I usually don't watch Monday Night Football with the sound on. And I usually don't turn the TV on until the game has actually started. But, for some reason, I found myself watching the opening promo for last Monday night's game.

Now, I could blame a lot of things. I think the easiest thing is sobriety. Monday night was a drug free night--no drink, no smoke, what'cha doodee doo--and the boredom that sets in from this non-action seems to be the real reason for me catching Janet's boob redux.

I'm not sure if my first reaction was "this girl isn't a good actress" or "is Terrell Owens married?" The thoughts probably happened at about the same time. I did think the Jungle Fever move was pretty bold, especially for the meat and potatoes crowd of Monday Night Football. But it was soon over and the real game started. Sorta.

The Cowboys suck this year. And the game was built up as the last chance for Parcells to turn his team around. Philadelphia is flying pretty high this year. Only one loss and...you don't really care, do you?

No one cares who played, who won or what happened for three plus hours of the game on Monday night. The only thing anyone can talk about is a naked white girl jumping into the arms of a big black football player. This, apparently, is another sign of the degradation of the great American society.

Interestingly, the two touchstone events which have served as bookends for the year involve a couple of the same things. Football, "naked" women and sexual exploits between a black and white person--on national TV, nonetheless.

I missed the Janet flash (although I did see stills--one of the girls at work showed me) because my band was playing a drunken acoustic set during the halftime of the Superbowl at my house. Some of the people who were at the party keep reminding me they missed a great cultural event because of my band. After seeing a close up of Janet's jewel encrusted tit, I have to say I'd rather see her with something covering that shit up. Maybe the resolution wasn't so good on the pics I saw or something.

My thoughts on this incident is that Justin Timberlake is a pussy--he went on to blame everything from the wardrobe to the war in Iraq for what happened. Even though he was the one who ripped the bodice off cheerleader Jackson. Oh, I'm sorry, she's a pop star. And she disappeared after that. Her album died. And then people started giving her lifetime achievement awards--the real sign that your career is over and it's time to move to Vegas.

Anyway, Monday night's exploits probably won't be repeated this week when I watch the game again--because my team (which sucks this year, too) is playing. But I'm pretty sure they're gonna play the football game. And everyone who tunes in will be tuning in for the game--not for some extended plug (hee hee) of an ABC TV show.

The stupid thing is what happened in the skit happens on "Desperate Housewives" every week (I'm guessing--why would you do more in a promo than in the regular show?). There is bare back nudity (ABC has run this in promos for the show before), stupid come ons and insipid story lines. And this show runs on Sunday nights. Which, I think, is the most "family" night on TV. The show is a hit--for the very same reasons everyone is up in arms about the short promo.

Nicolette Sheridan (Terrell Owen's booty call) was introduced to the world almost twenty years ago in The Sure Thing. She played the title character. A fantasy in the flesh for a young John Cusack. Horny John road trips all the way across the country on Christmas break to get his sure thing. Along the way, he falls in love with a real girl and ends up passing up on the Sure Thing. My question about this movie (which I like) has always been, "Aren't there any easy chicks in New England?"

Well, the answer, of course, is that there are easy chicks everywhere. And at the same time those easy chicks are taking down TV networks with loads of FCC fines, the rest of us are eating chicken wings and wondering what all the fuss is about.

It's kind of like voting for a President based on his "moral" values, but still supporting the death and destruction of thousands of people in a land of rubble and sand.

Y'know, a little ass backwards.

Matt Worley is seriously considering cutting the cable to his TV. Hee hee, cutting the cable...