The media

Pittsburgh comes into sharp focus for the rest of the country this week as three television networks send full crews of announcers and production people to chronicle the 77th All-Star Game and a variety of major events leading up to it.

Beginning Sunday with ESPN's coverage of the All-Star Futures game at PNC Park and carrying through Tuesday night, when Fox televises the All-Star Game, Pittsburgh will be the focal point of the sports world.

	TV highlights Sunday 4 p.m.: XM Satellite Futures Game pitting major-league prospects in a United States vs. the World format. TV: ESPN2. 7 p.m.: Baseball Tonight live from PNC Park. TV: ESPN. Monday 9 a.m.: Highlights of past Home Run Derby contests to help get you ready for the show at PNC Park. Different years will be shown until 8 p.m. TV: ESPN Classic. 6 p.m.: SportsCenter at the All-Star Game from PNC Park, with Dan Patrick as host. TV: ESPN 7 p.m.: Baseball Tonight All-Star Edition from PNC Park. TV: ESPN. 8 p.m.: Century 21 Home Run Derby featuring many of the top sluggers in the game. TV: ESPN. 10 p.m.: Taco Bell All-Star Legends & Celebrity game taped Sunday at PNC Park. TV: ESPN. 11 p.m.: SportsCenter at the All-Star Game from PNC Park, with Karl Ravech as host. TV: ESPN. Tuesday 6 p.m.: SportsCenter at the All-Star Game from PNC Park, with Dan Patrick as host. TV: ESPN 8 p.m.: The 77th All-Star Game -- the fifth Midsummer Classic to be played in Pittsburgh. TV: WPGH. 11:30 p.m.: Postgame SportsCenter at the All-Star Game, with Chris Berman as host. TV: ESPN

ESPN will be the busiest of the networks, doing the Futures game Sunday and the popular Home Run Derby Monday. Additionally, starting Monday night, the network's award-winning SportsCenter show will frequently be broadcast from PNC Park.

Perhaps the gala event of the weekend will be televised by FSN, the sister network of Fox. Players will be chauffeured from their hotel to PNC Park late Tuesday afternoon in a convoy of red, white and blue Chevrolet Avalanches. When the convoy arrives at the downtown side of the Roberto Clemente Bridge, it will begin to cross an 1,840-foot red carpet, which is the longest one in the world, according to FSN. When the fleet arrives on the North Shore, fans can gather to cheer them on, and FSN will conduct interviews.

Players will get out of their vehicles and make their way into PNC Park to get ready for the game.

By then, all that remains of the festivities is the game. But much more will come before it.

As the Home Run Derby grows larger in fan popularity every year -- rivaling the game in some people's minds -- ESPN has upgraded its production of the event, which begins at 8 p.m. Monday.

The Home Run Derby, hosted by Chris Berman, is traditionally ESPN's highest-rated summer program. The network has been carrying the event for 14 years, with nine of those years the coverage being live. In addition to ESPN, it will be carried on ESPN HD, ESPN Radio and ESPN Deportes.

For the first time this year, ESPN will use Baseball Tonight commentators on the Home Run Derby telecast. Harold Reynolds will work on the field, and Karl Ravech will anchor a set positioned in the outfield, where he will be joined by John Kruk and Joe Morgan. Bonnie Bernstein will provide interviews and reports from the field.

Ravech, Kruk and Reynolds will be involved with a preview of the Home Run Derby at 7 p.m.

Dan Shulman and Dave Campbell will describe the action on radio. Peter Pascarelli and John Rooney, the voice of the St. Louis Cardinals, will serve as on-field reporters for the radio broadcast.

The Futures game will be carried on ESPN2 at 4 p.m. Sunday with Gary Thorne and Steve Phillips doing the broadcast.

Pittsburgh will be the site for ESPN's SportsCenter shows. Dan Patrick will host the 6 p.m. SportsCenters on Monday and Tuesday from PNC Park. Ravech will handle the 11 p.m. Monday show and Berman will anchor the postgame Sports Center, scheduled to start at 11:30 p.m.

Joe Buck and Tim McCarver will be in the booth for the All-Star Game. This will be a record 15th All-Star call for McCarver, a former catcher who played in the game in 1966 and '67. Curt Gowdy and Joe Garagiola both had 13 All-Star game assignments. This is Buck's eighth All-Star Game.

Jeanne Zelasko and Kevin Kennedy will be the hosts for the pregame show. Ken Rosenthal will work the field as a reporter.

Fox will have 20 cameras and 75 microphones positioned throughout PNC Park. It also will use the Fox Diamond-Cam, a lipstick-sized camera implanted in the grass in front of home plate that provides a unique view of plays at home as well as pitch locations.

Catchers and first basemen will be miked and in-game interviews with managers and coaches are scheduled throughout the broadcast.