ON THE AIR World Series no hit with Philadelphia fans Comcast SportsNet vice president of programming Tom Stathakes responded to criticism that his network didn't give the "World Series" sufficient coverage, and instead gave air time to the Flyers and Sixers, which are owned by Comcast. "Comcast has never told us what to air or in what order to run stories," he said. "This is a regional sports network. The Phillies weren't in the World Series. Even if we give two minutes of coverage to the event, it's still more than most of the broadcast channels' entire sportscast." Stathakes pointed out that CSN aired interviews with baseball's Willie Mays, Mike Scioscia and Rex Hudler during the World Series. He added: "I don't believe baseball is over. The Phillies had solid ratings for us this season." Meanwhile, WIP 610-AM's Angelo Cataldi has no problem declaring baseball dead. "The World Series was last week! Damn, I missed it again," he said with a chuckle. "This is the absolute truth: My show, which comprises 18 hours of the broadcast week on WIP, received exactly zero calls on the World Series. Not one. "Game 7 of the World Series saved it from becoming the lowest-rated of all time. The Anaheim Angels' victory over the San Francisco Giants was watched by 30.8 million viewers. The seven-game series had an average of 19,261,000 viewers. The lowest-rated World Series was the 2000 Yankees-Mets series with an average of 18,081,000 viewers. Tricks and treats at WPHL It was tricks and treats in the WPHL sports department last night. The trick was on weekday sports anchor Mike Missanelli, who was called yesterday afternoon and told not to show up for work. The station, which had announced recently that it could not come to terms with Missanelli, bought out the remainder of his contract which expires in December. The treat was for Geraud Moncure, who becomes the new weekday sports anchor. Moncure arrives from KCOP-TV, a UPN affiliate in Los Angeles, California. Moncure will get a baptism under fire, as he'll work tonight, tomorrow and "Sports Extra" on Sunday. It was announced by the station only yesterday that Moncure was hired. Eagles soar in ratings Like Duce Staley and Donovan McNabb, the Eagles-Giants game ran away from the competition with a 28.3 rating/42 share Monday night on WPVI. Each rating point equals 28,305 households. Shame on CN8's "Sports Connection with Lou Tilley" which figured everybody who was interested in sports would be watching the game, so they threw in the towel and ran a taped show. Busy guy Tom McCarthy will join Tripp Rogers to co-host the new local sports-talk show "Philly Sports Live," which debuts on ESPN Radio 920-AM Monday. McCarthy also does the Phillies pre- and post-game shows on another signal-challenged station, WPEN 950-AM. The show will air weekdays from 4-7 p.m. McCarthy also is the voice of Rutgers football and Princeton basketball. The Bachelor of WCAU WCAU weekend sports anchor John Clark, 27, was named one of the area's most eligible singles by "Main Line Today" magazine. The Delaware Valley native joined the station about a year ago. Running to glory "Emmitt Smith: Run With History" airs on ESPN2 tonight at 8. Smith was miked during his record-setting game Sunday by the NFL Films crew. I wonder if we hear him ask of his teammates, "Who are you? Where are Troy, Michael and Deion?" Get Real Fast becoming one of my favorite HBO original series is "Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel." The show is the "60 Minutes," of the sports world, breaking stories and providing insightful features. Last week's piece on Esera Tuaola (this guy's name could give Vanna White fits), the NFL player who came out of the closet, was great. Laura Nachman covers television and radio sports for the Courier Times. She can be reached at bradyresident@aol.com. November 01, 2002