During the Ohio State football team’s ass-whipping of Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl last week, there existed a storyline with all the warm nostalgia of high school. You remember this one: the quarterback’s hot sister dates a football stud at a rival school, and a subtextual drama unfolds in the biggest game of the year.

It makes for a great story, one that played out in all its splendor on a national stage each time OSU linebacker A.J. Hawk, the boyfriend in question, chased down or sacked Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn, the brother in question. The fact that both players are among the best in college football was icing on the cake.

The girlfriend-slash-sister in question, Laura Quinn, was torn between allegiances, with her emotions quite literally worn on her sleeves by means of a sewn-together ND-OSU doppeljersey. Like much of the viewing audience, I sat on the edge of my futon, craving an OSU blitz or a Brady scramble, hoping for the Shakespearean moment when A.J. would disparage the Quinn family honor with destructive vengeance.

Okay, I’m being a tad melodramatic. But therein lies the spectacle when love, war and genes converge, and they almost never converge so perfectly. The story was covered in major media outlets everywhere, including an article in the New York Times whose headline read, “Loyalty Tested: Brother or Beau?” Most of the media coverage was playful and respectful, and Laura was a good sport throughout. The guys were not as good sports, but well, their minds were on sports.

Enter the almighty power of the Internet and one’s ability to project incoherent ramblings with ease. Some of the coverage was pointed and less flattering. Sports Illustrated captioned a photo of Laura on its website with, “Hey, Laura Quinn, hope you enjoyed your 15 minutes of fame.” An ESPN senior writer labeled the story Laurapalooza and mocked the amount of airtime ABC gave to Laura.

CBS SportsLine.com staff writer Matt Rehm had this to say: “I’m sure Laura Quinn is a fine person, but judging by her hair and makeup, she apparently just stepped out of a Whitesnake video. I’m here to help, though. Just put down the eyeliner, Laura, and nobody gets hurt.”

The blogging universe was even less kind. I won’t quote any blog entries, but suffice it to say that many felt obliged to fill web message boards with offensive smut. I found unenlightened commentary on Laura’s teeth, jaw, hair, breathing technique and hand size, along with name-calling and assumptions about Laura’s promiscuity.

I could spend these 700 words coming to the defense of Laura, expressing outrage at the poor taste or jealousy of a relative few. But instead, what I find disturbing is that none of this is at all remotely surprising. And therein lies a sad aspect of the state of our media culture: a contempt for normal people that are cast in the spotlight. I think we’ve grown numb to the phenomenon.

Where does this contempt come from? At the risk of being tackled for a loss while walking across campus, let’s state the obvious: Laura is a hottie. On top of that, she’s polite, well-spoken, and knowledgeable about sports. She held her own with seasoned reporters on a local sports show the night before the Fiesta Bowl.

On the other hand, an unscientific poll of female friends on campus reveals that A.J. is, in fact, not the prettiest of guys. Sure, he has the kind of football and financial future that most of us can’t work into even the wildest of our realities. But on the surface, he resembles what he probably is: a hulking, smashmouth linebacker who eats nails for breakfast.

Yet, I didn’t find a single insult thrown A.J.’s way on web discussion boards or sports sites. Yes, A.J. is evaluated for his athletic skills, and men overwhelmingly report on that topic. But still, why does Laura get the backlash? My theory is that she’s attractive enough to cause some ordinary folks to hunt for flaws, which probably can be attributed to envy more than anything. It’s unfortunate that the web provides a forum for that.

All in all, the Laura-Brady-A.J. storyline was innocent and compelling. In fact, the only off-the-field storyline more compelling (and decidedly less innocent) would be if A.J. and Brady instead were tormented by the football version of “Brokeback Mountain.” Imagine A.J. driving Brady into the ground, then looking away and saying, “I wish I could quit you.” Until that happens, the cute girl will remain the easy target of ridicule.

Dan Magestro is a postdoctoral research associate in the OSU physics department. He can be reached at [email protected].