“Fighting Words” – And the Oscar Goes…

[supRa]

This is bull****. Oscar De La Hoya should not be dissed like this. I'm very disappointed that boxings' most lucrative and popular star is being made fun of in this manner. DLH fights is what makes the sport at least a little bit mainstream. Disappointing article. smh.

BECAUSE....
why in the world would oscar fight manny.... it pissed me off.... i though oscar was gonna handle manny no prob... and look what happend.. thats why people dont like oscar... huge mistake
what was he thinking... am still a huge de la hoya fan

but it just irked me...

[Spiegelo]

The idea behind being a "star" is that you are in a position of great entitlement.

Fact.

But that entitlement also subjects you to lampoon and sattire, which in reality is a form of flattery. If a fighter like Edner Cherry or Antonio Davis was the subject of an article like this, it would not get the attention this one did.

The mere fact that a writer would take the time for some harmless lampoon shows how significant a "star" De la Hoya is.

It is almost the duty of the media to take shots at the people on top of their various industries. To fault one writer is to fault the media at large.

And we don't have that kind of time.

Yes for Edner Cherry and Antonio Davis, any form of name mention is probably a good thing. But for a big name like De La Hoya, who has been the gift that keeps on giving to boxing, but lately has suffered a somewhat embarrassing and rough last few years in the sport, we should let him go out on the dignity he has. It's like a Tyson article, just let the man be. He's already being booed left and right, let's not jump on the hater bandwagon and make corny ass articles. I mean, if **** was at least funny, maybe the response would be a bit less harsh, but the fact that the idea is corny and it was terribly written. I dunno Ryan maybe you should give it a shot..

[Mr. David]

Comedy is based on taste. I don't like Dane Cook. Others find him hilarious. Some people got what I was trying to do with this article; others weren't amused. Them's the spoils when you write a column, and them's the spoils when you take said column and try to do something different (After writing an article years ago comparing Don King to King Lear, the editor of this site wrote me, saying "No more Shakespeare.")

This was a tribute to the types of pieces syndicated sports columnist Norman Chad has done (Google "Norman Chad" and "David Beckham," and his "Joy of Becks" is the first result). They are often full of arbitrary lines, more observations or cuts than the typical line-punchline delivery. Some people can't stand Norman Chad. I, for one, love his work.

All that aside, this forum suddenly got quite sensitive about a satirical piece with lines that were far from anything that hasn't been said in these parts before, up to and after De La Hoya's fight with Pacquiao.

What was so offensive? That De La Hoya, in this lampooned diary, would think fighting Jeff Mayweather again to be a better idea than facing Floyd? That De La Hoya would look back on the time he presented Pacquiao with a suitcase full of money and see what it got him -- Pacquiao signed with Top Rank and later beat him up. That the undercards to Golden Boy Promotions' major pay-per-views have been lacking? That people have been booing him?

Of all the things in the column, I thought the line about Shane Mosley was the one someone could've argued to be mean.

Some people liked this article. Some didn't. I thank all of you for reading, and all of you who wrote in response, even if you didn't like it. As always, I'll be back next Monday...