Best of Neil's Watchdog
Felix tells it like it is
Thank you, WatchDog Block Association, for responding to the invitation to e-mail me your favorite athlete cameos of TV seasons past. Among the picks (in addition to the five in the Friday paper):
Kevin McHale on "Cheers,'' Leo Durocher on "The Munsters,'' Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on "Diff'rent Strokes,'' Derek Jeter and Bernie Williams on "Seinfeld," and Deacon Jones, Bobby Riggs and Billie Jean King on "The Odd Couple.''
Speaking of "The Odd Couple,'' even though Howard Cosell was no jock, my favorite sports-related guest spot was his visit to that show in 1975.
To make a long story short, Felix Unger eventually grabs the mike and starts calling a Giants-Cowboys game, among other things noting that Roger Staubach "is scrambling with the dexterity of a lizard!''
Then, his memorable signoff: "A quitter never wins and a winner never quits!''
Oh, heck, I can't do it justice. Look here: youtube.com/watch? v=z5gbYmrUBwE
Rosenberg back on WFAN
Well, this should be interesting:
WatchDog has learned that Sid Rosenberg is scheduled to work his old midday shift at WFAN for two weeks: before, during and after the All-Star break.
Subway Series goes old school
Baseball fans of a certain age remember when most Mets and Yankees games were shown on Channels 9 and 11.
Those days are long gone, but both teams still appear a couple of dozen times a year on the channels, having now reversed positions, with the Mets on 11 and Yanks on 9.
And in a schedule quirk, all three games in this weekend's Subway Series are on one of the two stations.
In the early days of cable TV, the reason often given for keeping some games on over-the-air TV was that it allowed non-cable households to remain connected to their teams.
You don't hear that much anymore, not with about 96 percent of metropolitan-area homes subscribing to cable, satellite or phone company TV.
The biggest reason broadcast channels still are in the game is that YES and SNY subcontract a portion of their schedules to offset some of the costs of covering the long season.
High drama on the pitch
I admit I'm a soccer fan only once every four years, but Friday's World Cup tilt between the United States and Slovenia was hugely entertaining.
Comebacks! Controversy! A renewal of tensions between the United States and Mali!
To their credit, announcers Ian Darke and John Harkes were on to the Malian ref's struggles well before he disallowed what would have been the winning goal for the United States.
That gave Darke credibility to declare that in the end the fellow "wasn't good enough.''
ESPN analyst Alexi Lalas later added the ref's work was "a disgrace.''
I'm not qualified to judge one way or another, but I know this: The soap opera was great TV for a weekday morning.
Speaking of the World Cup, New York rarely is among the ratings leaders for nationally televised sports events. But in the early stages of the tournament, the area ranked second only to Miami among major markets for the English-language coverage on ABC and ESPN.
Blyleven is a Dutch treat
Hearty congratulations to Bert Blyleven, winner of a media vote sponsored by the Grand Central Oyster Bar and Heineken to select the all-time best sports figure of Dutch heritage.
Why? Because of the restaurant's ongoing Holland Herring Festival. Duh!
"I would love to eat some Dutch herring; It's been awhile!'' the big winner said in a news release sent by a creative public relations man. (Blyleven, a Twins announcer, is expected to visit the restaurant Friday, before the Twins-Mets game.)
Jim Kaat and mixed martial arts practitioner Bas Rutten tied for second.
Somehow, Joe Nieuwendyk (Cornell Class of '88) was left off the ballot. I voted for him as a write-in candidate.
