With the San Francisco Giants in town for a three-game series starting tonight and Barry Bonds in pursuit of Hank Aaron's career home-run record, Ted Leitner will be driving to Petco Park with one thing on his mind.

"I say, 'Please, God. Not here. Not me,' " said Leitner, who is in his 28th season as a radio play-by-play voice of the Padres. "I don't want this guy to break the record on my watch."

Barring a catastrophic injury, Bonds is going to get the record. And the call, whether on TV or radio, will live for the ages.

Leitner figures the Giants' announcers -- Jon Miller, Duane Kuiper, Dave Flemming or Greg Papa -- will have their call recorded and played back on the national networks.

"And that's fine with me," Leitner said. "But I don't even want to be a part of it. I don't want my call repeated for generations."

Working seven innings of a nine-inning broadcast, Leitner realizes there is a good chance he will be on the air if the record-breaker happens in San Diego.

Bonds kills the Padres. He has more career home runs against Padres pitchers (86) than any other team. And the Padres' three starters this weekend -- Greg Maddux (10 home runs allowed this season), Clay Hensley (3) and Justin Germano (11) -- are prone to the long ball. Bonds has eight career homers off Maddux.

"I have no enthusiasm, no desire whatsoever for this because I have eyes. No one does what he does in his 40s without some help," Leitner said in reference to persistent rumors that Bonds' late-career home-run binge has been fueled by steroid use. "Give me a break. This is a bastardization of history.

"Everybody hates this guy. He's booed everywhere he goes. And how dare he say the fans boo him because he's talented. The commissioner of baseball (Bud Selig) said the only reason he'll follow Barry is because in this country you're innocent until proven guilty. The writers who cover him hate him. Even his mistress turned on him.

"Vin Scully, the ultra-professional Dodgers announcer, said last year that he didn't want to be the one to call the record breaker."

Still, if fate puts Leitner behind the microphone for the call, he plans to be professional.

"Through pennant clinchings, Trevor Hoffman's 500th save, big games, I've never pre-prepared a call," Leitner said. "I won't write anything down in advance this time, but I will have a plan because I don't want to be accused of not being professional. I care about the game of baseball, the Padres and my reputation.

"I will be straight and factual. I'll be as professional as I can, but I don't know about voice inflection."

That, Leitner said, will depend on the situation.

"The writers -- and I know you guys hate him, too -- can write the facts," Leitner said. "Your writing doesn't have voice inflection. You write and record the facts, and your readers don't see a like or dislike. Broadcasting is different.

"My call will be different if he hits it with no one out and no one on in the third as opposed to -- God forbid -- a game-winning grand slam in the ninth. I don't want to throw my partners under the bus, but I hope they're on duty if he hits it here this weekend."

Leitner works with Hall of Famer Jerry Coleman and Andy Masur. Both said they'll play it straight.

"It will be business as usual for me," Masur said.

Local notes

< The Chargers are featured tonight at 6 on the NFL Network's "Inside Training Camp."

< ESPN2 has quarterfinal coverage of the WTA Acura Classic from the La Costa Resort and Spa live tonight at 8. The network has live coverage of the semis at 8 p.m. Saturday and live coverage of the final match at 2 p.m. Sunday.

< XX Sports Radio 1090, home of the Padres, checked in with a 2.3 rating in the recently released spring book -- 18th among the 32 stations listed in San Diego. The rating is up from a 2.0 in the winter book but below the 2.6 last spring. ESPN 800 was below an 0.5 and wasn't listed. KIFM-FM, a smooth jazz station, was No. 1 with a 5.4 rating.

NHL on the move?

Street & Smith's Sports Business Journal reports that the NHL and ESPN are in discussions about bringing the league back to ESPN2 as soon as the 2008-09 season.

NBC and Versus carry NHL games now, and both are willing to listen to league options, considering ratings are in the 1.0 range. NBC could opt out of its nine-game package.

Versus, which has exclusive cable rights through 2011 at $70 million a season, is willing to listen if it can get some relief on its rights fee or strike a deal with ESPN to cross-promote games.

Let's kick it off

Football season kicks off at 5 p.m. Sunday with the NFL Network's coverage of the Hall of Fame game from Canton, Ohio, featuring the Saints and Steelers. Bryant Gumbel and Cris Collinsworth call the action.

ESPN will carry the Hall of Fame induction ceremonies live at 3 p.m. Saturday, with the NFL Network coming on the air at 1 p.m. This year's class includes Gene Hickerson, Michael Irvin, Bruce Matthews, Charlie Sanders, Thurman Thomas and Roger Wehrli.

The Hall of Fame game is one of the NFL's 15 nationally televised preseason games -- four on ESPN, three each on Fox, CBS and NBC and two on the NFL Network.

The Chargers are featured at 5 p.m., Aug. 12 at home on NBC against the Seahawks and on Aug. 18 at 5 p.m. on CBS on the road against the Rams.

Channel 8 will carry the Chargers' other two preseason games -- Aug. 25 against the Cardinals and Aug. 30 against the 49ers.

There are 41 national telecasts in the regular season, starting with NBC's Sept. 6 broadcast of the Saints-Colts game. NBC will have the Giants-Cowboys on Sept. 9 to open Sunday night games. ESPN has a Monday night doubleheader on Sept. 10 with the Ravens-Bengals at 4:10 p.m. and the Cardinals-49ers at 7:15 p.m.

NBC has 17 Sunday night games, while ESPN has 17 Monday night contests.

The NFL Network -- which has added Craig Janoff, who directed three Super Bowls and was in charge of ABC's "Monday Night Football" for 12 seasons -- has seven Thursday night matches.

X Games

Starting today, X Games 13 shifts into high gear on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC.

The networks are devoting 14 hours to such events as Moto X, Bicycle Vert and surfing.

Last year's X Games drew an 0.9 rating on ESPN and a 1.0 on ABC. Those numbers aren't great, but the networks' target audience of ages 12-17 is strong. And the networks have 13 strong sponsors -- all aimed at a younger audience.

And if you don't think the X Games have had a TV impact, you need to realize there would be no snowboarding in the Winter Olympics and no Dew Action Sports Tour without the X Games.

X Games also spawned Skier Cross, which will debut in the 2010 Winter Olympics at Vancouver.

Around the dial

< Left-hander Tom Glavine, going for career win No. 300, is expected to start Sunday against the Cubs in ESPN's 5 p.m. game.

< Even though David Beckham has an ankle injury and may not play, ESPN2 has added the next Los Angeles Galaxy match -- 4:30 p.m. Sunday at Toronto FC -- to its lineup.

< CBS will air a 60-minute PGA Championship preview at noon Sunday prior to the final round of the WGC Bridgestone Invitational from the Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio.

< The Golf Channel has live coverage of the U.S. Women's Amateur, starting Wednesday and Thursday at 1 p.m. and continuing through the weekend.

< Last weekend's NASCAR Nextel Cup AllState 400 at the Brickyard did a 4.2 rating on ESPN, down 24 percent from last year's race on NBC. It was the race's lowest rating since 2000.

< Even as the Tour de France loses credibility, Versus' coverage of the event reached 20.5 million households, more than any year in the network's history, including Lance Armstrong's final win in 2005. Overall, viewership was up 4 percent.

< ESPN, under its ESPN Content Development group and in conjunction with Throwback Pictures, is producing a two-hour documentary-style film on Bobby Valentine, the former major league player and manager. Valentine is now the manager of the Chiba Lotte Marines of Japan's Pacific League. Titled "Bobby V in Japan," the show is scheduled to air next spring, just in time for the start of the 2008 season.

< ABC and ESPN announced a 90-game schedule -- 18 on ABC, 72 on ESPN -- for the 2007-08 NBA season. The first game is scheduled for Oct. 31. ABC will have a Christmas Day tripleheader, featuring the Cavaliers-Heat at 11 a.m., Suns-Lakers at 2:15 p.m. and Trail Blazers-SuperSonics at 5 p.m.

< TNT will have 52 NBA games in the 2007-08 season with the return of Thursday doubleheaders.

John Maffei's TV/Radio Column appears every Friday. He can be reached at (760) 740-3547 or jmaffei@nctimes.com.