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When you run in the kind of circles I do, you realize that a good deal of the serious "g****vine" talk has shifted to the uncertainty of the sport's future, and what to do about many of those ills that are plaguing the industry, whether it be declining ratings, declining image, or declining financial opportunity.
Until just recently, I lived in Indiana – far from midtown Manhattan and all the people in this business who consider themselves to be sharper than anyone else. Who knows? They might be. Nonetheless, there is still a lot to be learned by listening to plain old Middle Americans.
For example, I'm sitting in a bar one night and I just happen to be overhearing two guys talking about a fight they had seen a couple of nights before. One guy's talking about the stocky "Eye-talian" kid who looked good early, then went down, and the black guy who didn't do enough to follow up and wound up losing the fight, and I realize they were talking about Joe Mesi in his bout with Monte Barrett.
Then, in the same conversation, I hear mention of the "big Russian guy" who "looked like a robot" when he knocked out the "black guy who was way out of shape," and it wasn't hard to ascertain that they were talking about the Vitali Klitschko-Kirk Johnson fight, which appeared on the same HBO show.
The point is, there was no particular mention of any fighter's name; all these guys remembered was the spectacle of what they saw, and all they cared about was the degree to which they were amused or entertained.
I can guarantee you they're not unique.
Something hit me when I heard that conversation – something I'm sure I was well aware of, but wasn't able to completely put my finger on or articulate quite so clearly. Essentially, it's this: It's not about WHO'S fighting, because one guy's pretty much like another, to most people anyway. What it's really about is producing enough action, enough competition, to keep people interested, at a time when there are seemingly hundreds of other choices on a TV dial, and plenty of other things to do, including staying home, in an average American city on an average weekend night. [details]
Until just recently, I lived in Indiana – far from midtown Manhattan and all the people in this business who consider themselves to be sharper than anyone else. Who knows? They might be. Nonetheless, there is still a lot to be learned by listening to plain old Middle Americans.
For example, I'm sitting in a bar one night and I just happen to be overhearing two guys talking about a fight they had seen a couple of nights before. One guy's talking about the stocky "Eye-talian" kid who looked good early, then went down, and the black guy who didn't do enough to follow up and wound up losing the fight, and I realize they were talking about Joe Mesi in his bout with Monte Barrett.
Then, in the same conversation, I hear mention of the "big Russian guy" who "looked like a robot" when he knocked out the "black guy who was way out of shape," and it wasn't hard to ascertain that they were talking about the Vitali Klitschko-Kirk Johnson fight, which appeared on the same HBO show.
The point is, there was no particular mention of any fighter's name; all these guys remembered was the spectacle of what they saw, and all they cared about was the degree to which they were amused or entertained.
I can guarantee you they're not unique.
Something hit me when I heard that conversation – something I'm sure I was well aware of, but wasn't able to completely put my finger on or articulate quite so clearly. Essentially, it's this: It's not about WHO'S fighting, because one guy's pretty much like another, to most people anyway. What it's really about is producing enough action, enough competition, to keep people interested, at a time when there are seemingly hundreds of other choices on a TV dial, and plenty of other things to do, including staying home, in an average American city on an average weekend night. [details]
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