Networks Air Greatest Hits Selling Violence, Hamburgers

(From The USA Today -- By Michael McCarthy)

The big hit is crucial to the NFL's power and the glory.

But you have to question if NFL broadcasters are stepping over the line by exploiting football's most violent hits this season -- particularly when they're harnessed to the cause of pushing double cheeseburgers.

For the past five weeks, THE NFL TODAY on CBS has aired a POUNDER INDEX segment, sponsored by McDONALD's DOUBLE QUARTER POUNDER WITH CHEESE, rating the week's most brutal hits on a 10-point scale. One clip this week showed the New York Jets' JUSTIN MILLER drilling the Carolina Panthers' KEARY COLBERT.

"That's a 9.0!" said the happy voiceover.

ESPN analyst TOM JACKSON started the trend several seasons ago with his JACKED UP segment on MONDAY NIGHT COUNTDOWN. Jackson says his weekly salute to the hardest has proved popular with fans and players.

"I understand clearly some people are concerned with the level of violence in the league and that it's being exploited. But hard hitting has always been part of the game," Jackson said Sunday. The coverage is "nothing new," he notes.

The league's NFL FILMS unit has produced many "Greatest Hits"-type videos over the years.

FOX's NFL SUNDAY features the day's most punishing hits during its postgame show, but doesn't break them out as a specific segment.

"The reality is football is a violent game and people like hits," says Coordinating Producer SCOTT ACKERSON. "If you don't like hits, go watch pingpong."

The hardest hitting should be a big part of football coverage.
The networks have limits, though.

Jackson won't include hits that cause a player to leave for the rest of the game with an injury or drew a penalty flag.
CBS' online promotion for THE POUNDER INDEX says "cheap shots" are not shown.

But the NFL has been trying to eliminate helmet-to-helmet hits, and it says it has no control over these pieces.

"We see the hits just like the rest of America on Sunday afternoon," says spokesman BRIAN McCARTHY.

However, if broadcasters and corporate sponsors continue to cynically promote hard hits, don't be surprised if the NFL steps in.