In terms of timing, things couldn’t have worked out much better for new WVII weekend sports anchor John Chandler.

The lifelong baseball fan and diehard Cleveland Indians and Browns fan arrived at his new station just in time for the spring college and high school sports season at the Bangor ABC television network affiliate.

“I love the Indians, I bleed orange and brown, and I’m a big Drew Carey fan, so I guess I came to the right station,” referring to Carey’s strong ABC ties (Whose Line is it Anyway? and the Drew Carey show).

Chandler may hail from the football-crazy city on the shores of Lake Erie – better known as an “ocean” to former Red Sox and Blue Ox pitcher Dennis “Oil Can” Boyd – but he has been won over by the charms of New England.

“When this job opened up, I was working as a producer in Cleveland at the same station my uncle worked at,” Chandler said. “After four years at BU, I was desperate to get back to the New England area and I have family down in Portland. It was kind of a no-brainer for me.”

Chandler is quite familiar with Maine sports fans from his days covering Boston University hockey and basketball as an undergraduate student. It was one of the things that made the WVII job attractive to him.

“I like the outdoors and I like this area. It’s quite a different change of pace from being in an NBA or NFL locker room every day, but it’s quite refreshing,” he said.

This is Chandler’s first on-air job with a major station since he graduated from BU last May with a broadcast journalism degree, but he brings three years’ experience as a reporter covering pro, college, and high school sports for Neighborhood Network News and Media One in Boston.

He also worked as a producer at the same station his uncle, the late Nev Chandler, worked at as a sports reporter for many years.

“I’ve known since probably about sixth grade that this is what I wanted to do because of my uncle,” Chandler said. “He was a sportscaster in Cleveland for 20 or so years. He was the voice of the Indians for about five years and the voice of the Browns until he died from cancer in 1994.

“I’d come home all the time to watch him at 6 and then beg my parents to watch him again at 11.”

Where’s old what’s-his-name?

Ever wonder whatever happened to New England sports notables like Gordie Lockbaum, Andy Moog, Calvin Schiraldi, or Robert Parish? New England Sports Network will try to bring viewers up to date with a program titled Where Are They Now?

The one-hour special, airing Sunday at 7 p.m., tracks down the before-mentioned athletes and others who gained regional fame in the pro, college, and amateur sports ranks such as Alberto Salazar, Raymond Clayborn, Scott Wedman, and Mike Torrez.

New England hardball

In case they haven’t already stumbled upon it, baseball fans may want to tune in the Old Kent Mortgage Baseball Saturday Night show on Fox Sports Net New England. The new half-hour program, a baseball edition of the New England Sports Report, will air Saturdays at 9:30 p.m.

The show, hosted by John Holt, Wendi Nix, and Boston Herald and former Portland Press Herald sportswriter Steve Buckley, focuses on the Boston Red Sox as well as other Major League Baseball teams and includes coach/player interviews, in-depth analyses, and special features.