CBS `CAMERA SHY` FOR PLAYOFF GAMES

Ric LaCivita knows CBS has taken its share of hits over its baseball coverage. As the network`s coordinating producer, LaCivita has heard it all, from the whining about the lack of weekly continuity to blasts for cutting off a crucial game because it was running too long.

It`s been a bad year at Black Rock, and now LaCivita`s in charge of turning it around during the League Championship Series and World Series. And he`s trying to do it with a handicap.

”We`re doing the playoffs with less,” LaCivita admits. ”Television production has been impacted by the recession. That`s true for the NFL and for any CBS Sports telecast. But CBS has given me everything I need creatively. We`re just impacted like everybody else by a recession.”

Therefore, CBS is covering the playoffs and Series with one fewer camera, nothing the usual viewer would notice, LaCivita hopes.

”All you need is five cameras to do a baseball game,” says LaCivita.

”CBS is providing us all the resources to do the games, and it`s up to us to do them well.”

But that doesn`t mean everyone is satisfied. Bob Fishman, director of the American League series that moves to Toronto Friday night, is worried.

”You always want more cameras,” he says. ”You`ll never see that definitive, 100 percent replay now.”

– There were some smiles Thursday at CBS Sports when the Nielsen overnight ratings for Wednesday night`s NLCS opener improved over Tuesday night`s numbers for the ALCS game.

The Braves-Pirates contest got a 14.0 rating with a 14 share, a 15 percent improvement over last year`s Wednesday night game. ”We won the night,” said a CBS spokesperson. ”We had been in third place for the first three weeks of the new (TV) season.”

Tuesday`s Blue Jays-Twins contest got an 11.6 rating, the lowest ever for a prime-time baseball playoff game. The previous low was 12.2 for last year`s NLCS opener. It was an improvement, however, over the network`s Tuesday night rating from the week before.

Also working against the CBS in the ALCS is the fact that Toronto, despite being the largest city in Canada and the ninth largest in North America, isn`t measured by the Nielsen folks because Toronto`s not in the U.S. – And this from CBS play-by-play man Jack Buck on the subject of cutbacks:

”The announcers have been told to hold it down to two meals a day.” There were few chuckles.

– WGN Radio General Manager Dan Fabian on Cubs broadcaster Bob Brenly returning to the field next year as a San Francisco Giants coach: ”If he had decided to stay, he could have been outstanding. But I`m happy for him.” As for replacing Brenly, Fabian said it would be up to Ron Santo and whether the former Cubs third baseman felt comfortable going it alone as an analyst with Thom Brennaman.

– Program notes: PIA Radio Sports` Bulls Radio Network, with 35 affiliates signed up in a five-state area, begins Friday night with the team`s exhibition game against the Clippers. An additional 35 stations are interested in the package, according to a PIA spokesperson. Jeff Hagedorn is studio host and Lou Canellis is feature reporter for the broadcasts, which will include Bulls announcers Neil Funk and Tom Boerwinkle. . . . ”Albertville `92,” a syndicated hour-long preview of the Winter Olympics, airs on WGBO-Ch. 66 at 9 p.m. Saturday and again at 10 a.m. Sunday. . . . ABC has selected its Oct. 19 games, among them Tennessee-Alabama at 11 a.m. for WLS-Ch. 7, followed by Illinois-Iowa at 2:30 p.m. . . . Also Oct. 19, ESPN has picked Indiana-Michigan at 11:30 a.m. and Notre Dame-Air Force at 6:30 p.m. . . . Mike Childers and former Bears quarterback Bob Avellini discuss sports agents on the Mid-Continent Conference`s ”SportsCheck” at 7 p.m. Tuesday on WCBR-FM and WKKD-AM. . . . And an NBC official insists it`s just a coincidence WMAQ-Ch. 5 seems to get caught with an inordinate number of Chiefs games, such as this Sunday against the Dolphins (rather than the Oilers-Jets contest).

”As the No. 3 market,” a spokesman said, ”you should be getting our No. 1 team, Dick Enberg and Bill Walsh, as much as possible.”

– For those who didn`t tape it the first time around, SportsChannel, through the cooperation of the National Basketball Association, will replay all five games of the NBA Finals next month. SportsChannel is adding previously unseen footage plus analysis from Tom Dore and Red Kerr at pregame, halftime and postgame. Game 1 will air at 6 p.m. Oct. 27, followed immediately by Game 2. The rest: Game 3, 8 p.m. Oct. 28; Game 4, 8 p.m. Oct 30; and Game 5, 8 p.m. Oct. 31 (Happy Halloween). Believe it or not, the regular season begins Nov. 1.

– Former model and cosmetics spokeswoman Willow Bay (OK, she`s got an MBA from NYU) has been named co-host with Ahmad Rashad of ”NBA Inside Stuff,” the weekly magazine show on NBC. Bay replaces Julie Moran, who replaced Beth Ruyak at ABC Sports after Ruyak left sports for the network`s ”Home” show. Baseball managers aren`t the only ones who play musical chairs.

– CBS` Greg Gumbel is the new play-by-play man for 10 Philadelphia 76ers telecasts. He`ll team with analyst Steve Mix. ”I love the NBA and I miss it,” Gumbel, who called Knicks games for Madison Square Garden Network before joining CBS, told Gail Shister of the Philadelphia Inquirer. ”Last season was CBS` first without an NBA contract. I saw this as a chance to keep my hand in something I love.”

Originally Published: October 11, 1991 at 1:00 AM CDT