Ross Greenburg

In the 1960s, kids traded baseball cards all summer and took transistor radios to school to listen to the World Series in the fall, while Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris were trying to beat Babe Ruth's home run record. HBO's "When It Was a Game III," which airs tonight, captures many of those moments as it examines the last decade of innocence of America's favorite pastime.

In the 1960s, kids traded baseball cards all summer and took transistor radios to school to listen to the World Series in the fall, while Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris were trying to beat Babe Ruth's home run record. HBO's "When It Was a Game III," which airs tonight, captures many of those moments as it examines the last decade of innocence of America's favorite pastime.

It seems that whenever a really good boxing match comes along these days, it's televised on a pay-per-view basis. An exception is Monday night's Michael Nunn-Iran Barkley bout at the Lawlor Events Center in Reno. It will be on HBO, which is due for a good fight. The truth is, HBO has been in something of a boxing slump. Carl (the Truth) Williams, Mike Tyson's latest victim, got knocked out in 93 seconds on HBO July 21 at Atlantic City, N.J.

It seems that whenever a really good boxing match comes along these days, it's televised on a pay-per-view basis. An exception is Monday night's Michael Nunn-Iran Barkley bout at the Lawlor Events Center in Reno. It will be on HBO, which is due for a good fight. The truth is, HBO has been in something of a boxing slump. Carl (the Truth) Williams, Mike Tyson's latest victim, got knocked out in 93 seconds on HBO July 21 at Atlantic City, N.J.

A new sports talk show is coming to KMPC on June 3 with Scott St. James as the host. The station dropped "Sportsline" with Paul Olden after last baseball season. "The Scott St. James Show" will be broadcast from 4 to 8 p.m. on weekdays when there is no Angel game, with, of course, a half-hour out for Jim Healy at 5:30. On nights the Angels are home or playing a West Coast game, St. James will go off the air at 7. He will be preempted when there are East Coast games.

I am warming up at Rancho Park's driving range in July 2002 when the old instructor approaches. He is wearing a beige Gilligan's hat pulled down to his eyebrows and quietly observes me hitting balls off a faded green mat. "When did you start playing?" he asks. As a teenager, I reply. "How often do you practice?" Not enough. "What is your occupation?" Investigative reporter. He pauses a moment, then gently inquires, "Do you know Frank Deford?" Of course. "Are you familiar with his work?"

Susan King's interview of Ross Greenburg (" 'The '60s, Baseball's Last Decade of Innocence," July 17) sadly perpetuates the denial that was also Mickey Mantle's during his practicing-alcoholic years, that his alcoholism only developed after his playing days. Reading Mickey's autobiography and his family's account of their lives, by any enlightened measure, Mickey was an acute alcoholic during all of his years as a Yankee. Why is this important to me? Mickey was my baseball idol in 1956.

He was a symbol of racial unity who became a flashpoint of division. O.J. Simpson moved with agility on and off the football field as a star running back, broadcaster and corporate pitchman. At the peak of his popularity, when he dashed through airports in 1970s Hertz commercials to the cheers of white onlookers, Simpson was seen as living proof that America could get past its race obsession.

What: "On the Record With Bob Costas" Where: HBO, tonight, 11 Sports-news magazine shows are nothing new. ESPN's "Outside the Lines" has been around for more than 10 years. HBO already has "Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel." But "On the Record With Bob Costas" should be different, mainly because of Costas. Ross Greenburg, HBO president, says, "The show will provide Bob with the kind of format he excels in, with emphasis on his interviewing and journalistic skills.

HBO, which will show Saturday's Evander Holyfield-Riddick Bowe heavyweight title fight on three successive nights beginning Thursday, will downplay as much as possible the para-glider who crash-landed on the ring apron during the seventh round. "This was not a fun stunt," Ross Greenburg, HBO's executive producer of sports, said Monday. "This was a stupid, idiotic stunt by an egomaniacal moron who could have been responsible for as many as 100 deaths.

Oscar De La Hoya has reached an agreement with HBO to televise his March 24 fight against Arturo Gatti, but only tape-delayed on the West Coast. With the cable network embroiled in a legal dispute with the former welterweight champion, HBO scheduled an original movie, "Wit," for that night. "We're locked into that schedule," said Ross Greenburg, president of HBO Sports. The fight will be shown at 10:45 p.m.

A consumer's guide to the best and worst of sports media and merchandise. Ground rules: If it can be read, played, heard, observed, worn, viewed, dialed or downloaded, it's in play here. What: "SportsCentury: Sugar Ray Leonard" Where: ESPN Classic, Friday, 5 and 8 p.m. Sugar Ray Leonard says as this profile opens, "There is no greater feeling than being on center stage in the ring." He also says his goal "was to be world-wide known."