November 18, 2004 7:37 AM

Another DUMB@$$ AWARD wiener

Intro still generating buzz, mostly negative

I think it’s stereotypical in looking at the players, and on the heels of the Kobe Bryant incident I think it’s very insensitive. I don’t think that they would have had Bill Parcells or Andy Reid or one of the owners involved in that…. If that’s what we have to do to get ratings, I’d rather not get them. I realize that ratings pays us in this league, but if that’s what we have to do, I’m willing to take a pay cut.

  • Tony Dungy
DUMB@$$ AWARD wiener #166: Tony Dungy

Too many column inches and too much TV time has already been devoted to ABC’s introduction to Monday night’s Dallas-Philadelphia game. If you’re one of the three people in the US who hasn’t seen the bit, I’ll summarize it for your. It takes place in the Eagles’ locker room. WR Terrell Owens is getting ready to take the field when he is approached by Nicollette Sheridan, playing her “Desperate Housewives” character and clad only in a white towel.

She tries and eventually succeeds in distracting Owens from his appointed rounds. She does this by dropping her towel on the locker room floor. Owens then embraces the now-naked Sheridan. End of story.

Now, it seems that everyone has an opinion, more than likely negative. Though this DUMB@$$ AWARD goes specifically to Tony Dungy for his shortsighted remarks, it could easily have also gone to any number of other people who have boarded the SS Self-Righteousness.

Anyone who is honest with themselves will have trouble in identifying what exactly makes this episode any more egregiousness than, say, simulated oral sex being performed on Daniel Travanti in a “Hill Street Blues” episode. There was nothing graphic or overt in Sheridan’s performance. No “naughty bits” were shown, nor was any sexual act performed, simulated, or implied.

Ever since Janet Jackson’s “wardrobe malfunction”, America has found itself engaged in a veritable jihad against anything sexual on television. This canned, feigned self-righteous indignation is both disingenuous and hypocritical. We live in a country that condones reality shows which tempt married couples to commit adultery. We live in a country which condones reality shows that champions deception, back-stabbing, and self-absorbed insincerity. NOW we’re going to take a stand? Give me a break.

I respect Tony Dungy, though I believe that he is imputing far more meaning to this incident than is truly necessary. He is a shining example of what this country should be all about. Work hard, play by the rules, and you can succeed. Not only that, you’ll still be able to look at yourself in the mirror and like what you see. On this point, however, he, and all of the other self-styled morality experts are way off base. We have allowed this sort of behavior to become the norm through our viewing habits. WE are, in the final analysis, ultimately responsible for what we see on television…and WE can change that, if WE are so inclined.

Memo to Dungy and others: if you don’t like the direction and openness of American television, turn off your TV and talk to your children. Perhaps if enough of you take this step in protest, programming executives will get the message and change how they do business. Until you are willing to do this, you really have little right to complain. Besides, there are those of us, whom I would submit are probably in the majority (albeit a relatively silent one), who found nothing particularly offensive in Monday night’s vignette. No one will ever mistake Terrell Owens for Sir Laurence Olivier nor Nicollette Sheridan for Katherine Hepburn. It’s over and done with; let this “issue” die it’s well-deserved death, willya?? ‘Nuff said.

Time to get over yourselves, y’all….

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on November 18, 2004 7:37 AM.

They call me "Wild Thing" was the previous entry in this blog.

But he's a resolute Man of God, that President of ours, eh?? is the next entry in this blog.

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