When I was 14, my dad went to hospital for a heart operation.
We were in and out while he was assessed and then recovered, first in intensive care, then 'normal' hospital.
One night, when Mum and I were hitting up the vending machine in the foyer, Sam Newman walked in. I seem to remember he had a blood nose or something along those lines, and I remember Mum's quiet excitement.
Back in the '90s, that was when he was a lovable rogue, somewhere between Jason Dunstall and Harrison Ford. When it came to the
Footy Show lineup, he was "for the mums", as we used to say in our family (also "for the mums": Philip Quast on
Play School, Kerry O'Brien).
"Isn't he handsome," she beamed, as we walked off with our Twisties.
I think of that night, in a Pavlovian response, every time Newman ends up in the media for another boof-headed gaffe or slur, and it seems not only decades ago, but in another universe: how could we have ever thought that he was a goer?
This week, the
results of an ACMA enquiry over a Newmanism late last year (referring to a Malaysian man as "not long out of the forest") were to put Channel Nine on a $200,000 "good behaviour bond" (cough up each time he re-breaches the codes) until the close of 2012's footy season.
By my calculations that should see Nine approximately $5m out of pocket by September '12.
How does it come to this?
The Footy Show, while it still rates well, is no longer one of TV's biggest ratings spinners, so it's hard to understand Nine's decision to keep Newman on board from a ratings perspective. They've got
Underbelly to spin advertising dollars from; the loss of Newman won't sink the network.
The man is made of Teflon. Each time this happens, there's a half-hearted media ruckus and, inevitably, a statement from Newman that indicates nothing will change.
I thought of Stephanie Rice's tear-stained press conference yesterday, and Jaguar's termination of her endorsement deal (and rental car); a storm of public shaming (an element of which was necessary if only to demonstrate the widespread casual use of, and misunderstanding about the impact of, hate speech).
I have no doubt that Rice will lay low for a while; I also wouldn't be surprised if Seven put her appearances on the backburner for some time.
All this because of what I'm prepared to accept was a thoughtless/ill-informed use of a hate word; as Matthew Mitcham said, she's not personally homophobic, and that may very well be true.
Newman, on the other hand, intentionally offends, slurs, slanders and scandalises, and emerges with his contract intact.
When are Nine going to take away
his Jaguar?