REQUIEM FOR A FEATHERWEIGHT

No picture This time. Deliberately. It seems our local loco boxing champion, Johnny Tapia, has really done it this time. His checkered career includes arrests, convictions for alcohol and drug abuse and a diagnosis of bipolar disorder. He was a five time ring champion. He's in the hospital now, suffering from a massive drug overdose. I view this as a sad commentary on a man's life and the story as something that belongs on the sports pages. Not on the front page of the morning paper. But there it is. A four and half column picture of a man who is near death. And who was an athlete. On the jump page, the enormous tattoo (covering the entire front of his body) is displayed. They didn't show his back. Just as well. It's covered with tattooing also. He looks sad. Why a newspaper would run such coverage is beyond me. I thought for a minute I was seeing a supermarket tabloid on my porch. I guess the motto of the Albuquerque Journal is slightly different than that of the New York Times. It may be "All The News That Fits."