TV/Radio

Miami Class of '72 ready to toast Colts

By JOHN C. COTEY
Published December 16, 2005

With the Colts nearing the NFL's first undefeated season since 1972, watch for an endless stream of former Dolphins on your favorite sports shows.

Every time the '72 record is threatened, they come out of the woodwork. And they rub a lot of fans the wrong way, sipping their champagne and celebrating when that mark is preserved.

But former Miami linebacker Nick Buoniconti says toasting one's immortality isn't a bad thing.

"We raise the glass because we have the record, we don't raise the glass because a team got beat," he said this week on HBO's Inside the NFL, which he has co-hosted for 23 years. "If Indianapolis goes undefeated, hell, I am going to pick up the phone and I'll be the first one to call (coach Tony) Dungy and tell him, "Congratulations, you joined another great football team.' "

Asked by co-host Bob Costas if he'll be sipping champagne or picking up the phone this season, Buoniconti said, "I think I am picking up the phone."

STREAKING NO MORE: Speaking of streaks ending, NFL Today, which continues to hopelessly languish behind Fox's superior pregame offering, finished first in the studio show battle last weekend. Since CBS regained the NFL in 1998, NFL Today had not finished ahead of NFL on Fox until drawing a 3.9 rating and 10 share from noon to 1:03 p.m. Sunday. Fox's pregame show had a 3.4 rating and 9 share.

SCHOOL'S OUT: Catch 47 sports director Eric Keaton, the primary face for televised high school sports in the Tampa Bay area for eight years, has been informed his contract will not be renewed in February. The Palm Harbor resident is a familiar face to Bright House subscribers, hosting a number of sports shows and playing a key role in developing signature programs such as the prep Game of the Week and the Beef O' Brady's High School Scoreboard.

NO 40 WINKS: It wasn't a national hit, but locally fans tuned in to Winky Wright's middleweight boxing victory over Sam Soliman in impressive fashion.

Despite a 10 p.m. broadcast start, and an 11:15 p.m. start to Wright's fight, the live bout averaged a 3.3 rating in the Tampa Bay market.

HBO went from averaging a 0.5 with the movie that was on before the boxing broadcast to 0.9 the first 15 minutes of the show.

The first 45 minutes, which featured a replay of Jermain Taylor's victory over Bernard Hopkins, drew roughly a 1.1 rating, or 17,500 households. At 11 p.m., 47,000 households were tuned in and ready for Wright-Soliman.

That number peaked at 3.4 (58,000 households) from 11:30-midnight, meaning that HBO added 50,000 homes in Tampa Bay from 10-midnight.

The rating for the late-starting Wright-Soliman, on a pay channel no less, was higher than No. 1 Duke vs. No. 2 Texas (1.7 rating) and Kentucky-Indiana basketball (2.5), the Heisman Trophy show on ESPN (2.7), Michigan vs. USF basketball (1.1) and the Lightning's game against the Predators (1.6).

From 11:15-midnight, it was the second-most viewed show in this market, topped only by Saturday Night Live on Ch. 8.

[Last modified December 16, 2005, 00:55:10]