Arrowsmith: It's TV; no one made you buy it

To all of you who feel like you were duped, misled, cheated out of the $100 you spent on the fight last weekend, I have this to say:

link Robert Arrowsmith

It’s television.

This has been going on since the beginning of television, ever since the big scandal involving the game shows in the 1950s. If you are not familiar with the history of the game show “21,” it was one of the first on television to capture the heart of the country. Contestants answered various levels of questions going against an opponent for points to see who could get to 21 points first in order to win prize money.

Challenging questions; gripping entertainment at the time. Turns out a number of the champions had either been given the questions in advance, or were quizzed on questions that would be on the show. Big Senate investigation came out of it. If you have not seen it yet, watch the 1994 movie “Quiz Show.” It was an extremely interesting take on the events surrounding this game show.

Anyway, the conclusion that came out of this? It’s television. It’s entertainment. People enjoyed their evenings together watching it. Winners and losers both came out if with money. If you did not like the idea, you did not have to watch; there was no law saying you had to watch it.

Fast forward now to last weekend and the fight. For $100 you had the chance to purchase several hours of entertainment for the evening. That is what it really boils down to. I purchased the fight because I have been a huge Manny Pacquiao fan for over a decade now. But I knew he was older, and knew the reality that this fight should have happened five years ago when they both were in their prime. But I determined it was worth the opportunity to see it happen. In short, I knew there was a chance I would not be satisfied with the conclusion.

But I am not one of those involved in the $5 million lawsuits that claim they were duped into purchasing the fight. While I would love $5 million for the simple fact that I was not satisfied with the event and its results, it is up to me to determine whether to purchase the fight or not. Yes, it was not released that he had a rotator cuff problem, but it was in the reports leading up to the fight that he had been taking injections for pain. If you were that concerned that you might be duped. do the research before you purchase; don’t whine about it afterward.

I get that we live today in a lawsuit happy, throw s*#t at the wall and hope it sticks, get rich quick by any means possible world … I get that. But the bottom line is simple.

It’s television. No one put a gun to your head to purchase the event. If you had doubt in the beginning, you should not have spent the money for it. Get over it.

Robert Arrowsmith is Clovis Media Inc. publisher. Contact him at:

[email protected]