Sports Publications

Ranking the Final Four

Sporting News, The, April 1, 2002 by Fritz Quindt

Acrony of mine insists the Final Four doesn't belong on the same pedestal as the NBA Finals or the Super Bowl; as evidence, he points out U2 isn't performing during any NCAA halftime. (He's a pro-Bono attorney. No, really.)

Bah! Compared with Other Sports Spectaculars, CBS' climax of March Madness definitely deserves a No. 1 seed.

Ratings: Final Fours get half that of NFL Final Fours. Yet last year's final tied the World Series average and beat the Rose Bowl and the averages for the NBA Finals and Stanley Cup.

Business: CBS is makin' money now. Let's talk next season, under the new 11-year tournament deal, as rights fees bump more than double to about $550 million annually, same as for the NFL and NBC's Salt Lake Olympics.

Made-for-TV odor: Like ABC's BCS affair, CBS claims minimal consultation in NCAA scheduling. However, airing the selection show a half-hour earlier made it a partner-in-crime with the selection committee, which had Cincinnati written in ink as the West's top seed, even after Oklahoma's selection Sunday upset of Kansas. Too late to re-bracket! Tsk-tsk.

Marketing: Procter & Gamble hasn't produced as many winning slogans as CBS over the last 20 years. The Road to (fill in the blank). Sweet 16. Elite Eight. Final Four. CBS didn't put Ally McBeal ads behind home plate but ran a promo for Baby Bob during Texas Tech's defeat. Bob Knight got a sitcom?

Audio: Clark Kellogg might be the best big-gamer behind a desk. Dude's got prescience (picking Cincinnati's upset) and personality (is he taking Charles Barkley pills?). Billy Packer doesn't sound like he enjoys life as much as Dick Vitale, Dick Enberg or Dick Button. Party pooper.

Discontent: The NCAA Tournament always leads the league in viewer complaints. Blame it on live look-ins uncannily occurring as the look-in game goes to commercial. Or CBS feeding Chicago both of UCLA-Cincinnati's two overtimes--missing nine minutes of Illinois-Creighton, irking Illini alumni. After Indiana toppled Duke, America got whisked to another game, sans post-Armageddon interviews. Because: Third-round playoffs in other sports are shown nationally/wholly, but CBS compresses four regional semifinals into five hours. Gee, ESPN did eight women's regional semis in one day, dawn to dusk.

Production: Even with four games going simultaneously with regional feeds to umpteen markets, CBS air-traffic control safely landed every close game this March. Also, NCAAs are 100 percent live. Grazie.

Drama: Hard to beat the last two minutes of Super Bowl 36 or the ninth inning of the 2001 World Series. Still, the Final Four invariably produces the most fantastic finishes. With or without you, U2.

RELATED ARTICLE: Static.

* Flexible and airtight: Hear Paul Tagliabue tell NFL owners Monday Night Football will get a "flex" schedule in December, shifting games from Sunday afternoon to assure boffo matchups. Watch CBS and, especially, Fox, seethe. Not only do they have nothing to gain, but Tags didn't even ask them. Networks will appeal, but take it from eyes who've seen the Fox contract: There's nothing that says The League has to issue a final schedule in April.

* The buzz: ESPN Inc. is adding Monday night and Wednesday afternoon baseball games.

* Vital stat: NBC's 1.5 rating for March 17's Magic-Sixers was its worst ever for the NBA.

* FYI: Bob Costas' first guest on Season 2 of On the Record (March 28, HBO): Bob Knight.

* Soundbitten: "We've seen wrecks over there that didn't happen but should've happened." --Darrell Waltrip (no relation to Yogi Berra) on Fox's Carolina Dodge Dealers 400. --F.Q.