Byline: PETE DOUGHERTY
NFL coaches complain about instant replay. Baseball fans should join them.
Anyone watching postseason coverage on Fox, in particular, has to be confused, if not nauseated, at the number of ``recaps'' the network has shown.
Take, for instance, Monday night's deciding game of the Boston-Cleveland division series. Sixteen runs were scored in the first four innings, none in the next three. Yet throughout the fifth, sixth and seventh innings, we could look at the screen and see balls flying over the fence and baserunners stomping on home plate -- all from earlier in the game.
For those who were home alone, watching without distractions, this was fine. Baseball, though, is more of a passive watch. Many will watch in bars or in large groups at home. Others will play on a computer or do household chores, using the game telecast as background.
Baseball isn't busy enough to have viewers staring at the screen for three (and these days, four) hours unless you're a passionate fan of a team involved. You tend not to focus fully on the game until you see players circling the bases.
Unfortunately, when you watch Fox -- or, to a lesser extent, NBC -- you don't know if what you're watching is live, or taped from earlier innings or even previous games.
All it takes is a simple graphic, saying ``3rd inning'' or ``last night'' to avoid the confusion.
In these days of cluttered screens, one more graphic shouldn't be a burden.
Jets grounded: WRGB (Ch. 6) made the wise move this week by booking today's Raiders-Bills game as its 1 p.m. CBS offering instead of the originally scheduled Colts-Jets.
``Folks are wanting to see the Bills,'' said Tom Long, WRGB's general manager. ``Maybe it would go the other way if the Jets were doing really well.''
The Jets are 1-4 after Monday night's loss to Jacksonville. The Bills are 4-1. The decision really isn't that hard.
``We're never going to please everybody,'' Long acknowledged, ``but at this point in time, (the Bills) are the New York team that's on a roll.''
Long said the station considered the Dolphins-Patriots at 1, ``but we haven't had as much interest in New England as we have the Bills.''
Coming attractions: Reporter Sonja Steptoe examines Pete Rose's quest to gain reinstatement into baseball in ``Page One,'' which airs at 7:30 tonight on CNN. . . . Televised NHL games have only three commercial interruptions per period this year instead of four, but those breaks have been expanded from 60 to 90 seconds. Network telecasts also will have extended intermissions.
Behind the mikes: Former Georgetown coach John Thompson has signed on with Turner as an NBA analyst. If ESPN can make Sterling Sharpe, another media-unfriendly star, into a strong broadcaster, maybe Turner can do it with Thompson.
Radio dial: ``Big Board Sports'' will originate Thursday night from the University at Albany's Recreation and Convocation Center and focus on the school's move to Division I athletics. Pete Dougherty's TV/Radio column is published Sundays. He can be reached by calling 454-5416 or by e-mail at pdougherty@timesunion.com.
