TELEVISION : For Musburger, No Grand Finale, Just Nice Exit Stage Left

Bye, bye Brent.

Brent Musburger, in his final telecast for CBS after a 15-year run, went out in style: No self-serving rantings during Monday night’s NCAA championship game, just a solid telecast.

Musburger showed he can be good. Actually, he has always had ability. His problem was that he developed a knack of saying things that irritated people.

But on this night, there was no unnecessary editorializing, no excessive shilling, no self-congratulations. Maybe the key was, Musburger wasn’t trying to impress his bosses. You didn’t hear Musburger saying things like, “ I was in the locker room when . . . or “So-and-so told me. “

No, there was no running off at the mouth by Musburger. Most of the running was done by the Rebels of Nevada Las Vegas.

There was no big send-off for Musburger. There was a nice little ceremony at halftime, but it was for CBS director Bob Fishman, who is battling cancer.

And at the end of the telecast, Musburger simply said his thank yous and added, “It’s been an honor to have the best seat in the house. Thanks for sharing it. We’ll see you down the road.”

Jim Nantz, who figures to replace Musburger in many of his studio roles, offered a nice, short tribute to Musburger. Musburger then exited McNichols Arena quickly, bypassing reporters.

Partner Billy Packer said things got a little emotional as he and Musburger rode to the arena, but otherwise they tried to treat this telecast as they would any other.

CBS people here for the Final Four were as stunned as the rest of the country when the news broke Sunday, April Fools’ Day, that Musburger’s network wasn’t fooling around. His contract would not be renewed.

“I didn’t have a clue,” Packer said.

“Shocking,” Greg Gumbel said.

For months, quiet negotiations between the top people at CBS Sports and Todd Musburger, Brent’s brother and agent, were taking place. But things weren’t going well.

Musburger wanted to continue playing the dominant role. CBS wanted to spread things around among some of its other talent, such as Nantz and Gumbel.

Finally, things came to a head here late Saturday night. Neal Pilson, CBS Sports president, pressed by the Musburgers to made a deal, said there wouldn’t be one.

Then, fearing the news would surely be leaked, CBS decided to make an announcement Sunday, the day before the NCAA title game.

Now what? CBS is faced with a lot of decisions.

First is who will replace Musburger on baseball. Network officials have said that something will be done by the end of the week. The network’s first baseball telecast is less than two weeks away.

If CBS is smart, it will simply hire Vin Scully and get on with it.

The country’s other top two baseball play-by-play men, Al Michaels and Bob Costas, are both under contract to other networks.

A spokesman for Art Kiminsky, Michaels’ New York agent, said Monday that talk of Michaels jumping ship and going to CBS is premature.

“There are three years remaining on his contract,” the spokesman said. “There is no reason to believe he won’t honor it.”

All things being equal, Pilson would probably prefer hiring Michaels. Several years ago, Pilson was asked who he would pick No. 1 if he were starting a sportscasting franchise. His answer was Michaels.

Michaels has done nothing in recent years to cause Pilson to change that thinking.

As for Scully, at one time, there were talks between Pilson and Scully’s agent, Ed Hookstratten, about Scully being the No. 2 man on baseball. But Scully, through Hookstratten, said no thanks, he wasn’t interested in being No. 2 behind Musburger.

But now the No. 1 job is open, and the ball is in CBS’ court.

“I’m not going to call CBS and do a selling job on Scully,” Hookstratten said Monday. “They know how to get ahold of me.”