A genuine show of friendship

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The two men sit at a starkly bare desk in Parking Lot 5 outside RFK Stadium and practice one-liners before the red light on the TV camera winks on.

When an onlooker tells Johnny Holliday that "someone of your stature" deserves a more elaborate set, the veteran broadcaster cracks, "If it had been up to me, we would have one."

To his left, former major league player and manager Ray Knight pretends to scowl. "Boy," he says. "It's not easy working with a sourpuss like Johnny."

That, of course, is a joke. In more than 40 years behind microphones and in front of TV cameras, Holliday has earned a reputation as one of the nicest and most upbeat people in a frequently ego-driven industry. Now he has the perfect partner in Knight, a gregarious, friendly Georgian who is best known for replacing Pete Rose at third base with the Cincinnati Reds in 1979 and being World Series MVP in 1986 as his New York Mets won it all. (Knight scored the winning run in Game 6 when Boston Red Sox first baseman Bill Buckner famously let Mookie Wilson's grounder go through his legs and homered for the winning run in Game 7.)

This season Holliday and Knight are handling the Washington Nationals' pregame and postgame shows on the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network. Such programs often are sheer fluff, but they manage to make theirs entertaining, relevant and reasonably upbeat.

In less than two months, the two have become fast friends, so much so that Knight is spending the season as a houseguest at Holliday's home in Montgomery County. Their rapport shines through on the air -- and their jests sparkle on and off camera.

"He has his own floor in my house, but the other night I caught him walking down my hallway," Holliday complains. "He doesn't need to be walking down my hallway -- and toward my wife!"

Knight, who is married to former LPGA superstar Nancy Lopez, looks properly insulted.

"And," says telecast producer Chris Glass, "they can't have any pajama parties."

Because of the colder weather, Holliday and Knight had broadcast exclusively from the MASN studios in Cockeysville, Md., until moving to RFK for the Nats' games against the Baltimore Orioles on Saturday and Sunday. Now they will work at the stadium for virtually every weekend home game the rest of the season, thus adding a touch of authenticity to the proceedings.