Is it just me, or does it seem the networks and their broadcasters view themselves more important than the games they cover?

Once upon a time, play-by-play was the focus of each televised contest. Bantor was limited to the fourth quarter of blow-out games.

Now it seems every game "interrupts this drive" for an interview with some basketball coach, telephone call from a personality, or discussion on the best place in town to eat.

While I'm not a big fan of newspaper columnists, I'm surprised sports writers haven't taken the broadcasters to task.

They get taken to task all the time in the New York papers.

I watched some of the ECU-Southern Miss game last weekend and Brett Favre called in. The CSTV announcers were so happy to talk to him, they talked over the game for a huge chunk of the second half, letting play-by-play disappear completely while they smooched his cheeks. Of course, it was C-USA Football, so Favre was a bit more interesting than the game action.