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I’m not sure if its just me. Probably is. Normally is. I think sometimes I notice this just because I spend so much time working and thinking about this stuff… But CBS has got to be the biggest money whore in college football.

I spent my saturday watching the UGA/FLA game - “the worlds largest cocktail party” (I’m sure that was dubbed by a proud alumni - half the attendees are in college and underage. There’s no drinking going on!). Couple things you are guaranteed: 1) a pretty good/heated/trashtalking on the field, 2) some colorful outfits, and 3) two sets of the most ANNOYING fans in college football (the funny part about that is they each call the other the most annoying). My favorite line heard on saturday - “Who are you rooting for?” “Mother nature or god. I want a hole to open up and swallow both teams and especially their fans”.

Anyway, while watching the game, I started taking notice of everything that was “brought to you by”. Its nice how fluidly the sportscasters let “Liberty Mutual” or “Tampax” roll off their tongue while sending us off to halftime or a game break. Do you think some guy at CBS is sitting in his office going “hmmm…what else can we sell?”. Nothing like bringing in a little secondary income from the game. This is what I ended up with:

• Pizza Hut Pregame
• Pontiac Keys to the game (CLEVER!)
• Applebee’s Starting line ups
• Home Depot instant replay (complete with a flying HD logo)
• Geico Halftime Report
• Liberty Mutual Game Break
• VzW game ticker
• The NEW AT&T Sportsdesk
• Geico Scoring Recap (who doesn’t love that gecko)
• Sonic Heisman Watch
• Wrangler 5 Star Play of the Game
• Ruby Tuesday Player of the Game
• Red Lobster Scholar Athlete (oh, the slobster. tasty vittles. I dream of Shrimp fest)

Did I miss anything? How about the “Depends Bathroom Break”? Or would that be better sponsored by FloMax? “This two minute snack run is brought to you by Fritos.” That’s it! Sponsored commercial breaks. Brilllll-YANT! (Patent Pending) We’re talking about slight overkill here people. Take it down a notch CBS. I know we want to maximize dollars, but maybe do a little study after the game. What do people remember? When you leave a 4-hour party after having thirteen 30 second conversations mixed in with drinks and casual chit-chat how much to you recall? When spread thin, the effectiveness and recall comes close to ZERO. Why don’t you act like responsible marketers and help your clients. And let me enjoy the game without the barrage of products.