In Bay Area, There Frequently Is Heard Discouraging Word

San Francisco, known for its hills, cable cars, fine restaurants and grand hotels, is also known for being tough on sports announcers.

So when former Angel broadcaster Ron Fairly, mediocre at best, replaced popular Hank Greenwald as the Giants’ No. 1 play-by-play man this season, the Bay Area critics began sharpening their knives.

Here is a sampling of comments from newspaper columnists and fans to date:

--Jon Carroll of the San Francisco Chronicle: “Replacing Hank Greenwald with Ron Fairly is like replacing Pavarotti with Howdy Doody.”

--Carroll, in a later column: “And here is the sad but necessary truth: Ron Fairly has no talent and less wit. He has no small talk, no chatter, no anecdotes. . . . Mr. Fairly’s presence on the airwaves is apparently the result of a squabble between Hank Greenwald and the management of KNBR (the Giants’ radio station). So we lose a genius and gain a twit.”

--Chronicle letter writer: “As Willie Nelson says, ‘Sometimes it’s heaven’ (two Giant games on a beautiful Sunday afternoon, and the Giants winning both) and ‘Sometimes it’s hell’ (having to listen to Ron Fairly twice as long).”

--San Jose Mercury News letter writer: “I’ve tried listening to Fairly’s radio broadcasts since the start of the season, but the suffering isn’t worth it. These painful broadcasts have turned me away from Giant baseball altogether.”

--Tom Gilmore of the Chronicle: “Once, when the Giants had loaded the bases with a chance to win the game, Fairly said: ‘A hit would get a run in here.’ That was fairly obvious, Ron.”

When Oakland’s Mark McGwire tied a rookie record with his 38th homer Tuesday night, Fairly reported it as a major league record, according to the Oakland Tribune’s Ron Bergman. “What bothers me about Fairly is that he never corrects his mistakes,” Bergman said.

Nick Peters of the Tribune, after listening to Fairly turn a particularly exciting Giant-Dodger game into a snoozer earlier this season, wrote: “You need to put a mirror under his nose to see if he is breathing.” Peters also called Fairly “a stiff.”

Peters, who covers the Giants, was later confronted by Fairly in the press box in Atlanta and verbally assaulted. Fairly apologized the next day.

More from Chronicle letter writers: “Please tell Ron Fairly that if I want baseball statistics I’ll go buy a book that tells all.” . . . “The losses I can take, but the prospect of listening to that nauseating duo (Fairly and partner Wayne Hagin) for another half-season looms as a fate worse than death.” . . . “OK, the honeymoon is over. Can we admit it now? The Giants’ broadcasting team is absolutely awful. Ron Fairly might be a passable No. 2 broadcaster, but he is not nearly good enough to be a major league No. 1 man.” . . . “Ron Fairly, the master of clownish cliches, is still calling our beloved heroes the Angels.”

Still, it hasn’t been all bad. One letter writer recently had this to say: “With all due respect to the departed Hank Greenwald, I say Ron is not a ‘Fairly’ good announcer but the best Giant announcer I have heard in 20 years of following Giant baseball. It’s great to have a guy who played in the majors as the lead announcer, admirably complemented by the fast-learning youngster and Giant trivia expert, Wayne Hagin.”

Corey Busch, Giant vice president, recently told the Chronicle’s Lowell Cohn that the team has received mixed reaction to Fairly.

“We generally feel he’s doing a pretty good job,” Busch said. “He can’t just walk into a new league with a new partner (Hagin) and be the best he can be.”

Good news: It was reported in this space two weeks ago that Billy Cunningham may replace Tom Heinsohn as CBS’ No. 1 NBA commentator, and now it has happened.

Heinsohn has been offered the No. 2 spot, but it’s doubtful he will accept it.

Cunningham, originally expected to leave CBS after next season, is now considering giving up his role as a part-owner of the new NBA franchise in Miami to sign a multiyear contract with the network.

Bad news: As sports talk shows go, KMPC’s “Sportsline,” with Joel Meyers, is generally pretty good. But the show will be dropped at the end of October.

Robert W. Morgan is returning to KMPC in the mornings, and Jim Lange is moving to afternoons, leaving no slot for “Sportsline.” Jim Healy’s popular show, of course, will remain where it is, at 5:30 p.m.

It’s unfortunate that “Sportsline” couldn’t survive going head to head with KABC’s “Sportstalk.” Many sports purists prefer the usually topical and lively KMPC show to the softer, puff-oriented “Sportstalk.”

The Dodgers, who have signed a new five-year contract with KABC, would be wise to tell George Green, the station’s general manager, that they would prefer more objective reporting and less homerism on “Sportstalk.” It would make for a better show, and surely wouldn’t decrease interest in the Dodgers. If anything, interest would increase.

TV-Radio Notes Channel 4 has carried the Raiders’ exhibition games since the team came to Los Angeles in 1982, but the team has switched to Channel 7 this year. Saturday night’s 7 o’clock game against San Francisco at the Coliseum will be shown by Channel 7 at 11:45 p.m. that night and repeated at 11:45 p.m. Sunday night. Jim Hill and Raider executive assistant Al LoCasale will be the announcers. . . . Bill King and Rich Marotta return as the Raiders’ radio announcers. . . . The Raiders’ Todd Christensen will replace teammate Howie Long on HBO’s “Inside the NFL,” this season, offering a weekly diary. . . . ESPN will televise its first NFL game, Chicago at Miami, Sunday at 5 p.m. Dick Butkus will be the guest commentator. The following Sunday, Aug. 23, when ESPN televises the Rams at San Diego, Jack (Hacksaw) Reynolds will be the guest commentator.

The New York Giants and New England will be on ABC Sunday at 10:30 a.m. . . . CBS begins coverage of the exhibition season with Dallas-San Francisco on Saturday, Aug. 22, at 6 p.m. . . . The Clippers have cut their announcing crew to one, Ralph Lawler. He will handle both television and radio by himself next season. . . . Stu Lantz, a nine-year NBA veteran who played for the Lakers in the mid-1970s, has been hired as the Lakers’ new radio commentator. He replaces Keith Erickson, who resigned.

NBC baseball announcers Bob Costas and Tony Kubek, who are both usually observant, somehow missed that the CINCINNATI on rookie pitcher Jeff Montgomery’s jersey Tuesday night was missing an I. . . . Ted Dawson, former Channel 7 sportscaster, reportedly has had job interviews with stations in Dallas-Fort Worth and Salt Lake City. . . . Attention Jim Healy: You’re wrong about Jim Lampley. He’ll do very well at Channel 2. Also, calling him “Kid Lampley” doesn’t work. Lampley, 38, has been around since 1974. . . . Add Lampley: He’ll handle the blow-by-blow on Showtime’s coverage of Saturday’s Evander Holyfield-Ossie Ocasio fight at St. Tropez, France. Ferdie Pacheco will be the commentator. The fight will be shown, delayed, at 10 p.m. . . . Mike Tyson’s next HBO appearance will be Oct. 16, when he fights Tyrell Biggs.

Channel 4 will show “NFL’s Strange but True Football Stories,” narrated by Vincent Price, Saturday at 2 p.m. At 3:30, Channel 4 will show this month’s edition of “Lite Moments in Sports,” with Joe Namath. . . . Sunday at 1 p.m., Channel 4 will televise highlights of last January’s Super Bowl, and at 1:30, it will show “The NFL Most Valuable Player.” Both shows are produced by NFL Films. . . . Vin Scully will receive the Los Angeles Athletic Club’s annual Hall of Fame Award Oct. 28. John Wooden, a former winner, will present it. . . . Irv Brodsky, sports publicity director of ABC for 27 years, has left the company because of “philosophical differences.” He was one of the last of the Roone Arledge regime to leave ABC Sports. Dennis Swanson was appointed president of the department 1 1/2 years ago.

Attention body-building fans: A new show, “American Muscle Magazine,” makes its debut on ESPN today at 5 p.m. Host of the one-hour show will be actress Spice Williams. . . . Sportscaster Scott Swan, of Corona del Mar and Pepperdine, is leaving the ABC affiliate in Palm Springs to take a weekend job with the ABC affiliate in Honolulu. . . . Attention track fans: NBC is devoting 16 hours to the World Championships at Rome, beginning Saturday, Aug. 29. Leading into the meet, Prime Ticket will offer taped coverage of two European Mobil Grand Prix meets. On Aug. 27, one held at Nice, France, will be shown, and the next night the IAC meet at London will be televised.