Sportscasts Suffer Without George Michael

That seems to be the trend nationwide, where some markets have even eliminated the full-time sportscaster position and a healthy sportscast altogether in an effort to save money and time, the better to show us more of the body-bag, ambulance-chasing journalism that seems to dominate the local news on so many stations around the country and, sadly, around this town, as well.

At the moment, the best local sportscast on network owned or affiliated stations is over at Channel 5, where Dave Feldman holds court. The best news of all for geezers like me is that you can catch his sportscast in the 10 p.m. hour, rather than waiting for 11:25 and risk nodding off. For the satellite and cable crowd, Comcast Sports Net is the obvious choice, but you often have to wait until the game they're carrying most nights is over, more than occasionally a post-midnight situation.

Michael said he decided to retire when NBC executives told him that even if he stayed, many of his long-time staffers would be let go in a round of cost-cutting ordered up by parent company General Electric.

Never mind that Michael, love him or hate him, attracted a broad spectrum of viewers who tuned in as much to watch him perform as they did to hear the ball scores.

Never mind that he had employed some of the town's best and brightest producers, writers (including his wife Pat) and camera people to help him put on, by far, the most complete and entertaining sportscast in town.

Never mind that Channel 4 has dominated the market at 6 and 11 for years, a credit to Michael and the entire Channel 4 news team for producing this ratings juggernaut.

But in the months since Michael announced he was going to retire from the daily grind, I can't tell you how many people also have come up to me and said the only reason they watched Channel 4 was to see the spirited by-play between long-time news anchor Jim Vance and Michael before and after virtually every sportscast.

And now with long-time Channel 4 stalwarts like Susan Kidd gone, I.J. Hudson gone, Arch Campbell gone and George Michael gone, it's hard to imagine the station dominating the local television news market the way it once did.

Michael will be replaced by Czarniak, the extremely telegenic daughter of a long-time USA Today sportscaster, and equally easy-on-the-eyes Dan Hellie, who arrived in the market last year to take over for Michael's long-time No. 2, Wally Bruckner.

Both are Washington natives. Czarniak attended Centreville High in Northern Virginia and went to James Madison University. Hellie grew up in Montgomery County and attended Magruder High before matriculating at the University of Tennessee.

It would be easy at this point to write that Michael has made way for Barbie and Ken, but that's also a bit unfair. Long-time Channel 4 newsroom employees have told me that Czarniak and Hellie both are extremely hard workers who care deeply about their craft, and are terribly personable and wonderful to work with, as well.

Sources at the network level also tell me that Czarniak has been on NBC's radar screen for several years, and will soon be getting bigger national assignments, perhaps in Olympics or NFL coverage in the coming years. Good for her.

So we'll take the high road here and give them both a chance to settle in to their new roles. Channel 4 hasn't made it totally clear who will be the main anchor handling weeknight duties. For now, they'll apparently split up reporting and anchoring responsibilities during the week and on weekends.

Meanwhile, the station would be smart to keep six or seven minutes of heavily oriented local sports every night, and throw in plays of the week, NASCAR highlights, occasional rodeo, rasslin' and terrier racing and maybe even bring Michael back every now and then for the occasional bombastic commentary on the bigger stories of the day.

Most of all, Channel 4's new sports team would be wise to honor Michael's legacy by paying attention to detail, by occasionally trying to break a story, and by making sure must-see TV (like Don Nelson's post-game rants) makes it on the air on a regular basis, with no excuses allowed for failing to get that tape.

Leonard Shapiro can be reached at Badgerlen@hotmail.com or Badgerlen@aol.com