Agreed, that whole set up struck me as odd.

agree, the final four show is boring in the studio, it takes away from the energy of the game, CBS always used to have the nfl today team at the AFC championship game, but recently stopped doing hte show from there

Two words. Cheap bastards.

Probably Greg Gumbel doesn't meet weight requirements for most commercial flights.

If ESPN can afford to send their entire extended College Basketball crew & two additional SportsCenter anchors for a game that's not even on their air, CBS can do the same thing. Remember when CBS sent their unwatchable morning show to Baton Rouge the day before Florida-LSU to give a screw you to College Gameday?

Chalk up another one for the Kathleen Sullivan-named Cheap Broadcasting System.

I am no apologist for corporate suits , but this is just a bit much.

Just what does on-site add to vapid commentary any fan has already heard and read by airtime? If there was any legitimate news, the game crew is more than adequate to handle such.

It is not like an outdoor venue, where the environment actually impacts the game.

I loved to be sent to the sites when I worked for a major network. But I never, ever, saw a pre-game development that warranted the expense. Rarely, something happened in the game that made on-site access beneficial for post-game.

Also, I find it amusing that this is the year for Clark K. to start taking hits for his unique take. I vividly recall his rapid ascent in the biz. He was hailed as a breath of fresh air backed with major cred (all true). Now, he is the go-to whipping boy for those who have given up on ripping Packer. He is the same Clark with the same insightful takes. Excuse me, but who called chalk this year on Selection Sunday?

There really is a limit as to what a studio show can bring. You want to rip the process? Go ahead. Nobody, on any network, is allowed to stain the product. Commercial breaks are too often and too long. But just as sure as the earth will someday stop spinning, the current Saint Studio, aka Charles Barkley, will be turned upon by the ever fickle media and fans. My point is don't rip a guy who remains consistent in who he is and what he does. He's not the one who changed his mind and became hypocritical. We did.

I don't care where the studio team is - what I would like to get rid of is the constant commercials. Remember when there were no commercials during 30 second timeouts? If the announcers don't have anything to talk about, let them use that time to pimp the network programming (instead of when someone is shooting free throws).

"If ESPN can afford to send their entire extended College Basketball crew & two additional SportsCenter anchors for a game that's not even on their air, CBS can do the same thing."

ESPN gets your money (via what you pay for cable) and CBS doesn't. Witness the spiffiness of some of TBS' baseball graphics (such as superimposing the position of the defense on the field itself). Witness both ESPN and Turner taking fewer commercials for all sports (*cough*tenrealtimesecondsbetweenCBScommercialsinthetournament*cough*) Why does a cable network with a lower reach have spiffier graphics and fewer commercials than a broadcast network? Obviously, they have more money. (Which also explains how cable networks can nab fairly high-profile events.)

I actually thought that for a 2-hour pre-game show. this one was really good. It kept me interested, it did not get boring, they had some interesting stories, and they properly hyped the games without going over the top like ESPN does sometimes (*cough*cough*ColtsPatriotsSuperBowl41.5*cough*cough*).

Why arent we live blogging every Sunday Night Baseball? There is so much gold coming from this broadcast..

" Well I said they werent going to bunt here, but as soon as i said it, they showed bunt " - Joe Morgan

I guess if they're not there on Monday, then Jim Nantz and Billy Packer will have to present the national championship trophy. CBS in the past would actually be at the site no matter where it is. Besides that, the pre-game show was great with compelling stories.

Why can't Mike Patrick ever say semifinal right? He always says "semafinal". That's not even a word. What an idiot.

"cheap bastards" is the operative word here. Remember that this is the same company that just last week s*it-canned several dozen employees (many of them popular veteran on-air people) at a number of their local stations, most notably in Boston (WBZ-TV laid off 30 people).

On the original topic, though: I did think it was a tad strange for CBS to do their studio show from NYC instead of on-site in SA. I saw it yesterday and it had me going "whiskey.tango.foxtrot"...

AA-
If you can, find the video of umpire Jeff Kellogg getting hit in the face with a ball, and then ESPN showing a replay with his audio. Hilarious if anyone else saw it

Sam,

it wasnt Hilarious... IT WAS AWESOME..

why the hell would ESPN, knowing the guy def cursed, go to the audio?

Morgan wick, you argument holds water, except:
-CBS paid billions of dollars to broadcast these games and their deal with DirecTV wasn't for free.
-I could be mistaken on this; I don't have the channel, but CBS College Sports is on site in San Antonio, aren't they?
-ESPN's fees are exorbitant, but I find it hard to believe that ESPN is the only sports broadcasting entity/division making any money.

All over the umpire video and just posted it.

Also, I'm with Anon on this....every single time you air a pregame show on-site I watch. I don't care about the network. I want to know who's there, what's going on, and how the team's are warming up. It makes a broadcast one thousand times better. The opposite just comes across awkard like this one.

Man, that was classic. Watching Clark mini-headbob, totally confused out of his mind about which window to be in was classic.

I would say Billy Donovan's eyes going wide open when he talked freaked me out but the Heels being down 40-12 was the culprit there.

This is definitely a cost-cutting measure. Thanks for reminding me, Michael, that for the AFC Championship, the studio crew also remained in NYC.

But that still doesn't explain why CBS College Sports was there but CBS (broadcast) was not.

In a related note, CBS may release Katie Couric in January 2009, two years ahead of the end of the contract, basically because nobody watches CBS Evening News.

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20190297,00.html