One of the most influential moments in modern sports history was on television Tuesday. It featured nine guys sitting around a table.

One was chewing a cigar. A few wore shades. There was a guy in a Steve Francis jersey who definitely was not Steve Francis.

If all this sounds like a practical joke, you are on to something. It was a replay of the 2003 World Series of Poker, which is still generating more buzz than baseball’s 2003 World Series.

In case you haven’t noticed, poker is taking over the world. A friend of mine stopped eating in order to devote 17 hours a day to playing Texas Hold ‘Em on the Internet.

The rest of his time is spent watching poker on TV. It’s on more than Donald Trump, and even more popular. USA Today devoted half a front page to poker last week, so you know it’s officially reached critical cultural mass.

Among the disturbing statistics — kids who gamble are 50 percent more likely to binge drink, and 75 percent more likely to smoke marijuana. And judging from this quote, a few parents are joining them.

“I think Josh playing poker is great,” one mother said. “Sometimes, I beg him to play.”

This is obviously getting out of control. The occasional game with the boys or girls is one thing. But if this were 25 years ago, we’d suspect the Rooskies had secretly infected the U.S. with a poker virus that will render us defenseless and eventually melt our brains.

It’s 2004, however, so we can blame ESPN. The network is even doing a movie about poker. You’ll undoubtedly see a “Tilt” promo every 45 seconds for the next month.

Poker’s seminal moment came at the aforementioned World Series. A guy named Chris Moneymaker (no joke) took the big prize. He’d never won a live tournament before but had honed his skills on the Internet.

Imagine the Tiger Woods video game champ winning the Masters. Moneymaker’s win inspired a generation to believe any schmoe can become poker’s James Bond.

You don’t have to be big or fast or even a BALCO client to be a star. And you can forget the argument whether participants are athletes. Based on Tuesday’s two-year-old video, I’m not even sure any of them are still alive.

“Dan Harrington is still a force to be reckoned with,” the announcer said.

I can’t be sure, but it looked as if Dan had just eaten the dealer. It would be easy to make fun of the players’ physical condition or clothing or mirrored sunglasses, but that would miss the point.

I sure wouldn’t want to play against them. But I would rather do that than watch them play against each other.

Poker is like soccer or running or dating. The fun is in the doing, not the watching.

Moneymaker engaged in a Hold ‘Em showdown with Phil Ivey, “The man to beat,” according to Mr. Announcer. According to my notes, Ivey drew a straight on the river. Moneymaker called, and was so disgusted he yanked his shades off to reveal he had no eyes. He needed an ace on the final card.

He got it!

“The great Phil Ivey is exiting,” the announcer said. And this beats Manning-to-Harrison?

I wanted to yell that the emperor has no clothes. But I didn’t even want to think about the players being naked.

Maybe poker madness is just a fad, destined to burn out when the next hip thing comes along. But if you want your kids to avoid getting sucked in, there’s one pretty safe bet.

Make them watch.