The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-07-09
TALKING
IT OVER
By JOE WILLIAMS

NEW YORK, July s.-Ther,
In seems to be a concerted drivu
on among the sports overlords Il
give radio the air.
Within the last ten days the new
est of the popular arts has taker
two rollicking jolts on the chin.
First, the eastern colleges place.
a ban on the mikes, effective will
! the beginning of the next football
season.
Now, the boxing commission pro
claims a censorship restricting TIT
descriptions Of ring battles to hand
picked announcers.
Ironically, the highly commercialize,
! fight industry processes to be motivateI
solely by, artistic urges. whereas the ideal
istic college people unashamedly admit
they are interested only in the dough.
They claim the McNamees and TIT
Musings. keep cash customers away from
the stadiums. Which is interesting. if true
/ always heard the opposite. The college
taboo has been discussed in these column!
before-very profoundly, too.
The boxing commission, OF course. car
always be counted upon to do very ode
things. This latest is an aftermath OF thu
Sharkey -Schmeling fight, in which tn,
it-practically every round in fact. Anc
Sharkey. as you know. has always been the
commissions particular pet
The radio account and the official de-
cision did not jibe at all, and a boisterou:
public uproar followed. There we're other
developments and circumstances that were
not altogether pleasant to the sensitive
commission.
Joe Jacobs roared into the mike that hi.
man .lSchmelingl had been robbed. Later
Jacobs charged that the referee. Gunboai
SVNNff fNFfsa rr1Iw e.
Schmelingl had been sent into the ring tc
rob the German and that he (Jacobs) hac
been warned of such conspiracy two
For these eruptive remarks. Jacobs wa:
suspended by the commission without a
hearing and up to now so far as anybody
gate his Indictment. although it reflects
not only upon the Gunbost but the COM
mission itself.
THEN, there was the added fact
4 that the commission did not
reappoint Harold Barnes as one OF
the judges. 1t was Barnes, you
may recall, who had the courage to
call foul on Sharkey in the first
fight with Schmeling two years age
when the two other officials claimed
they saw none. The commission
took no occasion to explain why its
most capable representative was
thus penalized for his alertneSs and
gameneSS.
So all in all the commission did not
come out of the fight looking any toe
great. There had to be some .sacrificial
commissions wrath falls upon the radio.
=, IN view OF the circumstances any I'M
KIND s. person might be. entitled to wonder
about the radio. If the broadcast had been
preponderantly in favor of Sharkey.
=, OF Dfr course there were number s Of news,
that Schmeling won and this being so it
would. seem only logical that the com
mission enforce censorship on the sports
!. 1 suppose there have been times when
the regal gentlemen toyed lovingly with
couldn't make up their minds. / think
the publishers ought to be very grateful to
the commissioners for their tolerance and
maybe it would, be good idea if the
editors instructed their boxing reporters to
be more, polite in their handling of fights,
especially when Sharkev is in the ring
And it wouldn't hurt to mention the
names OF the commissioners frequently. ex-
tolling their noble qualities as public SER
isn't much but in strained situation any
little courtesy is important.
One of the grave social errors the radio
ers up before the mike and letting them
sound of from time to time. + afraid
the boys weren't very. smart.
I didn't hear the broadcast of the Shar-
key-Schmeling fight. Seeing it was enough
For all I know. seeing it might have been
worse. They tell me the radio made it
sound Xix ca thrilling battle. -
If that is SO. I hold the commission is
Justified in establishing censorship. ANY
description which made that fight seem
the broadcaster who made it either could
not see or knew nothing about prize fight
ing.