CBS HAS A MADNESS ALL ITS OWN.

Byline: TOM HOFFARTH Media

CBS calls it ``walk the dog'' - that quick trip away from the game you're watching just to see what's going on at other NCAA Tournament sites.

So during a period in the first half Thursday afternoon when Pepperdine was pulling back into its game against Wake Forest, the network broke loose. Soon, studio analyst Clark Kellogg was barking about the Alabama-Florida Atlantic action. But what he was saying didn't make any sense.

``Wait, I'm watching the wrong monitor - I'm on Marquette-Tulsa,'' he admitted.

Well, dog gone.

There's supposed to be a method to CBS' March Madness coverage. Yet, no matter how they slice it, some element of confusion will never completely be eliminated as this ``festival'' philosophy forces viewers to go with the flow.

CBS controls the remote and we're just there for the electronic ride. You need to know going in or it could drive you nuts.

The idea is to give a taste of as many games as possible during the opening two days, the first rounds, of the NCAA Tournament. That's the case even if a game of local interest, such as Pepperdine-Wake Forest, is in progress.

It usually amounts to a meaningless 30-second sneak-peek into three other regions, a quick patch-in to the studio in New York to make sure Kellogg hasn't gone soggy in milk, and then some more promos for some show about a talking baby.

This so-called ``flex'' coverage has meant ``switching more quickly than in past when we were a bit more reluctant,'' CBS Sports vice president of programming Mike Aresco said. ``We've tried to be quicker on the trigger because we want people to remain interested.''

There's no absolute rule about when a game is switched - usually, it's a 15- to 20-point difference - but Aresco points out they always can go back if the contest tightens up.

``We try to gauge and postpone a switch until there's very little chance of change,'' Aresco said. ``We're wary of where we are with games synching up. But ultimately we do what's best for the fan.''

At least there are no more split screens or quad boxes. But it doesn't stop some visual confusion. Changes Thursday between KEN-VALPO to KENT-OKST might not be as easily to pick up if you're just watching the small score graphic in the bottom-right corner. And who's winning between MIA and MIZ?

``We've opted for a cleaner look and staggered start times to get to as many buzzer-beaters as possible,'' Aresco said. ``When it comes to switching, there's not too much turmoil during the game.''

DirecTV remains in place as a pay option ($49) for those who want to view games by their own choosing. The satellite-dish people also made an important alteration. In the past, if CBS switched away from a game of local interest because the score seemed one-sided, local viewers couldn't stay with it until the end because DirecTV had to black out on that contest. Now that flaw has been fixed.

``So the complaints from the die-hards have essentially dried up,'' Aresco said.

Yeah. Well. Kinda.

--Wild Bill's ride: He's been doing this tap dance each March in some form at CBS for 20 years now. But the four-games-in-one-day, 12-hour multitasking during the first round of the NCAA Tournament is no easy chore for a veteran or rookie broadcaster.

By the time Bill Raftery comes up on the call for tonight's UCLA-Mississippi game from the West Region in, of all places, Pittsburgh, it'll be 10 p.m. local time and he'll be trying to purge information on the Pitt-Central Connecticut, Cal-Penn and Cincinnati-Boston U. games he watched hours earlier.

``I'll have seen tapes, gotten reading material, talked to coaches and writers, made cheat sheets and scoreboards, but halfway through the day I'll have Eddie Fogler coaching one team and someone playing for another and we'll just want to pull the plug,'' said the former Seton Hall coach (from 1970-82) who actually started as the first studio analyst for ESPN's coverage of the tournament in 1980.

``Really, you've got to take it one game at a time. It's like taking exams. If you're not prepared, it's the most uncomfortable feeling and you don't want to let down the kids, the coaches and the fans of each team.''

Don't fret. He's already studied up on the Bruins. He can't figure 'em out either. Raftery witnessed UCLA's victory over Kansas live, then viewed tapes of their erratic play at the end of the season.

``At times, they're awfully impressive and then they turn the ball over at strategic times,'' Raftery said. ``But a lot has to do with how incredibly tough the Pac-10 has been. It's tough to establish any continuity. They've been playing a lot of people and I'm sure the staff is feeling frantic about what to do.''

As for ongoing criticism pointed at coach Steve Lavin, Raftery adds: ``It'll never be like when John (Wooden) was in charge. No one runs wire to wire any more. It's too deep and too even for that to exist. But it'll always be very difficult to keep people happy there.''

--Delayed reaction: The NCAA bracket-pickers seemed to admit they felt they had to lock in some suspicious-looking seeds before they knew the outcome of some tournament games Sunday afternoon. The reason was they had to turn the information over to CBS for its live selection show.

If that was the case, CBS isn't flinching.

``It's our understanding that they have contingencies in place since some of the afternoon games can go into overtime, but we don't know how they deliberate and we don't have an impact or influence on that part,'' Aresco said.

SOUND BYTES

WHAT SMOKES

--Another use for that ``1st and Ten'' yellow line. On USA Network's and NBC's coverage this weekend of the PGA's Bay Hill Invitational, there's a ``Virtual Caddy'' to show the putting lines, breaks and ridges on the greens. NBC analyst Gary Koch, a two-time Bay Hill champ and part of the field for at least the first two rounds, will have usage of the ``Virtual Caddy'' on the 14th, 16th and 18th greens for the weekend - if he misses the cut, of course. His colleagues have a chance to comment on his game during USA Network coverage. ``If I'm doing something stupid, they should say so,'' he said. ``Besides, if I asked them to go easy, they wouldn't listen to me anyway.''

WHAT CHOKES

--Can't we just let Bob Knight coach in peace? Following the widely unacclaimed adaptation of ``A Season On The Brink'' and subsequent ``Outside The Lines'' special, ESPN made the Texas Tech coach the focus of another documentary for the network's ``SportsCentury'' project. Don't worry. If you purposely missed ESPN's first running Wednesday, it repeats today on ESPN Classic (5 and 8 p.m.). Meanwhile, CBS has booked Knight to promote his new book on ``CBS News Sunday Morning'' show (9 a.m.) with correspondent Bill Geist.

--The media again have given Reggie White enough airtime to sack himself. In the next installment of Fox Sports Net's ``Beyond the Glory'' (Sunday, 8 p.m. on FSN2 and 11 p.m. on FSN), the NFL's all-time sack leader and part-time minister admits: ``My life was very hypocritical. I mean, doing things I shouldn't be doing the night before, then getting up Sunday morning and preaching. ... To me, the church is doing major damage to society as a whole. I don't want nothing to do with Christianity. I do want something to do with the Jewish messiah who died for my sins, but I don't want nothing to do with Christianity.''

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