Pretty good. So is this. And this. And even this.

“Advertising is based on one thing: Happiness.”
—Don Draper

The Ring magazine has been sold to a holding company formed by boxer Oscar de la Hoya. Here’s the press release.

It’s notable because The Ring is one of the best-known names in American publishing. It first saw print in 1922 and, remarkably, is still punching away month after month 85 years later.

My first real job out of college was an editorial position with the company owned by publisher Stanley Weston, who was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame last year. I was there (at the publishing company, not the Hall of Fame) when, in 1990, Weston realized his lifelong dream and purchased the magazine (and the memorabilia collection that came with it) that gave him his first job nearly 53 years earlier.

As a true thread of the American cultural fabric, The Ring has both enormous tradition behind it and incredible potential ahead of it. From printed pages to television and computer screens and beyond, there is a wide range of marketing potential that can be explored for this brand, potential that’s been only toyed with or outright ignored for far too many years in the post-Weston era.

Maybe that potential can begin to be realized under de la Hoya’s ownership. I know guys who still work there, incredibly talented publishing professionals who deserve the chance to make The Ring shine again, not just as a magazine but as an American sports brand that will be celebrating its 100th birthday before too long.

Of course, this is all probably so much wishful blog blather. As professions, boxing and publishing tend to rank a few notches beneath used car sales and politics when it comes to integrity. Blend the two together and the potential is ripe for all sorts of shenanigans that can destroy a brand rather than revitalize it.

I hope that’s the sort of potential that isn’t realized, though. When The Ring reaches its centennial year, it deserves to be perceived as a champion, not as a punch-drunk journeyman.

Askville is new from Amazon, which sent me an invitation yesterday to check it out, so I did. It describes itself as “a place where you can share and discuss knowledge with other people by asking and answering questions on any topic.”

Sounds (and works) an awful lot like wis.dm, an interesting diversion that describes itself as “a new kind of online community in which the most basic unit of social interaction is the question.”

Eleven days ago, someone on wis.dm asked, “have you been to askville.com by amazon and do you think it will overtake wis.dm?” Ten people responded, unanimously answering “no.” I have to agree. I also have to reiterate: wis.dm and askville are interesting diversions, but after playing around for a coupla days, one has to ask: Do they amount to anything more than that?

“Empty sky, empty sky
I woke up this morning to an empty sky”