Re: HBO, Merchant close to extension

On Sat, 17 Nov 2007 15:14:20 -0800, "mwhaught" <mwhaught@xxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

On Nov 17 2007 4:41 PM, Paul Cassel wrote:

mwhaught wrote:
On Nov 16 2007 8:31 PM, never wrote:

I have met Merchant a handful of times, in three different decades, after
HBO fight broadcasts. He was a gentleman each time and -- except for one
time in a hotel bar-- did not once show any signs of having drank alcohol.
No odor, out of sorts speech, bloodshot eyes. Nothing.

About three years ago some of us RSBers met in Pittsburgh for a Paul
Spadafora fight card. We stayed in the same hotel as the HBO crew. Larry,
Manny Steward and Jim Lampley came into the hotel bar after the fight and
were one table over from our group. Larry and Manny nursed a single glass
of wine apiece for a good 2 to 3 hours. Lampley was the heavier drinker of
their group.

I just thought he was senile. It twas you regulars here who kept saying
he was drunk. For all I know, he's on crack, but he is often incoherent
- I'm hardly the only one to mention it. I don't care if the cause is
whiskey or dope or heroin.

I'm ok with that. I'm also ok with boxer / commentators like Foreman or
RJJ mangling the language. What I'm not ok with is how often hs seems to
make fun of the fighters or have this superior sneer in his voice. Like
in a Foreman comeback fight, maybe toward the middle of his run up to
Moore, Merchant called George "a fat old man" making fun of his efforts
to fight his second career.

Well, Larry, that guy got in the ring and won a hw belt at about 50
years old. What have you done?

I wasn't replying to you in particular on the thread. Just adding my
personal experience to the discussion.

FWIW, Larry has always seemed to have a odd speech cadence and delivery to
me. I could see it being taken as him possibly having a buzz on. After
chatting with him a few times, I believe its just how his brain makes his
mouth work. And its been that way for about 30 years from my viewing him
on TV.

-mwh

Michael, methinks Larry Merchant is a conversationalist. This means
the listener needs expect a conversation-like cadence and not some TV
editorialist or rah-rah ranting.

I found his speech pattern filled with thoughtful and considerate and
proportionate comments to the person he addressing. He sees through a
lot of the boxing bull*** and silly notions. If you'll note, when a
fighter is being interviewed after a bout and that fighter is a cut
above the rest when it comes to intelligence and speaks with a higher
degree of analytical ability, Merchant responds in kind. When it come
to the braggadocio and/or salesman stuff, he responds accordingly by
questioning and highlighting the insincerity by the speaker. He enjoys
insightful folks and is quite engaging.

If Keynesian could curb his over-the-top rah-rah stuff and tone down
to the point that he speaks to what he knows of boxing and boxers at
this point, he'll prevail and continue to grow. For sure, he ain't
shy!

DCI
.

Loading