'Scumbag' Soon to Be Added to Carlin's List of Words You Can Never Say on Television

Look at this excerpt from Phil Mushnick’s column in the New York Post today and try to guess which word was so offensive that it warranted not only an entire article, but this headline: Foul-Mouthed Ambush Mars Pregame:

Two minutes into Fox's one-hour pregame yesterday, host Curt Menefee noted that panelist Terry Bradshaw last week said he'd like to see the Lions finish 0-16.

"S---bag," panelist Howie Long said of Bradshaw. "I am a s---bag," Bradshaw said.

That gave Long, Bradshaw and Fox 58 minutes to apologize, to express their regrets to a national audience for having ambushed it during Sunday daylight.

None came. Perhaps they felt they'd said nothing inappropriate, or, at worst, it was no big deal.

The four-letter word omitted there is “scum” not, you know, the actual bad word you may have thought. Seriously: Scumbag is what has Mushnick upset to the point of demanding an apology from the network. He wasn’t the only one. USA Today’s Michael McCarthy placed the incident in the “ugly” section of this weekly column and asks, “Does somebody have to remind them kids watch the top-rated NFL pregame show, which starts at 12 noon on the East Coast?” The Big Lead is also asking questions because, well, that’s what TBL does: “So Nobody Considers 'Scumbag' a Bad Word Anymore?”

Anymore? As if to imply it ever was. I’m only 26, but never in my lifetime have I considered “scumbag” to be some sort of unspeakable insult. I’d put it in the “idiot” or “moron” range, right below being as offensive as “your mom.” It certainly isn’t so harsh that it can’t even be repeated in the hallowed halls of The Post, a publication that considers celebrities in bikinis to be news.

Regardless, none of those words are as troubling to me as the FOX robot’s dance moves. I’d rather have my kids calling each other “scumbag” than going around the house attempting to do The Worm.

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.