Americans' Ryder Cup collapse a big win for NBC

• Will coverage surpass 1999 when Cup drew 5.2 rating for U.S. comeback?
• Analyst Johnny Miller has "trouble composing what I just saw"
• Network apologizes several times for profanity getting on-air

NBC's Ryder Cup coverage Sunday has a shot at a record: Topping the 5.2 rating -- translating into 5.2% of U.S. households -- that it drew for the Americans' comeback in 1999, which is NBC's highest Cup rating since it began airing the event in 1991.

Topping 5.2% for golf during Oktoberfest would be almost unreal. But Sunday's play was made for TV. That the Europeans won their first five matches, making the event less one-sided, had to come as a relief to NBC. As it really tightened up, lead analyst Johnny Miller seemed entertained by the Europeans' "magical shots" while announcer Dan Hicks felt safe to start hyping the possibility of the Europeans making an "impossible comeback" -- which became "stunning" as it unfolded. NBC reporter Dottie Pepper noted that the Chicago course "is near sea level. But it doesn't feel like there's much oxygen out here."

NBC's announcers, while not openly rooting for the U.S., seemed to hold their breath as the day went on. Miller, with six matches left, wasn't saying the impossible would happen. But, he said, "the impossible is thinking about happening."

But when just four players -- none of whom, including Tiger Woods, had scored a Cup point all weekend -- were left to decide whether Europe would retain the Cup, you sensed Miller's fuse had been lit. He didn't use the "c" word he's famous for -- "choke" -- but he came up with two others: "This will become the colossal collapse in Chicago. ... Americans have played really poorly on the finishing holes which has allowed this to happen. This really is a collapse."

And you're definitely not touching your remote now. Unfortunately, Miller, one of TV sports' most sharp-tongued analysts, refrained from what might have been an epic harangue. Instead, he said he was "having trouble composing what I just saw."

Credit NBC for not over-talking through the drama and keeping its shots from being cluttered by too many graphics as the match-play format allowed nearly every stroke to air. And while the Cup is shot before TV golf's most raucous audience -- occasionally cheering for the other team's bad shots -- NBC didn't overemphasize that some fans were dressed in, say, kilts. NBC occasionally apologized for profanity getting on-air. NBC's Hicks was succinct about costumes in the crowd -- "at the Ryder Cup, Halloween comes early" -- while NBC reporter Mark Rolfing said "it sounds like a Bears game out here."

The Cup could draw a record rating because of a harmonic convergence of factors. Woods, who can still move the TV ratings needle more than any athlete since the cigar-smoking fan he was shown chatting with on a practice green Sunday -- Michael Jordan -- was in Sunday's final pairing. And lots of big TV markets -- New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Dallas, San Francisco -- had their NFL teams playing in early afternoon or prime time slots -- not opposite the Cup's conclusion.

MLB TV finale: With Major League Baseball for the first time having two wild card playoff berths in each league, ESPN is likely to land marquee action on Wednesday, the last day of the regular season.

ESPN and MLB will finalize Monday what games will air in an ESPN doubleheader starting at 7 p.m. ET and an ESPN2 doubleheader at 8 p.m.

But it's possible all playoff spots will already have been determined by then. And, there's more bad luck for ESPN -- the doubleheaders will run into the presidential debate at 9 p.m.

On Wednesday, ESPN will likely air the Boston-N.Y. Yankees game -- always a ratings grabber -- and could take Detroit-Kansas to follow Tiger Miguel Cabrera trying to become the first Triple Crown winner since 1967. Norby Williamson, ESPN executive vice president, says some contractual limitations keep ESPN from split-screen coverage of two games: "We have the limited ability to go back and forth between games and dip in a little. You want to preserve the integrity of the game" being aired.

Clip 'n save: CBS' Jason La Canfora, in his first season at at the network, has upgraded reporting on the its NFL studio show. And his report Sunday is interesting, since it seems far-fetched: He says the NFL will begin a new push for the presumably dead idea of going to an 18-game schedule. ... Fox's Terry Bradshaw, previewing ESPN Monday Night Football's Chicago-Dallas game tonight, suggests of Bears Jay Cutler: He's "a quality quarterback, someone who can stand in there and people like to fight for." Subtle for Bradshaw. ... "No one has ever done more for any sport than what Roger Goodell has done for the NFL," says ESPN's Tom Jackson. Yikes.

Earth somehow survives: Who are we supposed to blame for global warming and the U.S. national debt now that the NFL replacement refs are gone? But not long after Fox replayed a clip of comedian Jimmy Kimmel saying "I'm happy to say there will be never be a bad call again," Fox rules analyst Mike Pereira suggested a blown call early in Fox's San Francisco-N.Y. Jets -- suggesting a Jet who was ruled as having caught a pass and fumbled actually never had possession. Still, CBS went all out in introducing refs on its Cincinnati-Jacksonville game in a starting-lineup format, complete with the refs' colleges.

On tap: ESPN spokesman Mike Soltys Sunday confirmed that ESPN this season won't use Stan Van Gundy as an NBA analyst -- "We talked to him and decided to go in a different direction" -- and that Isiah Thomas has had an audition. Soltys, however, declined to comment on whether ESPN.com star Bill Simmons will be added to the ESPN/ABC NBA studio. ... ESPN's Mike Tirico tonight becomes the sixth announcer to call 100 MNF games, The others: Frank Gifford, the leader with 411 MNF games, Al Michaels, Dan Dierdorf, Howard Cosell and Don Meredith.