I had seen the picture, but the comments from the photographer are interesting
http://www.chrisdetrick.com/blog/2008/05/eye-gouge-story-behind-poke.html
Huh, hadn't seen that before. I remember watching Allen Ray get poked in the eye during the Big East tourney on an HD DVR, which was pretty gross but entertaining nonetheless. We kept that clip until we had to get a new DVR.
It's amazing how resilient the human body can be.
Awesome picture -- the photographer picked up a World Press Photo award for the shot -- and definitely deserved it. Very cool.