There’s Money To Be Made From Those Blankety Blanks

How easy it would be if sports luminaries used only profanity.

Their quotations in family newspaper would amount to: (expletive)…(expletive)…(expletive).

And think of how profitable an unbroken string of locker-room language would be for some areas of the economy. Soap sales would soar, what with all those mouths needing to be washed out with cleansing agents. Standard English dictionaries could spin off trash-talk editions. And the leading manufacturers of fertilizers could capitalize on the heavy usage of the four-letter synonym for their product’s main ingredient.

By this point, it might seem like a waste of energy to give a (…) about what a couple of Cowboys said on national TV in the electrified instants that followed their NFC Championship on Sunday. And it might seem prudish to bristle because their coach favors the three-letter word for backside in describing various whippings and kickings of opponents.

But young fans take their word for it. Young fans hear Michael Irvin say (…), and, even if they have heard the word before, it gains legitimacy because it came from a star Cowboy.

Young fans hear Barry Switzer say (…), and, even if they have more logical sources of language arts to mimic, they figure the Dallas coach’s word must be as good as anybody’s.

Nate Newton and the Steelers’ Greg Lloyd and Neil O’Donnell also contributed assorted (…)s. And now Eagles coach Ray Rhodes has used some choice unprintables to express his anger at Switzer - whose word selection figured in the cause of Rhodes’ anger.

The backlash that followed the recent episodes of profanity reflected national concerns including declining morality and lazy language. Pleas for sensitivity, not censorship, reminded the profane that taste and judgment should not be shelved, even in the heat of the moment.

Irvin defended his word choice by using more (…)s. He said no other word but (…) would do to describe what “mess” and “stuff” could not impart. Irvin, in cursing, meant what he said, intended the word he used. He also cited the violence and obscenity available on TV.

But live sports telecasts do not have to conform to the rest of the, er, stuff on TV, do they?

At any rate, Irvin opened a can of stuff, and the mess hit the fan.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Cathy Harasta Dallas Morning News