophomore on offense to earn a berth on the team. Sophomores on the defensive unit are Spani and Henderson. Bonness, Washington, Martin, the Selmon brothers, Elrod and Knoff are all repeaters from the 1974 team.

"We were lucky," acknowledged Lindemann. "We got the more exciting teams--New York Jets, Miami, Buffalo, Denver--and the more exciting players, Joe Namath, O.J. Simpson, Jim Plunkett and Ken Stabler." Football continues to be the highest rated and highest priced commodity on network television. NBC gets $80,000 to $100,000 a minute in commercial revenues for its Sunday doubleheaders and $110,000 a minute for the AFC title game. The Super Bowl, aired by NBC last January, demands $230,000 a minute compared with $100,000 a minute for World Series games.

However, the seventh game of the World Series topped the Super Bowl's 1975 record of 71,260,000 viewers. Where does this money come advertisers, principally the three big automobile manufacturers, tire companies and makers of household and sports equipment items. With his feet firmly planted in the two biggest sports, baseball and football, Lindemann is seeking to enlarge his network's horizon. "We have added four golf tournaments and are deeply committed to tennis," he said. "We will provide live coverage, beginning Feb.

15, of 10 Sunday matches in the WCT Challenge Series with eight of the world's top tennis players. "We also will do the French, Italian and Wimbledon championships, Family Cup, American Airlines and WCT Doubles Final. If it's true there are 40 million tennis players, a lot of them must want to watch it." Next: Roonc Arledge, ABC's Wonder Boy second team. He's (he league's bv Oklahoma's Selmon brothers No. 1 aerial wizard and came and Dewey aver- awfully close (o earning a berth a 8 es more han 235 pounds, on the first team.

The ends are Jimbo Elrod of Oklahoma and Bob Martin of Nebraska. With Leroy Selmon at the other tackle post is Mike Butler of Kansas. Dewey Selmon is the guard. Gary Spani of Kanuas State, Mike Koncar of Colorado and Gary Campbell of Colorado and Mike Vaughan of Oklahoma. Wonder Monds of Nebraska are Terry Webb of Oklahoma and Derrel Gofourth of Oklahoma State are the guards.

Henry Marshall, another Missouri dandy, and Don Hasselback of Colorado are the ends. Marshall lops the conference in receiving. The offensive tackles are Rik Bonness, the lone Nebraska representative, is the center. The second-ranked and unbeaten and untied Huskers, as voting by newsmen indicates, don't have the big indi- (he linebackers. Ken Downing of Missouri and Kurt Knoff of Kansas are the cornerbacks and Zac Henderson of Oklahoma the safety.

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Tackles Mike Koncar, Colorado, senior, 6 5 266, Murray, Utah; Mike Vaughan, Oklahoma, iunior, 65, 282, Ads, Okta. Guards Terry Webb, Oklahoma, sen. ior, 60, 247, Muskogee, Derrel Gofourth, Oklahoma State, 6-2, 22fl, Parsons, Kan. Center Rike Bonness, Nebraska, senior, 6-4, 223, Dellevue, Neb. Quarterback Nolan Cromwell, Kan.

sas, junior, Ransom, Kan. Running backs Joe Washington, Oklahoma, senior, 5-10, 1BJ, Port Arthur, Terry Miller, sophomore, Oklahoma State, 6 0, 166, Colorado Springs, Terry Kunz. Colorado, senior, 6-2, 215, Wheat Ridqe, Colo. PlacE-klcker Tony DiRienzo. Oklahoma, senior, 5-10, 187, Ardmore.

Okla. Second Team Oflenit Ends Bobby Thomas, Nebraska, jun ior, 5 8, 162, Bridgeport, Forry Smith. Iowa State, senior, Waterloo, Iowa. Tackles Bob Llngenfeller, Nebraska, junior, 6 7 282, Plainview, Steve Hoins, Nebraska, junior, 6-3, 246, Belle- vuc, Neb. Guards Dan Schmidt, Nebraska, junior, 6 222, North Plattc, Dob Bos, lowa State, senior, 6 5 2se, Brookfieid, Wis Center Pete Brock, Colorado, senior, 6-6, 248, Beavr rton.

Ore Quartprbark Steve Mis- iouri, juiiior, 6-3, 197, Ferguson, MO. Running backs Laverr.r Smith, Kan sas, junior, 60, 190, Wichita, Tony Galbreath, Missouri, senior, 6 1, 225, Ful ion, Tony Davis, Nebraska, senior, 5 11, 214. fccumseh. Neb. Placekicker Tim Gibbons, Missouri, lUniOT, 5 11, 177, St.

LOUiS, MO. Honorable Mention Owens, Oklahoma. rado; Steve Davis, Oklahoma; Vince Per- ragamo, Nebraska. Running hacks Mike Williams and Jim Wingender, lowa State; Monte Anthony, Nebraska; Horace ivory, Oklahoma; Tony Reed, Colorado; Robert Turner, Ok- Ishorna State. First Team Defense Hnds Jimbo Elrod, Oklahoma senior, 6-0, 307, Tulsa, Bob Martin, Nebra ska, senior, 6 1, 208, David City, Neb.

tackles Lerov Selmon, Oklahoma, senior, 6-3, 95fi, Eufaula, Mike Butler, Kansas, junior, 66, 255, Washington, D.C. Guard Dowry Selmon, Oklahoma, senior, 6 1, 257, Eufauld. Okld. Slate, sophomore, 6 3 215, Manhattan, Gary Campbell. Colorado, senior, 6 1, 219, Honolulu, Hawaii; Wonder Monds, Nebraska, senior.

62, 204, Tort Pierce, Fia Cornerbacks Ken Downing, Missouri, senior, 5-11, 17B. Aurora, Mo Kurt Knoff, Kansas, senior, 6 3, 300, Easl Grand Forks, Minn. Saloty Zac Henderson. Oklahoma, sophomore, 6 I. 1BO, Burkuurnetl, Tex.

DDOBMTY Ends Iroy Archer, Colorado, senior, 6 4, 741, Whittier. Calif Dob McRoberts, Missouri, senior, 6 1, 210, Ladue, Mo. Tackles Phillip DOKCS, Oklahoma State, junior, 6 5, 756, Lillle Rock, Ark Mike Nnhraska, junior, 6 5 275, Lincoln. Neb. Guard John Lee, senior, 6 1, 2-J3, Rod Bank.

Linebackers Brent Robinson, Okla homa State, senior, 6 0, Dallas. Tex Carl Penninglon, Kansas Stale, iunior, 6 278. Forsytn. Clctus Pi Ncn Cornerbacks Dave Butterfield. Nc uaska, iunior, 5 10.

183, Kersey. Cole Jrrry Anderson, Oklahoma, sophomore, 6 0, Murfcciboro, Tenn Satetv Jim Burrow. Nebraska, son ior, 5 170, Amory, MiSS Honorable Mention fnds Mike Phillips. OkMho-ra, PhiH-ps. Nebraska Steve Younq, CotoradO; Dave Scojt, Kan pr-tv F.ckrlbrroer, Nebraska.

Tom Dorsey. Kansas Center John Morgan, Kansas, Gary Chlouber, Oklahoma S'ate. Quarterbacks David Colo How to walk softly and carry off a big new look. Slip into a pair of Dexter soft solers. Supple leather with genuine Plantation crepe soles.

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