ON THE AIR Sunday night sports shows battle for ratings Is there a little battle brewing between two of the Sunday night sports shows? KYW airs "Sports Rap," which it dubs "The Big Show" with Beasley Reece and Garry Cobb at 11:30 p.m. WCAU airs "Sports Final" with Howard Eskin and John Clark (sports director Vai Sikahema doesn't do the show during the summer) at the same time. When former KYW sports anchor Eskin begins the show, he says "Welcome to Sports Final, the really big show," which seems to be taking a shot at KYW. However, Eskin denies that is the case. He said he has been calling "Sports Final" "the really big show" since he began on WCAU six years ago and said he's never seen KYW's show. Reece laughed. "Obviously Howard has watched our show," he said. "Maybe someday I'll watch his." Eskin's response: "Beasley is a nice guy, but he's flattering himself." According to the ratings, WCAU has the really big show. In May sweeps, "Sports Final" had a 5.8 rating/14 share. "Sports Rap" had a 3.1 rating/7 share. "The really, really big show" that beats them both in the ratings - "Total Access with Gary Papa" on WPVI - returns in September. Each rating point equals 28,010 households. Magic Hour returns TNT's "Inside the NBA" is adding Magic Johnson to the lineup this season, after a successful one-week appearance during the playoffs in the spring. Johnson will join Ernie Johnson, Dream Team teammate Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith. Maybe TNT hired Johnson as an insurance policy if Smith, whom many say is NBA head coaching material, bolts for the coaching ranks. ESPN milestone The 25,000th "SportsCenter" airs Sunday at 11 p.m. on ESPN. Network stars Chris Berman, Dan Patrick and Stuart Scott will be the primary anchors. Bob Ley, Linda Cohn and Rich Eisen also will contribute to the 90-minute special. "SportsCenter" premiered September 7, 1979. Some "SportsCenter" alumni include Greg Gumbel, Craig Kilborn and the "McLean Stevenson" of the network, Keith Olbermann. No Mohr Jay "Mohr Sports" lasted 24,986 less episodes than "SportsCenter." ESPN's attempt to blend comedy and sports was canceled after 14 episodes, even though it had an initial 22-episode commitment from the network. The show was moved around the schedule several times and things seemed ominous for host Jay Mohr when he wasn't part of the "ESPY Awards" last month. Maybe Mohr can join "The Rerun Show." Comedy central Meanwhile, another comedian has been hired to take Mohr's place on the Fox Sports Net NFL pre-game show. Tommy Davidson, best known for "In Living Color," will join the revamped "The NFL Show" which will air on Saturday nights this season. Chris Rose is the only holdover from last season. D'Marco Farr, Michael Irvin and Tony Siragusa replace Marv Levy, Deacon Jones and Boomer Esiason. Ratings report card Saturday night's Eagles-Patriots preseason game was the top-rated show of the night for KYW with a 13.3 rating/24 share. Each local rating point equals 28,010 households. It also won its timeslot nationally for CBS. "The X Games" prime-time special on ABC Sunday was a wipeout with a tiny 2.8 rating/5 share, fourth in its timeslot. However, that's fantastic compared to the WNBA ratings. The league, which averaged a 0.9 rating on NBC, is hoping that somebody will watch the playoffs. Each national rating point equals about one million homes. Laura Nachman covers television and radio sports for the Courier Times. She can be reached at [email protected] August 23, 2002