[Roccus]

I blame ESPN for much of this. They started highlighting big hits in the mid 90’s to the point that it became a detriment to the game.

Mmmmmmm...no. It didn't start with ESPN at all. Go back to the 60's, or perhaps the early 70's. During the season, the first segment of Johnny Carson's Monday night "Tonight Show" (after the monologue) was called "Bell Ringers." In it would be shown clips of the biggest hits of the previous day's games.

[sean327]

There wasn’t very many kids staying up to watch the Tonight show. ESPN is the damn devil, They have given us the greatest farce in the history of sport; the BCS. ESPN in my opinion has done more to hurt Football at the college and NFL levels than anyone.