Kate Upton’s Sports Illustrated cover was airbrushed. So what?

upton SI cover

The New York Daily News weighed in this week on Kate Upton's Sports Illustrated swimsuit cover, suggesting that the voluptuousness of the model has been minimized via Photoshop because -- I don't know -- if there's something the superficial male wants, it's a model with a smaller chest? Because it's mid-February and Upton has been linked to Mark Sanchez, we'll inject ourselves in the debate.

I could spend I have spent three days looking at Kate Upton photographs and can unequivocally say that the cover was Photoshopped. There was no comparative analysis or examination of the contradicting shadows on Upton's right arm or a before/after look at how the model was shot in runway shows in October vs. an Australian beach in November. I know for the simple fact that Upton is on a magazine cover and all magazine covers are Photoshopped (except Newsweek when Republicans are on the cover.) That's the way it works.

Brad Pitt's a good-looking dude, but don't tell me the Hollywood Reporter didn't smooth out some lines on the 48-year-old's face. Things get tweaked. It's the same for everyone, whether it's a man, woman, model, actor or 10-time Grand Slam champion. (Look at Rafael Nadal's skin in that swimsuit photo with Bar Refaeli. His forehead looks like a newborn's. But even the Photoshop magicians couldn't render out that farmer's tan.)

This is true in all realms of entertainment. I know it's sacrilegious to even broach this topic, but you don't think they messed with those microphones at the Grammys to ensure that Adele sounded her best? And, hey, those kids in the Harry Potter movies really couldn't fly on brooms. And when Faith Hill sings the intro on "Sunday Night Football," she wasn't actually filmed at the foot of the Washington Monument, in the middle of Times Square or standing on a football field surrounded by Peyton Manning, Ray Lewis, Adrian Peterson, Drew Brees and Larry Fitzgerald. This is what happens in all realms of entertainment.

It should make us all feel good that Kate Upton's cover photograph gets airbrushed. If a beauty like her needs it, then I don't feel so bad when I untag a Facebook photo because my forehead is scrunched and I appear to be engaged in a staring contest with a wall.

The lesson here is that nothing, not even supermodels who may or may not be dating New York Jets quarterbacks, is truly perfect. Except Tim Tebow. He's so handsome that Photoshop crashes whenever you try to open his picture.