CBS Sports Network entered the Sunday NFL pregame fray with not a one-hour or two-hour show, but an elongated four-hour edition called "That Other Pregame Show."
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And while the title certainly isn't original, through two weeks "That Other Pregame Show" has given fans a nice alternative to the yukfests on the other networks. With Adam Schein hosting; rookie analysts Amy Trask and Bart Scott; Brandon Tierney, a CBS Sports Radio morning personality (no synergy there); and Allie LaForce from CBS Sports Network's Lead Off (even more synergy!), "That Other Pregame Show" provides football, and nothing but football. Nathan Zegura also provides fantasy analysis through his individual segments.
The cast with a few guest appearances from the NFL Today crew plus NFL on CBS game analysts sit at a table and talk football. While Schein yells throughout the show either from drinking a lot of 5-Hour Energy or 60 Grandes from Starbucks, Trask, Scott and Tierney don't talk down to viewers. They discuss the day's issues without zingers or extreme one-liners. This isn't an attempt to see who can get the most quotes in a network press release.
CBS certainly feels Lead Off's Allie LaForce has star power. Since joining CBS Sports, she's been used on the NCAA Tournament and now "TOPS" as the network is branding the show. LaForce hosts various segments providing the latest NFL news.
Former Oakland Raiders executive Amy Trask is the first female NFL studio analyst and she certainly knows her stuff. In the first week, knowing her former team shares a stadium with the Oakland A's, she questioned whether Washington should start quarterback Robert Griffin III when the team plays the Raiders in Week 4 based on the field being conditioned for baseball rather than football. Plus, she explained the need for the new NFL clear bag policy having been a member of the NFL Security Committee. And in Week 2, she commented that Raiders QB Terrelle Pryor was going to blossom if given a chance.
Former New York Jets linebacker Bart Scott has shown some of the knowledge of just being out of the league and he works off Schein and Trask well. There are times when he has been overpowered by Trask and he has yet to show some of the personality that made him a quote machine in New York. In this clip we get a trace of it when Scott admitted to giving Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson a cheap shot last season.
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Brandon Tierney is there to provide some of his opinions from his morning show that he co-hosts with Tiki Barber and Dana Jacobson. While Tierney has been a hothead with his co-workers, he hasn't shown the evidence of that in the first two weeks of the program. Perhaps he can goad Scott in the upcoming weeks.
Two shows doesn't a program make, but thus far, "That Other Pregame Show" has the potential to be good. It hasn't moved the needle for pregame shows, however, CBS Sports Network has a four-hour block that gives the football fan an oasis from the yukfests that have littered the Sunday NFL landscape.
The Awful Announcing grade for "That Other Pregame Show" through two shows is a solid B.
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