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A lot of uh-ohs are ahead for networks

Taking a look at the three biggest sporting events in the next few weeks. Let's see what we have: the NBA and NBC might be looking at a Sacramento-New Jersey championship series, Carolina has advanced to the Stanley Cup and ABC and ESPN will televise World Cup games, already a tough sell with viewers because, well, it's soccer, but also trouble because games start at 2:30, 5 or 7:30 a.m. or on tape in the afternoon.

Yuck?

On an NBC conference call Thursday, analyst Bill Walton, Steve Jones and P.J. Carlisemo wouldn't concede the likely Kings-Nets matchup, a potential thriller. New Jersey and Sacramento, though, both lead their series 3-2 and can wrap them up at 7 and 9:30, respectively, tonight.

"I would be very careful as to jumping to that conclusion," Walton said. "These series are far from over."

And even so, added Carlisemo, "whoever gets in the final, it's still going to be a big story. Do they have the tradition of the Lakers and Celtics? They don't. But I'll say this about fans: They love underdogs and they'd have two in there."

Can you have two underdogs? Is watching David without Goliath any fun? And if they don't care in New Jersey, where the Nets have hardly been a hot ticket even in the playoffs, should we?

Maybe NBC can keep up its pace; after all, ratings are up over last year. But chances are they'd rather not find out without a Lakers-Celtics final.

GOOD LORD, STANLEY: ESPN will televise the first two games of the Stanley Cup with ABC taking over from there. While a Toronto-Detroit series would have been an ideal draw for traditional hockey fans, the networks will have to make do with Carolina against either Detroit or Colorado.

ESPN's Tony Kornheiser said on his Pardon the Interruption show this week that Carolina in the Stanley Cup final "is a nightmare for the NHL, because who's going to tune in to see them? Two-thirds of the people in America who are sports fans don't even know there's a team in Carolina."

ROLL THE TAPE: As for the World Cup, ABC and ESPN will carry 64 games, but none will air during what would be considered regular viewing hours and 48 will actually be called off a monitor by three announcing teams at ESPN headquarters in Bristol, Conn.

One of the studio play-by-play announcers will be Tommy Smyth, who said he did 321 games off a monitor last year.

"The drop-off is very, very little (from actually being at the game)," Smyth said. The reason, he said, is a support staff, including former soccer coaches and players with cell phones, in the stands relaying information.

"In a perfect world, we'd love to be at the game, but technology today has advanced so much that (with the Internet), when we sit in the studios in Bristol we'll be up as much as the guys in Korea or Japan."

NASCAR CENTRAL?: If NASCAR had franchises, the Tampa Bay area would almost certainly be an expansion lock. The market continues to be a NASCAR hotbed, drawing a 9.4 rating (more than 140,000 area households) for Sunday's Fox broadcast of the Coca-Cola Racing Family 600. That was the fifth-best rating in the country, behind Charlotte, N.C. (20), Greensboro, N.C. (16.3), Dayton, Ohio (10.5) and Norfolk, Va. (9.9). The 9.4 rating represents a whopping 54 percent increase over last year's 6.1.

Nationally, the 600 drew a 5.1 rating, down from last year's 5.3.

The Indianapolis 500 also drew better numbers in Tampa Bay, garnering a 6.2 rating (about 93,000 households), better than last year's 4.7 and this year's national overnight of 5.3.

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