PRAISE THE FOX AND PASS THE TUMS.

Byline: TOM HOFFARTH Media

Sometimes, it has been like inhaling a bag of pork rinds, this first full year of the Fox Sports Net ``Southern California Regional Sports Report.''

Caught our eye with nice bright packaging, very strategically placed. But essentially, we've been raising our cholesterol level to dangerous levels with a lot of deep-fried air leading to a stomach ache that won't go away.

Without being a jerk about it, Mark Houska's job is to change all that into beef jerky.

``I can understand how it's been criticized,'' said the newly in-place news director for the half-hour sports wrapup show.

Such as, everyone on camera going overboard without a life vest in their enthusiasm for the home teams. (Please, don't bring up Chick Hernandez, who showed up at Dodger Stadium for a locker room assignment on the first night of the show's launch wearing an LA cap.)

And then there was the confusion about what to wear on the set - California casual blazers and T-shirts or standard-issue suits and ties? And the vapid bantering. And missing news stories.

But, hey, what about the ad campaign - remember the cliff diver landing on dirt in Turkey? That's gotta account for something.

Houska, a USC journalism graduate from Canoga Park High, wants to cut through all those distractions and get to the basics.

The objective is to keep the audience that just watched the local event, and the recent switch from 11 p.m. to 10 p.m. has been a huge boost. But content provided by Todd Donoho, John Fricke, Barry LeBrock, Suzy Schuster and Lisa Guerrero is what Houska understands will keep more than the viewers who are just too lazy to change the channel.

Houska is so Southern California grounded, he goes back 10 years to working on Prime Ticket's ``Press Box.'' His recent slide over from the Fox National show to help shape the focus of this regional outfit (which also includes San Diego, Hawaii and Las Vegas) goes far beyond whether it's proper for local natives to refer to the area as ``Southern Cal'' without getting laughed at.

``A lot of those things aren't even bad habits that we have to learn how to break,'' said Houska as he helped coordinate Wednesday's show at the Fox studios in Century City. ``The overenthusiasm, I think, goes back to the original marching orders, but enthusiasm can be injected in the reporter's inflection while he or she can stay down the middle.''

Houska's plan of attack includes more live in-studio guests, on both the 6:30 and 10 p.m. segments. Lakers coach Phil Jackson spent an entire half-hour on June 4, for example. Thursday night, they brought in newest Clipper Elton Brand, and during the baseball All-Star break next week, they plan on more appearances by members of the Galaxy, Sparks and Avengers - all whose games are covered by Fox Sports Net.

``We're getting back to what's important, demanding everyone participates in finding stories,'' Houska said. ``You can't go to Dodger Stadium every night. We have to tell better stories. There are plenty of good people here, and I've been sent to add guidance.''

--A quiet roar: While the first Dodgers game affected by the Time Warner-Fox feud was blacked out Wednesday - a version of ``NASCAR Today'' was replayed - there was a crawl at the bottom of the screen that asked: ``Your cable company cut its costs by dropping a number of Dodgers and Angels games for the last several seasons. Did your cable bill go down?''

Fox's people report more than 10,000 folks have called its toll-free number to find out about contract talks, which haven't resumed.

Since people also have been calling Time Warner throughout the heavy ad campaign the last two weeks, there was no real flood of protest of Wednesday's blackout, spokesman Deane Leavenworth said.

``Most of the Dodger fans who've called have been pretty understanding when they find out it's been Fox's decision to black out the games,'' Leavenworth said. ``If Fox provided the games while we negotiated, we'd show them.''

So, why not?

Meanwhile, Fox is hosting a Dodgers-Padres ``viewing party'' at Yankee Doodles on Victory Boulevard in Woodland Hills tonight at 7 p.m. for those who feel shut out by the blackout.

The sports bar, it should be noted, has DirecTV.

--Tape dancing: Convincingly, NBC has protected itself from more media criticism after all its West Coast affiliates announced this week it decided to go with tape-delayed coverage of the 2002 Winter Games from Salt Lake City.

NBC Sports chief Dick Ebersol, crushed in the media for the network's choice of delaying coverage of the 2000 Summer Games from Sydney, Australia, claims he fought for live TV considering the natural time-friendly location.

But the 23 West Coast affiliates, including KNBC Channel 4, were persuaded to collectively go with this move, saying they didn't want to risk lower ratings because of a 5 p.m. start each weeknight. Instead, it'll be on three-hour delay starting at 8 p.m.

You've been warned.

``A domestic Olympics cries out to be telecast live across the entire country as previous U.S. Games have been,'' Ebersol said in a statement. ``I am emphatic that delaying our primetime Salt Lake coverage is a mistake, which is exactly what I told the affiliate board when they first brought this issue to my attention earlier this year.

``We have each debated this issue passionately for months. I understand their position but I simply don't agree with it.''

Your disdain has been duly noted.

--NFL fire drill: For those who need to keep track of such things, Fox Sports Net's ``NFL This Morning'' has added Boomer Esiason and Deacon Jones to the rumpus room with Marv Levy and Jay Mohr. There's no definite decision on the return of Billy Ray Smith, Sean Jones and Jackie Slater, but Bob Golic probably won't be back. ... Irving Fryer has signed with CNN's ``NFL Preview'' show, Mark May has left CBS' NFL coverage to join ESPN as a college football game analyst, and Lesley Visser, who definitely has the hair for radio, has joined the Monday Night Football broadcast team on select games on Westwood One/CBS Radio, replacing Matt Millen.

SOUND BYTES

WHAT SMOKES

--It's not where the catcher catches the ball, but where it crosses the plate, and the latest ESPN baseball technology known as the ``K Zone'' intends to show that. A 3-D graphic that looks like a floating Plexiglas box gives a ``very accurate representation of the strike zone,'' according to ESPN vice president of remote productions Jed Drake, who tested it on the air last week and will use it more on replays starting with the Sunday night game between the New York Mets and Atlanta Braves.

A system that takes three computers to determine the parameters for each batter's zone, ``it's the end result of years of discussion and months of work,'' Drake said.

Added analyst Joe Morgan, who endorses this as well as the new dead- center camera: ``Normally, I just like to watch the game as a fan, but these two things aren't just bells and whistles. They really do enhance the coverage.''

WHAT CHOKES

--It was just his first night as KTLA Channel 5's new weekend anchor last Saturday, but Steve Grad obviously felt comfortable enough to go on a dull-edged rant that ended with him trying to trash the Angels' radio team of Mario Impemba and Daron Sutton. After promoting KTLA's coverage of the Dodgers game the next day, Grad, the KNX-AM (1070) weekday afternoon anchor who somehow wormed his way into this TV gig, made the awkward segue into an Andy Rooney-like ``I'm so sick of'' whine about baseball analysts who talk too much. ``Take the Angels' radio team,'' Grad gradually concluded. ``If you can bear it, there's a dictionary description of how aggravating a nonstop, butting-in analyst can be.'' Uh ... how's about you just give the rest of the scores and make us try to be thankful Claudia Trejos' time runs out Sunday.

--Conspiracy theorists want to know: How did USC's football team come out ranked 14th in the country by The Sporting News when the consensus of all the preseason publications has the Trojans 28th and only fifth in the Pac-10? Does the bump have anything to do with USC's new deal on The Sporting News radio network of 1540-AM?

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