By Al Bernstein September 1st, 2009 All Boxing Articles
I can count on one hand the times in my 30 year career that I have expressed disagreement with any of my broadcasting colleagues in a public forum.
Mind you, I have often disagreed, but seldom if ever have I spoken out. My style as a communicator is not built on argument or confrontation and I don’t really understand “media feuds.” And, I am certainly not trying to ignite one here.
All that having been said, I feel called upon to strongly disagree with some of the opinions expressed by ESPN commentator Teddy Atlas in a recent interview I read on the internet.
I’ll further qualify this (how much qualifying can one man do?) by saying that Teddy and I have never had any issue with each other on a personal basis, and we have many mutual friends.
So, this column is really a reaction to his comments and there is nothing else behind it.
In this recent interview, Teddy makes some all inclusive comments about the internet that I think are very unfair and inaccurate. In the process, he diminishes one of the strengths of the sport, in much the same way uninformed members of the mainstream media have been doing in recent years.
First, even though the interview he did was with an internet writer and was dispensed on the internet, he completely dismisses the internet as a means of providing accurate or meaningful information.
Here is some of what he said:
“I don’t read any boxing internet articles unless someone sends me something or faxes me something, which I really don’t care to read in the first place. There is just so many boxing websites that I wonder how they survive. More...
