THE OPENING LINE

Monday, July 30, 2007 | 7:05 a.m.

BIG LOSS FOR COLLEGE FOOTBALL FANS

If you grew up Catholic, then you probably don't have many pleasant memories of Sunday morning that pertain to sports, either.

At my church, Mass was like a Harry Potter movie at the local Cineplex. You could go at 6:30, 8, 10 or 11:30, although the first two were in Polish.

I usually went at 11:30 a.m., because that was as late as humanly possible you could put it off to and still fulfill the Sunday Obligation. But during football season I blessed myself at 10, because if Father Smith (what kind of name is Smith for the pastor of a Polish parish?) didn't have an ax to grind during his sermon and if you ran, you could make it home in time for Bill Flemming's college football highlights.

If you grew up in the Midwest and/or watched ABC Sports during its infancy, then you probably remember Bill Flemming. Before he became a fixture on Wide World of Sports, Flemming used to call the Big Ten Game of the Week. Before ESPN, those games were about all the college sports we got except for the Sunday morning football highlights - Notre Dame, Grambling (on UHF) and the aforementioned ones on ABC that Flemming hosted from some studio.

Basically, the Sunday morning highlights were snippets of regional games that ABC had shown the day before, only without the play-by-play. Instead, Flemming would do a voice - over while the fight song of whatever team had the ball played in the background.

This would explain why although it has been 35 years since Sonny Sixkiller played quarterback at the University of Washington, I can still hum "Bow Down to Washington" as if he were leading the Huskies down the field against Oregon in slow motion.

Those memories came flooding back when I read that Flemming had died of prostate cancer in his native Michigan - he was a huge fan of the Maize and Blue, although he was such a pro, he never let on when the Wolverines played Ohio State. He was 80, which hardly seems possible.

According to the wire story, there is going to be a memorial service on Aug. 11 in Harbor Springs, Mich., which can only mean the sidelines in Ann Arbor and the cliffs in Acapulco already were booked.

THIS WEEK'S BEST BET

Tonight through Tuesday, Round Rock Express vs. Las Vegas 51s, 7:05 p.m., Cashman Field.

Remember the B.T. Express, the funk/disco group that topped the charts during the 1970s? Well, the 51s will try to do it 'til they're satisfied against the Round Rock Express, which is no relation.

TICKETS: $8-$13.

ON THE WEB: www.ticketmaster.com.

ALSO WORTH A LOOK

World Extreme Cage Fighting, 4 p.m. Sunday, The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel.

These guys are so mean and nasty that an ordinary octagon couldn't hold them, so they are fighting in a cage. But don't tell Michael Vick.

TICKETS: $75-$250.

ON THE WEB: www.ticketmaster.com.

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