Thread: Al Bernstein On Boxing: "Don't Shoot...I'm A Producer!"

"This Is Not Time For Humor!"

Imagine, if you will, this scene. In a slightly run down urban neighborhood, a huge truck with an ESPN logo on it is parked behind a concert venue.

Several police cars surround the truck and officers exit their vehicles and approach the truck very carefully. They have already called for back up because they believe a robbery might be in progress.... Full Boxing Article here...

Good read Al. The whole ESPN growth and how it has changed the nation could be a whole good book in itself it sounds like!


I hope some of you all bought into the company back then, it looks like it was quite a lucrative investment from such humble beginnings!

If boxing wasn't dangerous enough you have to run the risk of the cops coming at you Wako style.

But seriously imaging a time before names like ESPN feels weird even for me over the pond...like when mobile phones came out

nice article, I don't go back this far but I vaguely remember ESPN back in the mid to late 80's when they were already pretty big but still had to fill some time slots with classic stuff like lumberjack events. When they would do that thing where they balanced on the log in the water I always rooted for them to fall off. Good stuff.

That's a pretty amazing read, how it all started and to what ESPN has become is quite a story. I would have always assumed it was put together with big investors and such. Must be so satisfying to have been a part of such a thing.

Thankfully ESPN still shows boxing....man, we'd be lost without it, I know it comes on Versus but back in the day boxing was on NBC and there were RARELY PPV events, now it's every single JC Jr. fight and half a dozen other fights with really crappy undercards.

Thank the good lord for ESPN, true it may have spawned Satan Incarnate Keith Olberman, but I like to remember the good old days, when he was just a sports guy and not some angry "news" anchor type guy.

Originally Posted by OumaFan

nice article, I don't go back this far but I vaguely remember ESPN back in the mid to late 80's when they were already pretty big but still had to fill some time slots with classic stuff like lumberjack events. When they would do that thing where they balanced on the log in the water I always rooted for them to fall off. Good stuff.

I love the lumberjack events, but not as much as boxing.

Great article - interesting to hear how the giant of ESPN got its start in guerrilla television.

al bernstein writes for this site now?

how long has this been going on?


im oblivious to everything it seems, al bernstein is the man