Kevin Ware

I feel for those who had to decide how to deal with the Kevin Ware story from yesterday's regional final game between Duke and Louisville.

Ware, a guard for the Cardinals, landed awkwardly after trying to block a shot.  His leg snapped in perhaps the most terrible leg injury many of us have seen.

Yes, Joe Theismann included.

Now, if you haven't seen it, and I didn't see it live, the video can be found.  I'm going with not embedding it here, and then you can decided if you want to see it yourself.  So...WARNING.  If you're strong enough, Deadpsin has it with only live sound, and with the reaction of Jim Nantz and Clark Kellogg.  I assure you it is not easy to watch.

Reaction has been swift to how it was handled.  CBS, with Nantz and Kellogg, showed two replays.  After that, it was not shown again.  Nothing at half time.  ESPN was definitive.  They would not show it.  The Worldwide Leader's Scott Van Pelt tweeted that the "injury was gruesome and won't be shown.  It's that simple."

Other outlets showed similar restraint.

I think it simply comes down to perspective, and what one can handle.  I was with my family, in a house where watching basketball is simply not a priority.  Ryan DeMaria alerted me to the injury and I was able to get the game on.  By that point, order had returned to the game, so I wondered if it was real.  Ryan assured me it was, but as I said, CBS chose to not run the replay at halftime.  My nieces, nephew, and I set about finding the footage because we wanted to assess it for ourselves.  I found a YouTube video and we watched with horror on my phone.

My take is that this is a story, and I have no problem with showing the footage, using all of the appropriate warnings.  I tend to lean towards thinking ESPN's aproach was a bit much and that they could have shown it.

I applaud CBS for their approach, but also think a halftime airing of the injury would have been fair.  It would have also allowed the studio analysts to analyze it  That's their job.

Again, it is easy to find the footage online, but that doesn't still mean that ESPN and others have a job to do. 

Ben Koo, at Awful Announcing, takes a measured approach to recapping this, while Clay Travis at Outkick the Coverage is more critical.

It is most likely that I'll be on "The Press Box" tonight via phone, but I'm sure the guys will touch on it, from 7-9 on WGCH.