Jim Lampley's announcing during the Mayweather/Hatton fight was pathetic. His incessant pissing and moaning about how boring the undercard fights were was offensive. He came just short of saying "boy, you suckers certainly got screwed outta sixty bucks."
Sure, I get it. None of us paid $60 to see Lacy or DeLeon score unanimous decisions, but I didn't pay to sit and listen to someone complain either. It's like going to a New Year's party and complaining about how boring it is until 11:45. Um. Buzzkill.
Had he been sitting in my living room, I woulda told him to suck it up or go hang out in the kitchen with the rest of the people who think "boxing is boring" but came for the beer. I guess he came for the paycheck (maybe someone should've offered him a beer).
The whole point of this (and Mayweather's May07 fight) was to renew and rejuvenate interest in the sport of boxing (in which interest has been waning for years). Nice Job, Jim Lampley. Wait, nope. His dismisal of the 24/7 series was, in short, counterproductive. He recounted part of an episode where Floyd cajoles his mother to get risky and say "ass" (which is allowed on HBO, as Roger lets us know) in a way that succinctly sumed the whole series up as contrived. On behalf of the documentarians, I was insulted. Sure, people put on airs for the camera. 24/7 acknowledges and observes this in it's "character" study as any competent documentarian would; and HBO is certainly beyond competent.
Jim Lampley (and his producers) need to remember what it's like to be excited for a fight, what it feels like to get a bunch a friends and beer and food and gather around to watch two guys go head to head in the most exciting sporting event I know to watch (and man, wasn't the title fight AMAZING?!?)
Bryant Gumble, I'm coming for you next...
No comments:
Post a Comment