The last time I checked there were a lot of issues in the world that deserve debate. This isn't a political column or a business column so I do my best to stay away from those hot-button issues.

One issue that is getting way too much publicity was created by the intro ABC and Monday Night Football ran prior to the kickoff of the Cowboys and Eagles, a game that had little-to-no entertainment value if you subtract the gambling aspect and Terrell Owens.

The controversy was created during the promo in which Terrell Owens, who was in full uniform, was propositioned by Nicollette Sheridan, who plays the flirtatious Edie Britt on ABC's hit series "Desperate Housewives." At the end of the skit, Sheridan drops her towel and jumps into Owens' arms. ABC did a very good job making sure the viewers knew that she was completely nude without showing anything that wasn't seen on that afternoon's episode of "Days Of Our Lives."

The fallout from this promo was started by the NFL calling out ABC, saying the promo was inappropriate. ABC, in turn, backed down and apologized for running the promo.

What I am trying to figure out is why was this controversial? Why are people upset about this promo? How on earth can the NFL call the kettle black while it has been playing the role of the pot for years?

This is one of those instances in which before there can be an answer you have to search for the questions. In my mind, this is nothing but ABC promoting one of its shows during Monday Night Football, which is its right, since it paid equal to the GNP of a small third-world country for the rights to broadcast MNF.

ABC certainly isn't the only network to promote its shows during broadcasts. This isn't anything new. In fact, I feel like I have seen the entire series of Fox's "House," thanks to the promos done during the World Series. It also is no accident that Topher Grace and Kiefer Sutherland become baseball fans every October during sweeps month.

Mixing sports and advertising can't be the reason for this debate, because it isn't anything new.

Maybe the reason is because ABC went over the line mixing sex and sports? That would be a fine argument if every NFL game wasn't littered with Viagra and Cialis ads. Do people really think that kids aren't asking questions about why the husband and wife in the Cialis ad have such big smiles on their faces after he throws the football through the tire? I am pretty sure it isn't because she is so proud of her husband's accuracy throwing a football. The ad is subtle and clever, I'll give it that, but it proves the NFL's hypocrisy about sex and football.

Also, why does every football lead-in from a commercial have a ground shot looking up at a cheerleader jumping up and down shaking her pom-poms? That doesn't have anything to do with football, but yet I haven't seen the NFL put a ban on scantily clad cheerleaders or halftime shows where Janet Jackson's nipple is the star.

Thus the NFL is already in bed with promoting sex, no pun intended -- one more reason out the window.

Is it possible that people are upset because showing a woman's back and insinuating that she is naked is inappropriate for children? This has some merit, but not if you've seen Britney Spears' latest video. There is less insinuation and nudity on Playboy and that costs $14.95 a month.

Kids also play video games that encourage stealing cars, picking up hookers and beating them up.

Thus this can't be the reason either, because sex is all around us, no matter how old or young we are or whether or not we want to see it.

I can only come up with one more reason that this has got people in an uproar. I didn't want to believe it, but then the idea was brought up this week on the Colin Cowherd show and the response of people across the country was complete agreement.

I'd like to preface this by saying that I hate when athletes of any color play the race card, but is it possible that this situation is rubbing people the wrong way because Terrell Owens is a prominent black athlete and Nicollette Sheridan is a white actress? Is it possible that in the year 2004 people across the country are still uneasy about seeing a powerful black man get the beautiful white woman?

I don't really have an answer for this question, in fact it pains me to even consider it, but above all of the other possibilities it seems to be the only reason that would actually upset people. In fact it is the only reason keeping this issue on the burner. Not even Janet Jackson exposing herself was debated this much. Then again, she is black and Justin Timberlake obviously isn't.

I am not a fan of the cross-promotion of network TV with my football, but the facts of life are that whoever has the rights to the broadcast needs to pay the bills.

I also have a problem with the NFL being completely hypocritical about the ads and the tactics they have used to cater to the male audience for years -- yet they call this promo inappropriate?

I worry about what today's children are exposed to so early on and that one of the weekly shows that fathers and sons can watch together without getting bombarded with ads for sex pills and close-ups and half-naked women is Monday Night Football. Oh wait, they are bombarded.

It leaves me with the scary thought that people are so uptight and blind to the true issues in the world they can't deal with a two-minute promo? That is why I think the issue has to be deeper than that.

At first my only disappointment was that it was Nicollette Sheridan and not Eva Longoria in the promo, but now I am not sure what to think. I am not even sure if I want to find the true reason, because if I am successful, I might find that all of the other possibilities pale in comparison.