Todd Bertuzzi has left me woozy. And I’m not blaming him.
Bertuzzi’s blind-side hit that broke the neck of Steve Moore of the Colorado Avalanche was brutal and barbarian. As malicious as Moore’s hit was, at least he is outwardly repentant.
I am more disturbed by television’s morbid fascination with replaying this clip of a clip.
In the week or so since the Vancouver Canucks forward assaulted (my word, not the cops’) Moore, I’ve seen the incident, oh, a gazillion times.
You might say they’ve shown the incident ad nauseam, except that it only took one viewing to make me feel sick. Everything beyond that has been excess. It’s too brutal to watch, almost like a snuff film; I feel like Nicolas Cage in “8 MM.”
But TV, especially ESPN, has shown less restraint than Bertuzzi did by airing it so often. On one edition of “SportsCenter” last week, Bertuzzi’s hit must have been replayed at least ten times.
Yes, it’s news. But after the first or second replay, the news value of seeing the hit has been exhausted. After that it’s just rubbernecking. I wonder, if some lunatic fan went gonzo on an ESPN anchor and the incident was caught on camera, how many times ESPN would air that footage? Probably never. Because that would be in bad taste. Right?
Sour Patch Kid of the Moment: CBS’ Billy Packer. In a span of three days the college basketball analyst brazenly insulted both Dick Vitale (saying he should be embarrassed that he was nominated for the Basketball of Hall of Fame) and St. Joseph’s coach Phil Martelli.
To paraphrase Hickory High coach Norman Dale (Gene Hackman), “Why so unfriendly, Billy?”
Incidentally Saturday night, New Mexico women’s basketball player Mandi Moore took a forearm to the face from Lana Sitterud of Utah in the Lady Lobos’ victory against the Utes.
