College Football: Questioning ESPN During Thursday's UCLA vs. Arizona Game

While it's all well and good to listen to ESPN lead announcer Rece Davis chastise a streaker dressed as a referee to a national television audience during Thursday night's Pac-12 "low-down" between UCLA and Arizona, he needs to show a bit more consistency with his morals if he's going to be a gadfly.

Davis lambasted the would-be, scantily clad arbiter, repeatedly labeling him a "knucklehead," and assured viewers that ESPN "would not be showing him on camera," but that noble mentality fell flat just seconds later thanks to some fast-acting work by the company television crew.

As stadium security rushed to apprehend the instigator away from the camera, a heavyweight battle royale was starting between the Arizona and UCLA players in the near vicinity.

Despite staunchly refusing to show a streaker just seconds earlier, ESPN's main camera operator did a neck-crick-inducing swivel of his equipment in an attempt to capture the on-field melee, which was happening near the midfield logo.

A UCLA player Rolando McClain-ing an Arizona opponent; punches being thrown (Wildcats defender Shaquille Richardson and Bruins wide receiver Taylor Embree were both ejected from the contest for their antics—although in an interesting side note, The Orange County Register reported in August that Richardson, who had been a Bruin as recently as this past summer, was dismissed from the team during the summer, and has since joined Arizona); players bouncing up and down like pogo sticks, as if they were jonesing for a scrum; coaches rushing to stop the madness.

It made for inglorious viewing. But thankfully, ESPN made sure we saw every minute of it.

The comportment by both teams was deplorable, but I got the biggest kick out of hearing Davis's holier-than-thou approach to the streaker, juxtaposed brilliantly by the ESPN production crew rushing madly to capture all the action of the fight.

The film-esque zoom-out to capture all of the action from a better vantage point tickled my funny bone. This was high-quality entertainment, after all. And much more wholesome to watch than some lewd streaker on the field!

Should kids watching that game be subjected to either of those incidents?

How is it "better" to watch Division I athletes, which are supposed to set an example for burgeoning young talent, hell bent on beating each other up? How is that more noble than a streaker rushing across the field?

Why did the cameras refuse to show one, then make sure we missed not one second of the other?

My heated rhetoric aside, I don't for a minute believe that either of those two ignoble actions merits any inclusion in a football game, and I hope the Pac-12 disciplines both teams accordingly.

What I could do without, however, is ESPN trying to show us what classy individuals they are one moment, only to counter that precept seconds later.

Next time you hear Davis talking about a knucklehead, remember that ESPN has soiled their pants many a time over the years.