There must be blood

Is walking a tightrope across Niagara Falls sufficiently dangerous? (AP Photo/file)

Is walking a tightrope across Niagara Falls sufficiently dangerous?

How about suspended 200 feet over Niagara Falls ON A TETHER?

“It doesn’t keep on the wire in any way. It keeps me safe from dying,” says Wallenda. “I still have to balance. I still have to stay on top of that wire.”

That’s Daredevil Nick Wallenda who was told by ABC — wear a tether, or no broadcast Friday.

And there are people who insist it detracts from the purity of the stunt, and they won’t watch. He should have to risk death like his grandfather Karl Wallenda — who took a fatal plunge in 1978 when the wind picked up as he walked a tightrope between two towers in San Juan.

But we seem to want to raise the stakes for everything.

In video games –it used to be if your character dies, you could hit reset — now there’s a trend: In Call of Duty 4 Sgt. Paul Jackson dies after his helicopter crashes; Mass Effect 2 Commander Shepard plunges to his death. There’s even a Roadrunner cartoon on YouTube where Wiley E Coyote finally catches him.

WARNING: Graphic Language

This is morbid. Let the man wear the tether. How can you say it’s not thrilling enough? Think of it this way — instead of falling once, he could fall innumerable times. Even more entertaining.

Unless the prediction of this Buffalo professor comes true:

“I wouldn’t be at all surprised if once he’s out there, he finds a way to get rid of that tether.”

That’s when I turn it off. I can always watch the YouTube relay.