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Fox hopes all-California Series is golden

No New York? No problem says the team at Fox, which begins broadcasting the all-California World Series on Saturday.

Though perceived as a ratings disaster waiting to happen thanks to the exclusion of any East Coast teams -- especially the Yankees -- play-by-play announcer Joe Buck doesn't see it that way.

From the network's point of view, length will determine the success of the Series.

"You're really at the mercy of how long this Series goes," said Buck, who admits this is a test of baseball's place in the American conscience.

"I don't think last year would've been what it was if it didn't go seven. We wouldn't have had 40-million people watching Game 7. If you can build something from the beginning of the Series on and give people an exciting reason to watch, I think they'll watch."

Fox Sports president Ed Goren said advertising is sold out through Game 5, and that interest in Games 6 and 7 is greater than it was last year. So if he gets the Series he wants, it won't matter which teams are playing.

"For whatever reason, baseball is held to a higher standard," Goren said. "All of the questions on the table are, is this a test for baseball? I'll tell you right now, an all-California World Series will outrate the most recent N.Y.-L.A. NBA Final. So who's really being tested?"

Not that Fox doesn't have a good matchup. There's Barry Bonds, the best player in baseball, and the surprising Angels. While Goren pointed out that all-West Coast Series in past years had "laid-back" crowds, Anaheim and San Francisco fans (Rally Monkey and ThunderStix) have proven to be more boisterous.

And having the No. 2 (Los Angeles) and No. 5 (San Francisco) markets tuned in isn't bad either.

Looking at the past two all-California World Series, Goren would prefer to do numbers similar to NBC's average of 34.5-million viewers in 1988 with Los Angeles-Oakland rather than ABC's 24.5-million in 1989 with the earthquake-plagued Oakland-San Francisco Series.

Only the 1991 World Series between Atlanta and Minnesota has drawn more viewers than '88, including the all-New York Series in 2000, the worst-rated Series ever, and every other Series since involving the Yankees.

BUCS POWER: Fox's NFL studio show remains the most entertaining pregame show around, from the analysis to Jimmy Kimmel's weekly shredding of Terry Bradshaw to Jimmy Johnson playing the dirty old man to Jillian Barberie's weather vixen.

Tampa/St. Petersburg's viewers seem to be on board. Even with the Bucs broadcast as a lead-in, CBS still was trumped by Fox 6.7-5.2 in the local ratings.

That's an improvement for CBS, however. The previous week, without the Bucs, CBS was outrated 10.8-0.9.

NO BUCK FOR BUCS: The Bucs get Fox's No. 1 announcing team Sunday for its 4:15 p.m. game with Philadelphia ... kind of.

With Buck calling the World Series, Dick Stockton has assumed play-by-play duties, teaming with analysts Troy Aikman and Cris Collinsworth.

RED HOT D: The Bucs defense, which hasn't allowed a touchdown in three weeks, will be featured on ESPN's Sunday NFL Countdown.

VROOM: NBC's rain-delayed coverage of the UAW-GM 500 earned a 5.0 national rating (8.1 in Tampa), NASCAR's highest rating ever against the NFL.

YOU'RE KIDDING, RIGHT?: ABC will have the MLS Cup 2002 between Los Angeles and New England from 1:30-4 p.m. Sunday. Did anyone even know the soccer season still was going on?

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