EDITORIAL- Powell, FCC on an indecent power trip

Just what this year needed — another nudity-during-a-football-program scandal. But instead of… Just what this year needed — another nudity-during-a-football-program scandal. But instead of a fading pop star’s nipple, the only thing bared during an ABC intro skit leading into “Monday Night Football” was a woman’s back.

Still, the Federal Communications Commission has received complaints — though it won’t say how many — and will investigate the program to see if there was anything indecent about the sketch.

In the segment, “Desperate Housewives” actress Nicollette Sheridan propositioned Eagles wide receiver Terrell Owens in the locker room before the game. At the end of the encounter, Sheridan drops her towel and jumps into Owens’s arms.

According to a CBS report, the skit caused FCC Chairman Michael Powell to wag his finger at the network. “I wonder if Walt Disney would be proud,” he said, referring to the founder of ABC’s parent company, The Walt Disney Co.

Yes, shame on you, ABC, for implying that people who watch football — men especially — might be interested in seeing naked women, and for not remembering that football is a wholesome family sport played not by real-live athletes, but by sexless, fluffy Care Bears who are never caught swearing, taking drugs or getting into fights.

Recently, the FCC and Powell, drunk on a potent elixir of regulatory power, have gone on a fining spree, censuring broadcasters for what it rules indecent content. First it levied a record-breaking fine for Janet Jackson’s bejeweled nipple. Then it smacked Howard Stern’s program with so many fines that stations dropped his program, and Stern is moving to satellite radio. Even networks that dared to broadcast “Saving Private Ryan” uncut on Veteran’s Day may face fines.

Now, according to the South Bend Tribune, anonymous tipsters at the FCC are saying that Pitt quarterback Tyler Palko’s f-bomb after Pitt’s win over Notre Dame Saturday might lead to fines.

But to fine a network because a woman bared no more than that towel-clad guy on the Holiday Inn Express commercial does is ridiculous. Football hasn’t been wholesome in quite a while. The day before Monday’s Eagles-Cowboys game, Steelers linebacker Joey Porter and Browns running back William Green got in a fight before the game even began.

Sure, ABC’s segment was tasteless, as are most of its spots and promos for “MNF,” catering to the lowest common denominator of beer-guzzling, La-Z-Boy-sitting fans — but it certainly wasn’t indecent.

And if the FCC is going to fine ABC for utter tastelessness, it might want to begin with “Wife Swap.”