By Billy Richards
The college football bowl season ended with Alabama taking it to Notre Dame in a game that was over after the Tide’s first three possessions. In an otherwise uninteresting game, at least one worthwhile incident arose. TV commentator Brent Musburger’s comments about Miss Alabama’ beauty stole the show. His comments were deemed unwise and unwelcome– to some, at least.
Let’s face it, many people seem to enjoy the hobby of feigning offense and outrage in today’s over-sensitive society. Frankly, a beauty pageant queen as attractive as Miss Alabama should expect to have various accolades thrown her way from time to time. The fact that Mr. Musburger’s comments were made on national television during the biggest college game of the year should not make them any more or less offensive to anyone’s tender sensibilities. Call beauty pageants what you may — a good one is a “Scholarship Competition” – they are competitions that mainly focuses on the physical beauty of their contestants. There is no denying that fact. Although pageants do have elements of talent and personality thrown in to mollify modern “sensibilities” (there’s that word again) we all know the deciding element of any pageant, and it ain’t her origami-folding skills. Where else did poor viagra-infused septigenarian Musburger have to go once he noted her title as “Miss Alabama” and the cameras trained on her for minutes on end? Nowhere.
To her credit, Miss Alabama refused an apology not because she was so upset by the comments, but because she knows that she is an attractive women who won a contest based on beauty and is in the public eye. After the incident, she appeared on morning television talk shows and exclusives interviews, taking a light-hearted approach to the situation.
Should anyone really have chosen to have been “offended” by the comments? Beauty pageants have been around as long as football, if not longer– since the ‘Greatest Show on Earth” staged the first one in the mid 1800s. Yes, America cares more about football, but who wants to see a 300 pound lineman in a bathing suit, talking about how he wants to change the world? In fact, many don’t want to see or hear a beauty contestant talk about such things, either– at least not while watching a pageant. ESPN, Miss Alabama, and the over-sensitive souls who were “offended” (most likely those who stage these events and few ERA supporters) should be pleased. More people now know who Miss Alabama is then would ever have been possible, while even more are aware that events such a s this actually still take place.
If people are looking to lay blame, a good place to start would be the TV directors. The ESPN director responsible for instructing the camera crews to train the ESPN cameras on Miss Alabama for extended periods should be more to blame than Mr. Musburger. Nothing exciting was happening on the field, and the ESPN director looked for something to keep the audience’s attention, which happened to be “a beautiful women in the stands” in that time-honored tradition of male sports-viewing voyeurism. They hit the jackpot with Miss Alabama-- a beautiful woman with a connection to the game. Miss Alabama is the girlfriend of A.J. McCarron, the Tide’s QB. She will be in the spotlight a lot longer than McCarron will; he needs to Roll with that Tide. It usually works out that way. It is rare that the beauty does not transcend the sports star’s impact.
I will close with this note to Brent Musburger: “Way to go, Brent!” You pointed out the stunning beauty of a woman in the crowd who was relevant to the game as the girlfriend of the star QB for Alabama. It was not creepy– it is what it is: a simple manifestation of a society infatuated with beauty. Football is nothing more than a form of entertainment, and Mr. Musbuger was charged with keeping viewers from turning away early in a game that was a route. If anyone was offended, wake up, and have a sense of humor and an appreciation of this society’s enchantment with beauty and athleticism. Life goes on, and so will football, pageants, and beauty. Isn’t life wonderful?
Speaking of beauty and athleticism, NFL hockey begins soon! On to that sport, later.
Edited by: Todd LaPlante
