Airwaves: A-Rod made the right move in coming clean

Speaking out: Alex Rodriguez came clean about his steroid use during an interview with ESPN’s Peter Gammons earlier this week. (AP)

SAN FRANCISCO — This past week was A-Rod TV all day. Of course by now, everyone in the free cable world knows that New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez sat down with ESPN’s Peter Gammons and basically spilled his guts that he did indeed use steroids while playing for the Texas Rangers.

I thought Rodriguez did the right thing by clearing the air after Sports Illustrated came out with a story saying he did use
performance-enhancing drugs. In addition, he wisely chose the soft spoken, grandfather type in Gammons to be the interviewer.

Although he appeared nervous at times, I sensed a great relief from A-Rod as the interview proceeded. ESPN obviously took advantage of the exclusive interview by hyping the sit-down all day and has now replayed it numerous times.

I could not understand why Rodriguez had an orange tint or glow about him. Maybe the makeup was off color or the lighting was bad. I would think ESPN would have done a better job in this area, because it was distracting to me. Maybe he went into the wrong tanning booth on his last salon visit? The best quotes of the session by Rodriguez were: “I was stupid” and “the reason I took steroids was I was not sure I could live up to the expectations.” Guess what, the Big Apple’s expectations are a heck of a lot bigger than those of Arlington, Texas.

For a game that no one cares about, the NFL Pro Bowl broadcast on NBC did OK in terms of viewer numbers and ratings last weekend. The game was the most watched sporting event of the weekend, topping the Los Angeles Lakers-Cleveland Cavaliers NBA game on ABC and the Buick Invitational golf tournament on CBS. The Pro Bowl drew a 5.8 rating, with 4.5 million households tuned in. The Lakers’ game had 3.8 million households watching, while golf without Tiger Woods had 1.6 million TVs tuned in. It will be interesting to see how things unfold for this game next year. The NFL recently announced they are moving the game from Hawaii to Miami, and instead of being played after the Super Bowl, it will be played a week before the Super Bowl, in the Super Bowl city (Miami in 2010). I love football, but I never really watch this game. It is so anticlimatic following the season and the Super Bowl.

The NBA will play its 58th All-Star Game tonight in Phoenix. The game will start at 5 p.m. and be televised on TNT. At least this is an interesting contest with basically no defense being played and the best of the best almost always participate.

In case you never grow weary of football and are an NFL Draft fan, the NFL Network is the place to go. If you get this channel through the local cable carrier, they will present over 25 hours of the NFL players combine live from Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. It starts Thursday and will conclude Feb. 25. It is interesting stuff and gives viewers an idea of the overall athleticism of the players in the upcoming draft. It showcases the top-rated college players by drilling them in many football-related drills and tests. However, to endure this marathon, you must be focused and very interested because boredom will quickly set in.

L.T. the latest football great to join ‘Stars’

I guess the brains behind ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars” just can’t help themselves. They can’t do the hit show without a football player. This year’s gridiron great may be the greatest defensive player of all time, none other than
No. 56 himself, Lawrence Taylor. He will join a cast of people that are famous, but frankly I haven’t heard of half of them. I am sure L.T. will hold his own because here is a guy who almost single-handedly changed defensive football in the NFL. The lovely Denise Richards (Charlie Sheen’s ex) will also be a contestant. Although most tabloids present her in a non-flattering, cranky way, I think she is hot. Hopefully she can dance!

ESPN will have to make a decision on football analyst Jamal Anderson, who was arrested this past week and charged with felony cocaine possession. Anderson, who appeared on numerous ESPN outlets this year, will in all likelihood be shown the door from the Bristol, Conn., studios. Although he was by no means a future broadcasting icon, he wasn’t bad either. The former Atlanta Falcons running back was arrested in an Atlanta nightclub. He was seen mostly on ESPN’s “First Take” with the Bay Area’s Skip Bayless. That in itself was a mismatch. Jamal is not in the same league as the multitalented Bayless.

TNT has announced it will reinstate suspended announcer Charles Barkley “sometime after the weekend.” Barkley was put on a leave of absence in late December after being arrested for suspicion of drunk driving. Sources tell me the plan is to have him apologize publicly and make a serious statement that he now has straightened out his life. Of course once that is over, he will then go back to blabbing about hoops. Karl Malone, “The Mailman,” was very solid while filling in for Barkley.

This must have been the week for suspensions in the broadcasting world. ESPN has reportedly given radio host Scott Van Pelt some time off for some unkind words about baseball commish Bud Selig. Van Pelt, who is still working on the TV end, was “sickened” when Selig’s salary of $17.5 million a year was announced in a business journal. To top things off, he continued to rip Selig in the way he looks and even went as far as to say some unkind things about where he lived. Not real smart! ESPN management apparently did not appreciate the comments, especially in light of the fact of how much money ESPN and MLB generate from their contracts that have baseball on ESPN. Sports talk is sports talk, but why would some wise-ass like Van Pelt, who never should be commenting about people’s looks, cross the line and attack Selig on a personal level? I guess he is just another Chris Berman wannabe!

Who said it

Tom Tolbert
“Why don’t they all come clean and get it over with. Stop the lying,” Ralph Barbieri’s partner and the ex-NBA player said when giving his views on the A-Rod affair. Tom said it correctly, although simplistic. This would end a ton of speculation and witch-hunt type reporting. The very popular and entertaining Razor and
Mr. T show (Ralph and Tom) is on every weekday from 3 to 7 p.m. on KNBR (680 AM) and simulcast on KTCT (1050 AM).

Ralph Barbieri
“At least he can say that instead of lying before Congress, he only lied to Katie Couric,” deadpanned the popular KNBR
(680 AM) host when commenting on Alex Rodriguez and his admission to using steroids. Ralph always puts an interesting and thought-provoking spin on the day’s sports news. Needless to say, this past week, his call-in lines have been flooded with comments about the A-Rod situation. It was great listening.

One to watch

The AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am golf tourney airs today on KPIX (Ch. 5) at noon. Last year’s tournament ended with a playoff between Steve Lowery and Vijay Singh. Needless to say, this event is always filled with celebrities, personalities and fun times. Peyton Manning is playing this year and I wonder if he is as good a golfer as he is a passer on third down? In addition, if you are attending the tournament at Pebble Beach, bring the rain gear.

On Target

The world welcomed a new multimillionaire this past week. Born to parents Tiger and Elin Woods was Charlie Axel Woods. Tiger, the proud father, announced the birth on his Web site. Charlie will be the second child in the Woods family. Daughter Sam was born in June of 2007. Needless to say, both children need not worry about getting summer jobs to supplement their income. My only question is, where did Tiger come up with the name Axel? Axel Foley in Beverley Hills Cop?

By the numbers

269 Consecutive starts by Brett Favre
 

2 Times Brett Favre has retired
 

16 Consecutive seasons Favre has thrown for more than 3,000 yards
 

Artie Gigantino spent 25 years as a coach at the major-college and NFL levels, was lead college football analyst for Fox Sports Net for seven years, was with CBS for one year and was an executive with the Raiders for three years. E-mail him at agigantino@sfexaminer.com.