According to HBO Sports, Saturday's Antonio Tarver-Roy Jones Jr. light heavyweight title fight was a pay-per-view winner, reporting 360,000 buys. The buys include 235,000 from cable homes and 125,000 from satellite homes and marked a 60,000 increase from their first fight. It also exceeded expectations, said Mark Taffet, senior vice president of HBO Sports.
Tarver, a Tampa resident, won by second-round knockout.
Those who held out on paying $49.95 to see it live (tsk tsk) can catch it Saturday night on HBO. It follows the live Floyd Mayweather- DeMarcus Corley junior welterweight bout at 9:45.
The Tarver-Jones fight also will be replayed at 9 a.m. Sunday and 11:40 p.m. Tuesday on HBO2. Tarver, capitalizing on his newfound fame, will be a guest analyst on ESPN2's Friday Night Fights at 9 tonight. "I'll make sure to bring some extra tissues for those Roy Jones Jr. fans who are still in mourning," he said.
Like father like son
Fox's Thom Brennaman called Randy Johnson's perfect game Tuesday, working with Arizona broadcaster Mark Grace, becoming the second Brennaman to call a perfect game. Brennaman's father, Cincinnati legend Marty, called Tom Browning's perfect game in 1988 against Los Angeles.
In a related note, TBS - which carried the game because it happened against Atlanta - says it's the first time a regular-season perfect game was shown on national television.
The only other perfect game broadcast live nationally was by the Yankees' Don Larsen in the 1956 World Series.
The next Dan Patrick?
Bright House Networks' the High School Scoreboard is looking for on-air talent for next season. To be eligible, students in the bay area must attend a public or private school in the channel's viewing area and be a sophomore, junior or senior for the 2004-05 school year.
Those interested should go to brighthousenetworks47.com and fill out an application.
Auditions will be from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. June 8, 15 and 22 at its studio, 11500 Ninth St. N, St. Petersburg.
Renewing vows
NBC and the Arena Football League agreed to extend their partnership through 2006. They are in the second season of a two-year deal. That deal, considered groundbreaking and similar to the new NHL-NBC deal, carries no rights payment, renews at NBC's option, calls for NBC to share revenues derived from the increasing value of AFL franchises and includes a four-year option for NBC.
Around the dial
Fox's weekly baseball coverage begins Saturday. Fans in the bay area will see St. Louis at Chicago at 1 p.m. ... ESPN will air 88 hours of French Open coverage (521/2 live) Monday through June 6. To get fans tuned up, ESPN Classic has programming from noon-7 p.m. Saturday with features on legends such as Martina Navratilova, Bjorn Borg and Chris Evert . ... NBC's broadcast of the Preakness on Saturday delivered a 6.1 national rating for the full telecast, including prerace coverage, the best since 1990 and 22 percent more than last year's 5.0, according to Nielsen Media Research. For the race segment, it was 7.7. Locally, the race segment posted a 12.0 (a 45 percent increase from 2003), tying Orlando for 11th in the country.
