Remote patrol

By SHARON GINN
Published March 31, 2006

CHECK IT OUT

ESPN comes to town for Sunday's Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. Coverage begins at 3:30. Brent Musburger will host with Marty Reid doing play-by-play alongside analysts Rusty Wallace and Scott Goodyear. Jack Arute, Jerry Punch and Jamie Little will cover the pits.

CBS Sportsline, buoyed by the interest in its free March Madness on Demand during the NCAA men's basketball tournament, will offer live streaming video from Augusta National's "Amen Corner" during next week's Masters. Hole Nos.11, 12 and 13 will have continuous live coverage on masters.org and cbs.sportsline.com during all four days.

Rumors have circulated that Andrea Kremer is leaving ESPN for NBC to join Al Michaels and John Madden as a sideline reporter for Sunday night NFL games. Her contract with ESPN reportedly ends in April. Media reports say expect an announcement soon.

ESPN's reality series on Barry Bonds (Bonds on Bonds) debuts at 8 p.m. Tuesday on ESPN2. The network does not have advance copies of the first episode, so we are left to wonder: Will it be a compelling train wreck or just supremely boring considering Bonds has actually been pleasant (by his standards) throughout spring training? Regardless, lots of people will watch to see how the producers address the swirling steroid controversy. The first episode is a one-hour special. Subsequent episodes will air at 7 p.m. Tuesdays on ESPN.

NBA TV is countering college basketball coverage with a 22-hour marathon of The White Shadow, the 1978-81 CBS series about a high school basketball team, beginning at 2 p.m. Monday.

Former Florida center Dwayne Schintzius will appear on WHBO-AM 1470 at 5 p.m. Saturday during its Florida-George Mason pregame show. Should the Gators win, Schintzius will be back at 8 p.m. Monday before the championship.

Even widespread reports of the death of driver Paul Dana during warmups weren't enough to draw viewers to the IRL season opener, the Indy 300 in Homestead. Sunday's coverage on ABC drew a dismal 0.8 rating nationally (slightly higher locally). Compare that with Fox's coverage of the Nextel Cup Bristol 500, which earned a national rating of 6.2. Want to bet Wallace, a first-year ABC/ESPN analyst, can't wait for his jump to NASCAR races next season?

CBS's ratings for the NCAA men's region games fell about 6 percent from last year but were the second best since 1999. Sunday's Florida-Villanova game was the highest rated during the four days, earning a 7.8 rating nationally.

- SHARON GINN, Times correspondent

[Last modified March 31, 2006, 01:09:18]