VIEWING SPORTS : FOOTBALL SEASON HAS COME AGAIN

This weekend we turn a corner. Major league baseball teams have started spring training, meaning preseason games will arrive soon on TV, and the USFL kicks off its third (and maybe last!) spring season.

The gap--the TV sports wasteland that exists between the Super Bowl and the start of spring football and baseball--has closed.

Sunday’s initial USFL telecast on ABC, to no one’s surprise, involves one of the more solvent franchises, the New Jersey Generals, that just happened to have corraled that watch fob of a quarterback, Heisman Trophy winner Doug Flutie. The Generals play the Birmingham Stallions, and Channels 7, 3, 10 and 42 will start coverage at 11:30 a.m.

ABC, the USFL and everyone who champions the cause of the little guys in pro sports, will be rooting for Flutie, the Boston College phenomenon, to do for the league what Mary Lou Retton did for the Olympics.

The mighty mite with the slingshot arm could become “Gen. Flutie” to lead the financially troubled USFL into some kind of high ground future stability. But if he goes under like Dan Marino of the Dolphins did (his press clippings got mired in the turf at Stanford Stadium), then the league’s woes may continue to mount.

Flutie will have some of yesterday’s heroes and headline grabbers--such as Herschel Walker who logged 1,339 yards and 21 TDs last season--playing on his side. And then there’s Joe Cribbs of the Stallions on the other side of the field. Cribbs led the USFL with 1,467 yards. And Cribbs’ new teammate is a pretty fair quarterback who jumped from the NFL’s Steelers, Cliff Stoudt.

So, ABC--and Flutie--hopefully will be rating winners over the next 17 Sunday afternoons through June 23. USFL post-season playoff games will be seen on June 29-30, July 6-7, with the Championship game airing on July 14.

ABC will pick telecasts on a weekly basis, with the likelihood that if fabulous Flutie goes on some kind of a rampage, you may see him on TV more than Cal Worthington.

ABC’s Keith Jackson, Lynn Swann and Tim Brant return to cover the Sunday telecasts.

You may be able to double your viewing pleasure of Flutie’s exploits if you are equipped to receive the ESPN cable service. ESPN will carry 50 regular-season USFL games and, obviously, if the little guy blossoms, he’ll be seen on a lot of those too. ESPN starts its coverage today, 5 p.m. here, with the Tampa Bay Bandits hosting the Orlando Renegades.

Monday night’s ESPN game: Memphis vs. San Antonio at 6 p.m. There will be 17 telecasts on Saturdays, 18 on Monday nights, nine on Friday nights, four on Thursday nights and two on Saturday afternoons.

ROUNDUP: Today, Basketball, St. John’s vs. Syracuse, 10:30 a.m. (2) (8) . . . Golf, Doral Open, 12:30 p.m. (2) (8) . . . Basketball, Oregon State vs. Arizona, 1 p.m. (4) (36) (39) . . . Sports Saturday, boxing: LaPorte vs. McGuigan; speed skating, 1:30 p.m. (2) (8) . . . Skiing, U.S. National Championships from Colorado, 2 p.m. (7) . . . Soccer, German League, 2 p.m. (34) . . . Basketball, Oregon vs. Arizona State, 3 p.m. (5) (51) . . . SportsWorld, boxing: Spinks vs. Sears; gymnastics, 3 p.m. (4) (36) (39) . . . Pro Bowlers Tour, from Peoria, Ill., 3 p.m., tape-delayed (7) (3) (10) (42) . . . Wide World of Sports, figure skating, 4:30 p.m. (7) (3) (42) . . . Basketball, USC vs. Cal, 7:30 p.m. (11) . . . Basketball, UC Santa Barbara vs. Nevada-Las Vegas, 8 p.m. (9).

SUNDAY: NBA Basketball, Lakers vs. Knicks in Madison Square Garden, 9 a.m. (2) (8) . . . Auto Racing, Grand Prix of Miami, 9 a.m. (34) . . . Basketball, Georgia vs. Kentucky, 10 a.m. (4) (36) (39) . . . Sports Sunday, boxing: Bramble vs. Mancini; speed skating, 11:30 a.m. (2) (8) . . . Basketball, Louisville vs. UCLA, noon (4) (36) (39) . . . Golf, Doral Open, 1 p.m. (2) (8) . . . Skiing, U.S. National Championships, 3:30 p.m. (7); 4 p.m. (10) . . . NHL Hockey, Kings vs. Buffalo, 4 p.m. (9).