Fox Sports Net

It's official. The college football game of the day Saturday is UCLA at Oregon. What makes it official is that ESPN has chosen Eugene, Ore., as the site for the "College GameDay" pregame show. Yes, Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit and host Chris Fowler will be in Eugene. But they won't be there to promote an ESPN telecast, or even an ABC telecast. The 12:30 p.m. game is on Fox Sports Net. So how did the game of the day end up on Fox Sports Net? You might say ABC, which has first choice, messed up.

Danyelle Sargent made a mistake, one she recognized almost as soon as the words left her mouth. She asked new San Francisco 49ers Coach Mike Singletary: "I hear that your mentor Bill Walsh was one of the first phone calls you made when you found out you had the job. What does it mean to you to be the head coach of the 49ers?" The big problem with that question, of course, is that legendary coach Bill Walsh died more than a year ago. Singletary became 49ers coach last week.

In the category of better-late-than-never, the Clippers and Fox Sports Net announced Saturday that they have agreed to terms on a multiyear television contract. Beginning with Monday night's home game against New Orleans, Fox Sports Net 2 will televise 14 of the Clippers' remaining 24 games. The regional cable network will also televise Wednesday's game at Washington, live at 4 p.m., as well as Friday's game at Boston. The Boston game will also be on ESPN.

Sportscaster Jeanne Zelasko is back in the Fox studio, anchoring the network's Saturday baseball coverage after a string of off-season misfortune. It actually began in August, though, when her father, Stanley, died of a heart attack at 71 in his home in Escondido. The shock of losing her father, Zelasko said, led to another shock -- learning in December that she had thyroid cancer. She recounted what she sees as a strange turn of events.

* John Terenzio has been named president of Broadband Sports Inc.'s Broadband Services. A former Fox Sports Net executive, Terenzio will be in charge of creating, developing and supervising all Broadband Sports audio/visual programming as well as helping to coordinate content. Santa Monica-based Broadband Sports is a producer of proprietary sports content for new-media platforms. * Steven U.

The Assn. of Volleyball Professionals has two new partners, and they aren't breweries or sun-block makers. They're networks. NBC and Fox Sports Net have agreed to invest in the AVP and will receive minority stakes in the beach volleyball tour as it continues to crawl out of the fiscal hole it fell into more than five years ago.

With some cooperation from the Kings and Mighty Ducks, Fox Sports Net 2 landed Saturday's USC-UCLA game, which will start at 3:30 p.m. Although that's not a perfect scenario, things couldn't have worked out much better for Los Angeles football fans. Oregon-Oregon State will be on Channel 7 at 12:30 p.m., and Washington-Washington State will be on Fox Sports Net at 3:30 p.m. One negative is that USC-UCLA probably will be joined in progress.

It goes without saying that Laker and Clipper television carriers Channel 9 and Fox Sports West are relieved by Wednesday's NBA settlement. "Sports represent about a third of our business, so you can imagine what it meant to take the Lakers and Clippers out of the equation," said Don Corsini, Channel 9's vice president and general manager. "It's like NBC losing 'Seinfeld' and 'ER.'

Game 1: Thursday at Detroit, 4:30 p.m., Fox Sports Net, ESPN** Game 2: Saturday at Detroit, 11 a.m., ABC Game 3: Monday at Staples Center, 7 p.m., Fox Sports Net, ESPN2** Game 4: April 19 at Staples Center, 7 p.m., Fox Sports Net, ESPN** *Game 5: April 21 at Detroit, 4 p.m., Fox Sports Net, ESPN** *Game 6: April 23 at Staples Center, noon, ABC. *Game 7: April 25 at Detroit, 4 p.m., Fox Sports Net, ESPN** *if necessary **subject to blackout locally

A guest list of sports figures to be featured on TV and radio from today through Thursday: * Red Grange --"SportsCentury," today, 5 p.m., ESPN Classic * Eddie George --"The Last Word With Jim Rome," tonight, 6:30 and 11, Fox Sports Net * Fox Sports Net General Manager Todd Merkow, Chris Myers, Todd Donoho --"The Irv Kaze Show," Saturday, 6 p.m., KRLA (870) * Junior Seau --"NFL This Morning," Sunday, 7 a.m., Fox Sports Net * Deion Sanders --"Beyond the Glory," Sunday, 9 p.m.

No matter that Florida breezed past Ohio State, 41-14, in last year's Bowl Championship Series title game. The number that mattered to Fox Sports and its national advertisers and bowl sponsors was 27.7 million -- the viewers who tuned in and gave Fox its strongest Monday night showing in years.

As is the case with most major sporting events these days, there will be more than the traditional television coverage of today's All-Star game. At 2 p.m., there will be a two-hour webcast of batting practice, available for free via Foxsports.com and MLB.com. Fox's Chris Rose and MLB.com's Harold Reynolds will serve as co-hosts. At 4 p.m.

The Angels pulled the plug on Fox Sports Net on Wednesday, putting their fans in jeopardy of losing television coverage of opening day and virtually every road game this season. Six weeks after Arte Moreno called a 10-year, $500-million contract extension with FSN "a done deal," the Angel owner terminated negotiations with the cable company. Instead of the proposed 150-game television package, the Angel coverage reverted to the 50 games required under the existing FSN West contract.

Site -- Staples Center. Records -- Sparks 10-7, Storm 9-10. Record vs. Storm -- 2-0. Update -- Whether the team is suffering post-championship doldrums (a la Detroit in 2004) or there are other issues, the Storm has lost seven of its last 10. Friday's win helped Seattle remain 1 1/2 games behind Minnesota for the fourth and final playoff spot in the West. The Sparks expect to sign forward Jessica Moore, recently waived by Charlotte, today and have her available tonight.

Three months after removing Chris Rose as the host of "Best Damn Sports Show Period," Fox Sports Net announced Tuesday that Rose was coming back, effective March 21. FSN also confirmed that Tom Arnold would no longer be a regular on the show. Arnold, under a new one-year contract, will appear periodically during major sports events. John Salley will remain on the show and be joined by a new ensemble. Among the candidates are former Dodger Todd Zeile.

In December 1993, Fox made a big splash with its entry into sports television by agreeing to pay a then-astounding $1.58-billion over four years for NFL rights. Fox made another big splash Monday, announcing it had reached a four-year, $330-million agreement with the bowl championship series. The agreement gives Fox the rights to the Fiesta, Orange and Sugar bowls from 2007 to 2010 and the national championship games in 2007, 2008 and 2009.

Today at Minnesota, 5 p.m., Fox Sports Net -- The Wild's division-leading record includes a Nov. 4 win at Staples Center. Thursday at St. Louis, 5 p.m., Fox Sports Net -- It's the eighth and final game of the Kings' longest trip in 18 years. Saturday vs. Dallas, 7:30 p.m., Fox Sports Net -- Dave Tippett's Stars are best in the West this season. -- Jerry Crowe

UP NEXT * Saturday vs. Washington State, 3 p.m., Fox Sports Net: The Bruins have never lost to Washington State at Pauley Pavilion.

Both league championship series playoff games today start at 5 p.m., PST, because Fox prefers two late games instead of one game in the afternoon and one in prime time. Both of today's games will be on in prime time in the East. Fox spokesman Dan Bell said the last time Fox televised a Game 1 of a weekday league championship series in the afternoon -- the Arizona Diamondbacks and Atlanta Braves in 2001 -- it drew only a 4.4 national rating.