Fox Scores This One Err Bud

As if Bud Selig didn’t already have enough headaches, now Fox is steamed at him.

What has Fox fuming is not that he called Tuesday’s All-Star game with the score tied, 7-7; it’s that he stiffed the network, walking away from reporter Jeanne Zelasko without explaining his decision.

Fox Sports President Ed Goren, still upset nearly 48 hours later, said, “It was very unprofessional, the most unprofessional thing I’ve ever seen from the head of a league.”

Michael Weisman, Fox’s game producer, also was disgusted.

“He owed an explanation to us, baseball’s major rights holder,” he said, “but more importantly he owed an explanation to our audience, to those at home who had invested four hours in watching the game.”

After the top of the 11th, Selig decided that the game would end in a tie if the National League didn’t score in the bottom half of the inning. Managers Joe Torre and Bob Brenly had used all 60 players, including all 19 pitchers, and they didn’t want to overuse the pitchers who were on the mound at the time.

With one out in the bottom of the 11th, the crowd in Milwaukee was told the game would end at the end of the inning, but the fans were left confused.

Fox knew why the game was being called because both managers were wearing microphones. So viewers at home knew too.

Still, Fox sent Zelasko from the American League dugout to Selig box’s to get the official word.

“I got there while Benito Santiago was still at bat,” Zelasko said.

The San Francisco Giant catcher struck out for the final out.

Zelasko said she told Selig to stand by as Fox went to a three-minute commercial break. Fox had two options--wait and do a live interview or tape one and show it after the break. The decision was made to wait and do a live interview.

When fans began throwing trash and objects, Selig decided to take cover, and told Zelasko, “We’re going to the dugout.”

She followed him and kept him abreast as to how much time remained before the break was over.

“I was screaming at him that we were about to go on the air, but I wasn’t getting any response,” Zelasko said.

Amid the confusion, Fox went to another commercial break in the hope that the commissioner would be more responsive when the network came back on the air.

Meanwhile, as Zelasko was counting down, Selig talked to the managers, then for unknown reasons went with them to the interview room to meet with the print media.

“I wasn’t going to bum-rush the table and drag him away,” Zelasko said.

What really bothered Zelasko, though, was that baseball’s senior vice president, Rich Levin, was quoted by the Washington Post the next day as saying, “Fox could have been more aggressive.”

Zelasko said, “What was I to do, tackle him? I’m not a pit bull.”

Levin on Thursday explained what he meant.

“It was a real chaotic situation,” he said, “but if someone from Fox had told me they had to have the commissioner, it would have been done. He was focused on other things at the time, and so was I.”

Zelasko said Selig had to be aware of the situation.

“I was by his side and talking to him the entire time,” Zelasko said.

Offering an explanation to the live viewing audience should have been Selig’s top priority. He should have been able to figure that out. But he blew it.

Another Beef

Goren also is upset that baseball allowed ESPN to televise the postgame news conference with Selig and the managers.

“That’s illegal,” he said. “No one can televise anything from the game site until we’ve signed off.”

Said ESPN spokesperson Diane Lamb: “This was not game highlights that we aired. It was a postgame press conference, which is breaking news.”

Said Levin: “If Fox was still on the air, then ESPN was in violation of broadcasting rules.”

Switching Gears

NBC and TNT take over NASCAR coverage from Fox this weekend. One new twist will be commentator Wally Dallenbach taking viewers on a trip around the track during the pre-race show.

Dallenbach and Benny Parsons will have a built-to-scale model car in the booth to demonstrate what can go wrong with a car.

Recommended Viewing

Tiger Woods isn’t playing golf again this weekend, but he is featured on ABC’s “British Open Preview” Sunday at 3 p.m. Woods continues his pursuit of a true Grand Slam--winning all four major championships in one calendar year--at the British Open next week.

Woods has held all four titles but not in one calendar year.

“Call it what you want,” Woods tells Mike Tirico, “but I had all four trophies on my mantle at the same time.”

There are several other segments on the show, including a look at past British Open winners at Muirfield and Jim McKay’s scrapbook of British Open memories.

Short Waves

After all the buildup, ESPN got only a 2.0 Nielsen rating for its ESPY Awards show Wednesday night. In Los Angeles, where the show started at 6 p.m., the live telecast got a 1.6, but the replay at 8 p.m. delivered a 1.5.... ESPN will televise the WNBA All-Star game Monday at 4:30 p.m. The game is not expected to be called if it goes into overtime.

The Outdoor Life Network, which reaches about 60 million homes, is providing daily coverage of the Tour de France, with highlights each Sunday on CBS.... Lots of bull: The Professional Bull Riders announced all 29 Bud Light Cup events will be televised next year on the Outdoor Life Network.

Channel 5 will carry two St. Louis Ram exhibition games--Aug. 10 against Tennessee and Aug. 19 against Kansas City.... Sporting News Radio has announced that Bill Parcells has signed for two more years to host his weekly Thursday show with Will McDonough and Bruce Murray. The show, carried by KMPC (1540) in Los Angeles, begins Sept. 5.

In Closing

Baseball and Selig have provided plenty of fodder for late-night television.

Besides having a Bud Selig top 10 list Wednesday night, there was this in David Letterman’s monologue: “Congratulations to George W. Bush. Earlier today, the Supreme Court declared him the winner of the All-Star game.”

From Jay Leno: “The reason they stopped the game in the 11th inning is because most drug stores close at midnight and both sides were out of steroids.”