Wednesday, April 22, 1998 | 8:47 a.m.
TIM GRAHAM is a Las Vegas SUN sportswriter. His media column appears Wednesdays. He can be reached on the Internet at [email protected]
Spring cleaning around Media Notes Central ...
Prep sports coverage is atrocious on Las Vegas' television stations.
Every sports director in town will agree high school athletics are integral to community coverage, yet none gives them proper attention. Big game coverage is non-existent. Features are rare.
Green Valley, the No. 4 baseball team in the country according to USA Today, lost at home to Silverado on Tuesday. Not one word was mentioned on any sports segment.
Such treatment has come to be expected.
Las Vegas is home to some of the best baseball there is. Local basketball tournaments generate national coverage. Volleyball and softball also are of high quality. Football is the only sport in which stations really try.
It's a shame no one will mix more preps into the usual coverage niches of Andre Agassi (KVBC Channel 3), UNLV (KLAS Channel 8) and auto racing (KTNV Channel 13). ...
The most overrated sportscaster in the history of the profession is Chris Berman. Take away his nickname schtick -- he doesn't come up with them on his own, by the way -- and he's the bumbling fool we saw anchoring the NFL Draft over the weekend. The second most overrated? Berman's ego. ...
The most underrated is NHL color commentator Bill Clement, who analyzes the sport as crisply and accurately as anyone. ...
Neither overrated nor underrated but right where he belongs is former ESPN glory boy Keith Olbermann. Now working anonymously for MSNBC, Olbermann is finding out he needed "SportsCenter" much more than it needed him. ...
I don't care what anybody else says, Channel 13 weekend sports anchor Mario Diaz is turning into a talented prospect for a larger market. ...
A recent SUN "Where are they now" story on former Las Vegas newscasters neglected to mention those from sports. Channel 3's Colin Cowherd is a rising star working in Portland, Ore. His successor, Jerry Olenyn, can be seen acting like a sports announcer on Sahara Speedworld's 3-D motion picture ride. (Olenyn also continues to contemplate a career in politics.) Channel 8's Scott Higgins is still working in Tulsa, Okla., and -- I'm not kidding -- doing hair restoration infomercials. ...
Is anybody else sick of "SportsCenter" anchor Stuart Scott trying to be our sports conscience? ...
Separated at birth: CNN/SI football insider Peter King and "Cheers" beer chugger Norm Peterson; ESPN baseball flunky Peter Gammons and $20 bill anchor Andrew Jackson.
Horses, of course
ABC, ESPN and ESPN2 again team up to provide extensive coverage of the Kentucky Derby. The sister networks offer more than 24 hours of programming over six days, starting Monday. ABC's live race coverage begins May 2 at 1:30 p.m.
Legends of the mike?
Fox Sports has gone on a baseball legends signing spree.
Pete Rose was brought in to co-host "The Last Word" opposite Jim Rome for three shows this week. Rose's first episode was Tuesday night. He sits in again tonight and Thursday night in place of usual co-host Wallace Matthews.
Frank Robinson and George Brett also have joined the network to be analysts for its baseball coverage.
Static
ESPN airs the Las Vegas Senior Classic. Coverage of the final round begins Sunday at 2:30 p.m. ... ESPN, ESPN2 and Fox Sports again share confusing NHL Stanley Cup playoff coverage, starting tonight.
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