A View to a Madness !!

After a short hiatus due to my grandfather's passing, I am back to give you the latest.  Just before the hiatus my last post discussed the new TV deal for the NCAA Men's Basketball tournament.  The TV rights for the tournament were distributed amongst the Turner Networks and CBS.  For the first time a viewer will not miss any of the games and can watch to see if his bracket has not been busted by the Cinderella team.  I was excited to bring the press release this new viewing habit for the next 10 years.  Here are my thoughts to the success of distribution of games from CBS and Turner Networks.



1. The first point that I would like to make is that joining of the two networks was great except the studio broadcasting teams. The CBS crew which consists of Greg Gumbel, Greg Anthony, and Seth Davis are great at capturing and analyzing the college game. Now with the merger with TNT, the studio has the additons of Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley.  The guys from TNT are suited for the NBA game and needed to make a quick adjustment for the college game.  I love Ernie Johnson from TNT as a studio host because of his mannerism and the way he approaches the game inviting you to watch.  Charles Barkley is just an old retired NBA veteran who cracks more jokes with slurred English vernacular and should not have been brought for these games. Sorry Chuck but you are not a Role Model to future analysts!    During one of the early games when asked for their opinions on the games Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley discussed more about whether they had talent to be future NBA stars than the actual game.  While that analysis is welcomed it was not the right time because after the tournament the discussion for the NBA Draft begins.



2. The announcers calling the action of the game were great in my opinion.  This is the first time in 11 years that I got to hear Marv Alberts call college games.  A little out of the twilight zone but nostalgic as he is the premier sports announcer in the business today.  A rise and fire announcer for CBS is Gus Johnson. Gus Johnson brings an enthusiasm and passion to every game that he calls and makes you watch the game. No matter who is playing. Great to watch any game that he calls.  Here is a prime example of a game he called during the 2010 NFL Season:





3. Enough chatter about the announcing did this merger work for a NCAA March Madness fan? YES! This was a great deal for the fans. Every game in the first and second rounds were shown. Every upset,buzzer beater and rise&fire were not missed by yours truly. I was channel changing through four different stations to catch all games. This was AWESOME BABY! I got to see UCONN and Kemba Walker light up the tournament and advanced to the FINAL FOUR as they were in my bracket. Arizona was my dark horse team and did damage but could not advance thanks to the UCONN Huskies.



It was a View to Madness and cannot wait until next to do it all over again in 2012.

Couch Potato Madness !!!

The Madness is here! I will definitely be enjoying the spring break with all the college basketball games from the NCAA tournament. Hopefully this year nobody will ruin my bracket. As you read this you may be asking why would I be discussing about an event that happens annually. To my readers this is this year the NCAA Men's Basketball tournament is going to be a couch potatoes/sports fan dream. The NCAA has expanded the field of 64 teams to 68 teams and now has added another channel to license the games.





CBS had been the sole carrier of the NCAA Men's Basketball tournament for the last 30 years. That meant for all the games, viewers would have to tune into their local CBS station and watch the games that were being shown at that time. Example, if you were a fan of the Arizona Wildcats (* This is my dark horse team for my bracket) but Syracuse was playing at the same time then you would be only be able to watch what they [CBS] wanted to show. This year the NCAA announced that Turner Network: TNT,TBS and Tru TV channels will be showing games for the next 14 year along with CBS. (Official Press Release with all details http://www.trutv.com/ncaa/ncaa-on-trutv.html) The press release will give the breakdown of what games and rounds will be shown on which channel.

This is great for viewers because instead of watching just the six games shown by CBS,college basketball fans can now tune to these channels and catch more games. More games and more accessibility! The move was great to show garner more ratings and viewership throughout the US. Fans are rejoicing and the NCAA is grinning as Turner will be paying the NCAA a record $10 billion. The Turner networks are also planning exclusive digital content to show the games online for sports fans with live access interviews and other contents that the other sports networks will not have. Grab the chips and beer and for the next week enjoy the games couch potatoes!