Bert Sugar, 1936-2012.

There's an obituary worth reading in today's "New York Times," because although it's nominally about Bert Sugar, the boxing writer, it's really about hard-nosed writing that's blunt, tough and without pretense. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/27/sports/bert-sugar-boxing-writer-and-commentator-is-dead-at-74.html?_r=1&hpw

Here are the sentences from the "Times" that I think are most thought-provoking: “In the world of the early 1900s, still awash with Victorian gentility and doily-type embroidery on everything from manners and modes to conversation and conventional heroes,” he wrote to introduce an essay on the great black champion Jack Johnson, “the name of the heavyweight champion stood out in stark relief, a man of swaggering virility who epitomized the turbulent yet proud surety of the populace of a nation destined for greatness.”

In other word, there was bupkis Marquess of Queensberry about Jack Johnson. He was a subtle as a ham-sized fist to the face.

In advertising B.B. (Before Bernbach) and, sadly, today, we are currently "still awash with Victorian gentility and doily-type embroidery on everything from manners and modes to conversation..." Ads, presentations and everything else are tarted up like waterfront hookers. They're painted and laced and full of a frenzy of colors and decorations.

In boxing parlance, they feint and dance but don't hit you. They are cold and empty.

I come from a world where advertising was meant to be stripped down and bare. No pretense and decoration was allowed in.

Today, we've gone back to a more decorous (and decorative) time. And I think by adding things to our craft we have subtracted much.

Like meaning.