Outstanding Personalities Share Football

The four top individual Sports Emmy Awards, which were announced Monday, all went to on-air professionals whose work includes a large portion of football coverage -- again showing how TV's most popular sport makes commercial and critical stars of those who cover it.

Three of the major individual recipients have been in that category for years, and one rookie winner finally earned hardware to verify his status as one of the best in the business.

Bob Costas of NBC earned his 19th Sports Emmy, recognizing his work as Outstanding Sports Personality-Studio Host for work on "Football Night in America" and horse racing while Jim Nantz of CBS was named Outstanding Sports Personality-Play-by-Play for his work covering the NFL and golf. It was the second consecutive win in that category for Nantz.

Analysts Chris Collinsworth and Kirk Herbstreit completed the quartet with honors as Outstanding Sports Personality-Sports Event Analyst and Outstanding Sports Personality-Studio Analyst, respectively. For Collinsworth, it was his ninth Sports Emmy overall (two as event analyst and seven as studio analyst) while it was the first Sport Emmy for he likable and well-prepared Herbstreit.

John Madden, with a record 16 Sports Emmys for game analysis, was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the event in New York City.

Among networks, HBO earned nine Sports Emmys, followed by CBS and ESPN with seven each. MLB Network earned four.

ESPN's honorees included: "College GameDay," selected as Outstanding Studio Show-Weekly, it's second such honor in the past three years; and "Pardon the Interruption," which earned its first Sports Emmy as Outstanding Sports Show-Daily.

Click here for a complete list of winners.

Cordial, Successful ... What Did They Expect?

Golf voice Jim Nantz wondered aloud about the reception for Tiger Woods as he walked up the fairway on No. 18 during his first round Thursday at The Masters. (It was golf claps all around, maybe even loud golf claps.)

Nantz then said the reception for the world's No. 1 golfer had been kind all day long.

After Woods' round, Mike Tirico did the obligatory interview in Butler Cabin at Augusta National and asked Woods the necessary questions about his nerves and the way he was treated on the course.

Both Nantz and Woods did what they had to do but, really, honestly, was anyone expecting anything but a cordial, even warm, reception for Woods at The Masters? And, really, honestly, was anyone expecting him to struggle after his layoff?

While we repeatedly heard that Woods had endured 20 weeks without golf, it's not as if he was unable to practice during that time. In fact, he told Tirico that focused practice sessions were the key to his strong performance -- his first sub-70 opening round at The Masters.

What people saw Thursday -- and they saw every possible shot from the time ESPN began its coverage at 4 p.m. until it concluded around 7:35 p.m. with the Tirico-Woods interview -- was a more focused Woods. And that means a productive golfer, as always.

Still, what's most surprising about the coverage was all the surprise from TV commentators -- the experts and our supposed on-site eyes and ears on site at the tournament, and on the tour itself. They're supposed to know the golfers, the tour and all the subplots we do not.

With Woods immediately in contention, just two shots back after the first round, and the on-air types seemingly surprised by what had happened, those at home knew just as much as those working the hallowed grounds in Georgia. Hopefully, we'll get more insights, some quality insights, in succeeding rounds of the tournament.

Championship Game Scores for CBS Sports

Underdog Butler and proven TV power Duke drove ratings for Monday night's championship game of the NCAA Tournament 34 percent higher than last year's championship game.

Butler-Duke pulled a 16.0 household rating and a 25 share -- up from 11.9/19 for North Carolina-Michigan State in 2009.

According to CBS Sports, the Butler-Duke numbers tied 2005 (North Carolina-Illinois) as the highest-rated game in metered markets since 1999 (UConn-Duke).

Not surprisingly, Butler-Duke drew its highest ratings from 11:30 to 11:45 p.m., with 20.3/35.

With the championship game, the average overnight ratings for the tournament was 6.6/14, a 5 percent increase over last year. That makes the just-completed tournament the highest rated overall since 2005, which averaged 6.9/15.

In terms of the national championship telecast itself, CBS Sports provided accurate and enjoyable coverage. Analyst Clark Kellogg has seemingly developed more of a comfort level being critical on a big stage (although he rarely disagreed with any fouls called) and the production stayed away from any easy and lazy "Hoosiers" or Cinderella/underdog storylines.

Yes, there was one bit of "Hoosiers" music and collage of images late in the game, but it was not over the top.

While play-by-play man Jim Nantz and Kellogg talked about the atmosphere in Lucas Oil Stadium a couple of times -- with Nantz asking his partner "Have you ever seen as scene like this?" -- the atmosphere did not transfer well to viewers at home. It seemed no more loud or raucous than any other championship basketball game.

Later, Kellogg guessed wrong when he suggested that Duke would shoot early in a possession late in the game. At the time the Blue Devils were up, so it seemed to make sense that they'd hold the ball a bit before shooting. That was one of the few missteps during the telecast, though.

Technically, the only problem seemed to be an overuse of high overhead cameras that provided an unfamiliar angle on game action. While the typical sideline shot was slightly higher because of camera placement in the stadium, it was hard to tell any difference by what showed up on screen. Too often, though, the production team selected shots from even higher cameras that hung over the court.

They seemed like something that would be a fine selection for diagramming a play or providing a slow motion recap of action that had happened, but for live action the angle was just different enough that it seemed uncomfortable. It was not a bad view, just something not typical of a basketball game and trotting it out during the national championship game seemed that it was more a matter of utilizing bells and whistles as opposed to providing a comfortable or familier viewing experience for fans at home.

Nantz: 'The Year the Tournament Changed'

On-court action the past three weeks limited discussion about expansion of the NCAA Tournament, but the voice of the Final Four -- CBS Sports play-by-play man Jim Nantz -- said Monday that he believes this year's tournament, with many higher seeds winning games, provides ample reason for change.

"I think people will look at 2010 as the year the tournament changed," Nantz said during a teleconference with CBS on-air talent and production personnel. Although analyst Clark Kellogg said the NCAA has evaluated expansion scenarios with 68, 80 or 96 teams, Nantz said there were only two options. "Eighty's not a consideration. It'll either stay where it is or go to 96."

And Nantz said this year's event provided many reasons why expansion would be good for the event.

Studio analyst Greg Anthony agreed: "There's just not much difference between the best and the rest anymore."

Their perspective was one that's been surprisingly long in coming during this tournament. As mid-majors advanced and upsets broke brackets across the country, it seemed more and more like someone would eventually make the case that a bigger tournament was the answer -- and that this year's event was a prime example. Someone, specifically Nantz, finally made that case Monday, and his colleagues joined the chorus.

Of course, you have to wonder about the timing -- because supporting and expanded tournament certainly could be good business for CBS. Just because the NCAA has hinted about rebidding the event does not mean that the current rights holder is precluded from bidding itself. Also, with dates for future Final Fours already set through 2016 (it goes to Houston in 2011), it would be hard, but not impossible, for the NCAA to make a significant expansion overnight. By showing its support for a bigger event, CBS could certainly indicate that it has plans to pay for a bigger tournament if the two parties stay the course through what remains of their current agreement.

As CBS prepares for this weekend's Final Four, network officials said they were excited about the quartet of teams that will converge on Indianapolis this week. The group includes perennial powers in Duke and Michigan State as well as West Virginia and Butler.

Some believe (and, of course, they must) that the tournament has already changed -- especially without big-name, tradition-rich programs such as Kansas, Kentucky, North Carolina or UCLA involved in the Final Four.

"The storylines that have developed this year have made this a little bit different tournament," said CBS Sports and News president Sean McManus. "We've got two schools with good heritage and tradition and we've got two other good stories. It's dependent, as most Final Fours are, on the closeness of the games. I think we're going to be fine."

While Duke brings some star power to the event, McManus compared the Final Four to February's Super Bowl, which was without a major-market team but still set ratings and viewership records.

"The story of New Orleans and that that city had been through actually turned out to be one of the most compelling storylines in recent years," he said.

Record-Setting Super Bowl All About the Game

As the initial ratings and viewership numbers roll in for Super Bowl XLIV -- with The Hollywood Reporter reporting that the number of people who watched the game set an all-time U.S. television record -- one of the best things for football fans about the game was that CBS Sports did a strong job focusing on the game itself and not all the ancillary activities or celebrities.

Play-by-play man Jim Nantz and analyst Phil Simms were solid, and the broadcast touched on key news (the ankle injury of Colts DE Dwight Freeney) without going overboard. Important replays were available and there were no obvious flaws. It was just a solid broadcast of a good game.

In terms of those viewership, The Hollywood Reporter put the number at more than 106 million -- which would be more than the series finale of "M.A.S.H." in 1983. That show has been the standard for major-event TV ratings for nearly three decades.

Also, viewership for the Colts-Saints game was up from 98.7 million viewers fom the Cardinals-Steelers matchup in Super Bowl XLIII.

In the past five years, viewership for the game has increased drastically -- from 86.1 million in 2005 to 106 million this year. It increased during each year in the five-year span.

Still, the latest Super Bowl did set a record in terms of ratings, which measure the percentage of U.S. households watching. The "M.A.S.H." episode attracted more than 60 percent of TV viewers while the Colts-Saints game drew about 45 percent.