Follow the yellow brick road...created by TNT

One of the most frustrating aspects of sports coverage today is the bloated set of most pre- and post-game football shows. This doesn't seem to occur often in baseball or basketball, just football. Perhaps it's because most games are played on one day, so TV networks feel that a higher number of analysts will somehow give the viewer a greater depth of knowledge about all the players and teams that encompass the NFL.

Although FOX (Howie Long, Terry Bradshaw, Jimmy Johnson) and CBS (Dan Marino, Boomer Esiason, Shannon Sharpe) have held steady with their studio cores, each has added another member (Michael Strahan on FOX, Bill Cowher on CBS) to their sets in the last two years. Instead of the idea of more great football minds contributing to a higher amount of football intellectualism, all viewers seem to get is a discombobulated and incohesive group of individuals.

NBC has taken this to another level by housing seven (I think) people on their "Football Night America" set on Sundays. The fact that I literally had to count on my fingers the number of guys on the set indicates how overwhelming the show can be. There are three "football" guys (Cris Collinsworth, Jerome Bettis, Tiki Barber) and four "media" guys (Bob Costas, Dan Patrick, Keith Olberman, Peter King), although King plays more of the "insider" role while Collinsworth can cross over into the "media" and "insider" roles himself.

Costas is supposed to be the primary host of the show while DP and KO bring back memories of their fantastic ESPN days by co-hosting game highlights packages. They're all in different rooms, on different sets, with different opinions (and sometimes the same) on different topics. It's mind-numbingly awful television. There is no rhythm, no chemistry, no sense that these guys would actually hang out off of the set. So, I have an idea to break up this seven-man crew. Style it after TNT's "Inside The NBA," which offers a three-man set which sometimes expands to four.

First, pick a host. I would drop Olberman out of contention since he is a blithering, self-indulgant smart-ass. Patrick is a great choice, although I've found him to be immensely funnier and more personable as a radio voice than a studio host. I'm probably one of the few who feel that Costas is less a preppy, New Yorker-type elitist than just a very solid, intelligent and objective studio host. Costas would be my choice to take charge.

Collinsworth is a must, as he would play the Kenny Smith-role: a former player who has connections everywhere and is funny and hip enough to relate to old and young audiences alike.

Some might pick Bettis as the outgoing, charming player who would fill the Charles Barkley role, but I'd go with Barber. He is superior at expressing his thoughts and I feel he has a smaller chance of falling into the Tim Hardaway/Emmitt Smith trap than does Bettis. Barber could take a course in growing some balls and lightening up, but I'd give him a chance with Costas and Collinsworth.

If nothing else, you would at least have a smart triumvirate of broadcasters who won't embarrass themselves. Sometimes, that's better than going for a home run with "funny" guys who aren't funny.

Lastly, King could play the "insider" role incredibly well, and he has a personality to go with his great football insight and Rolodex-like knowledge of the NFL.

Bob Costas, Cris Collinsworth, Tiki Barber and (occasionally) Peter King. That's the group NBC should go to battle with every Sunday. And that's the group I would actually spend my time watching instead of what I do now when "Football Night America" comes on: anything else.