A TV Argument That Packs No Punch

The punch heard 'round the sports world took place after midnight Friday morning where I live. It involved an ungracious football player from Boise State University and an unhinged sore loser from the University of Oregon. The rest of the facts are as follows: The Oregon player socked the Boise State player in the chops just after the final whistle, in front of the Boise State coach and, yes, on national television.

Now, punching an opposing player in front of his own coach is not the smartest idea. That had me talking the next morning. But what most commentators seemed to dwell on was that all this happened live on national TV. The implication: How could this bozo not think about how bad this looks with all the people watching? To that argument I say phooey. Let me explain.

First, do people realize just how many football games are on TV these days? Let's just say the Tulane-Tulsa national TV matchup the next night didn't have me on the edge of my recliner. Whether a sporting event is being shown across the country isn't much of a litmus test.

If this were 1979 or even 1999, the "it looks bad because it's on national TV" argument might hold some weight. Let me explain further. If it's 1979, ESPN isn't big enough yet to show highlights of the incident three times on the half-hour, analyze it, put it online and then moralize over and over. The channel does that now, so why does it matter whether people are watching it live? They'll see the highlight plenty the morning after whenever they tune in. I go back to my opening point about how late this event actually happened. Who was really watching live?

If it's 1999, ESPN gives this play plenty of play on the airwaves. Maybe the clip isn't on an endless loop. Some people surely don't have cable or just don't watch ESPN. And there's no YouTube, most importantly. In 2009, even people who didn't watch the game or even care about the result are looking at the video, talking about it on Twitter, and repurposing it in who knows how many platforms.

So, does it really matter anymore whether something like a football punch happens on live TV? If it's during the national championship game, maybe. But otherwise, the echo effect is so great now that I argue that it doesn't.