LADIES-FIRST APPROACH CREATES DRAMA AT END.

Byline: TOM HOFFARTH

You know it, and I know it, and the entire city knows it. And that is, there's got to be something completely off the 26.2-mile beaten path to convince anyone at home they've got 4 1/2 hours to invest watching KNBC-Channel 4's coverage Sunday morning of the Los Angeles Marathon.

Fred Roggin wants us all to believe that this gender-centric gimmick of skirt-chasing -- starting the elite women about 20 minutes ahead of the elite men and letting it come down to the wire -- creates plenty of buzz for those who'd otherwise be catching z's.

But why not take it a step -- specifically, a misstep -- further.

Remember when Kenya's Robert Cheruiyot won the Chicago Marathon last October? Go find it on YouTube.com: He reaches the finish line, puts up his hands, slips, falls backward and slams his head on the pavement.

Trying buying that kind of national exposure. So what if Fearless Fred greased up the finish line near the Central Library in downtown L.A. Wouldn't that be a video clip worthy of both "Roggin's Heroes" and the "Hall of Shame" for eternity.

"The problem with that is you can really only do it once," Roggin admitted. "I don't think anyone will ever try that again."

If anyone could, it'd be Roggin, the Channel 4 sports anchor whose production company again is taking care of everything TV-wise for the event that starts at 7:30 a.m. with hopes of capturing the first finisher -- be it man, woman or lost toddler -- at about the 10:15 a.m. mark.

But Roggin refuses to budge from this "challenge" that he, analyst Toni Reavis and producer Phil Olsman convinced the marathon organizers to try four years ago and now might be ahead of the curve.

With a new point-to-point downhill course that goes from Universal Studios and winds up a couple blocks from Skid Row, there's plenty of newness to focus on. But apparently the novelty of beauty-vs.-the best hasn't worn off yet.

"As a TV station, you get involved because it's a great local event, but from a TV perspective, you have to put something compelling on the air," said Roggin. "The challenge translates to viewers. And with a new course it'll be tougher to predict what'll happen."

Olsman said other marathons across the country have to consider this kind of contrived change if it's to remain a viable TV product, since ratings aren't really justifying the rights fees any longer.

"Not everyone thinks watching people run for three hours is appointment TV," said Olsman, "but we do have something that not only levels the playing field and puts women in the spotlight, but it's more theatre. The ratings definitely increase as the races comes to a conclusion."

"You've got to be realistic," Roggin added. "Now we have a vehicle to build the drama. Now we've turned it into a TV event."

Which is exactly why they need some kind of booby trap at the end, where the winners aren't expecting anything and -- wham! -- there's your big Hollywood finish.

OK, so here's something more original: Take a TV crew down to the local gym and find a group of weekend warriors willing to stage their own kind of challenge -- stay on a treadmill, stair-climber or stationary bike throughout the entire marathon broadcast. It's not enough to vicariously compete through watching on TV -- now make it interactive. Load in software that duplicates the course. And no bathroom breaks.

"That sounds like a 'Saturday Night Live' sketch," said Olsman. "It's kind of the anti-marathon."

Roggin thought about it for a few seconds.

"That could work," he said. "Next year, we can do that."

Now we're getting somewhere.

Mixed-martial arts making moves

If there's a mixed message out there about the sport of mixed-martial arts, it's that bludgeoning an opponent into the fetal position is OK because, before long, it'll be drawing bigger audiences than boxing or fake wrestling.

The pay-per-view phenomenon of the past few years readies for another huge payday, as Ultimate Fighting Championship 68 is set for Saturday in Columbus, Ohio, with a retail price of $39.95. But the real growth has come from the acceptance of it on mainstream TV.

Lately, it's the International Fight League's new arm-twist on the every-man-for-himself concept: A 12-team league competition, giving cities like L.A., New York, Chicago, Seattle, San Jose and Portland a rooting interest. That plays right into the philosophy of Fox Sports Net, which reaches 82 million homes through 25 regional channels (including both FSN West and FSN Prime Ticket in Southern California) and is banking on this IFL tribal format to set itself apart from MMA events on Spike TV, Versus, HBO or Showtime.

"We'd been doing mixed martial arts programming for about five years, going back to the old UFC days and continuing with Pride Fighting," said Bob Thompson, president of all of Fox's cable sports networks, which include Speed, Fox Soccer and Fuel TV. "One of the things we've always noticed is that any time you put it on, there's a decent ratings pop regardless of what it's up against. That alone led us to believe we have a diehard audience for the product and if we grow it, we'll have something good here.

"The IFL team concept fits into our architecture of being a regional channel first and a national network second. Now each region has a team that the FSN station can promote, like their local MLB, NBA or NHL team."

The male 18-to-34 age demographic that devours this kind of stuff might actually be skewing younger here, Thompson says. Noting the success of video games like "Mortal Combat," which is a version of mixed martial arts, Thompson thinks that programming like the IFL translates to the TV screen for the gamer generation.

The IFL, which debuted last Friday on FSN and airs a new show tonight (FSN West, 11 p.m.), has a minimum of 11 fights per hour-long broadcast. As in other team sports, the season will climax with a Sept. 15 final set for the Forum in Inglewood.

The shows produced by the IFL includes MMA star Bas Rutten (the coach of the Los Angeles Anacondas) as a broadcaster and gives FSN 22 hours of original shows, up from 13 last year.

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Photo:

Daniel Njenga of Kenya runs by countryman Robert Cheruiyot, who collpased after his first-place finish Oct. 22 at the Chicago Marathon.

Scott Olson/Getty Images

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