>There is one thing that I have always been curious about concerning
>the NFL and its television policy. At one time, the league prohibited
>television camera crews from airing certain things during telecasts
>(such as on-field fights, mostly). Now, from what I understand, the
>AFL did not have such a censorship policy and pretty much ruled that
>TV viewers were entitled to see the same things as viewers at the
>games. What I am curious about is: about when did the NFL begin
>allowing fights to be shown on TV during live games?
>

Another thing that they no longer show is fans running onto the field during a
football or baseball game. It still happens occasionally, and when ESPN
Sportscenter would often show these fans during their highlights about fifteen
years ago, and it starrted happening a lot more as fans figured it would be
worth a fine for trespassing to show up on ESPN. At some point MLB and the NFL
went to ESPN and the stations that televise games, and kindly asked them to no
longer show fans running onto the field during games. If it happens during a
game telecast today, the camera goes onto some other part of the field and the
announcers mention another idiot fan. An exception was made when the father
and son tag team assaulted that Baseball coach on the sidelines.
The best deterrent to running onto the field during a game was the famous clip
of a fan running onto the football field in the 60's, and was promptly
clotheslined by Mike Curtis of the Baltimore Colts.

I was at a Monday Night game in Detroit back in 1995 when they were playing the
Chicago Bears, and I saw literally dozens of fistfights going on in the stands
between the drunken Bears and Lions fans. I happened to program the VCR to
tape the game, and it was not mentioned at all by Al Michaels, although when
the game was over it led the local Detroit news.

Michael O'Connor - Modern Renaissance Man

"The likelihood of one individual being correct increases in a direct
proportion to the intensity with which others try to prove him wrong"
James Mason from the movie "Heaven Can Wait".

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