2014 Atlas Dinner

Ed Randall,Kathy Beaver with Al Leiter at the 2014 Atlas Dinner.(Steven White for the Staten Island Advance).

(White)

Teddy Atlas gets the joke.

The ESPN fight analyst, boxing trainer, motivational speaker, charity organizer and Island native knows his first gig as a college football color man will have something less than optimum viewership possibilities.

Atlas is calling the nationally televised Western Michigan - Kent State game on ESPN2 tomorrow.

As in, Tuesday.

Yes, that would be election day.

Most folks, you would think, will likely be a little busy around the 7:30 kickoff time. You know, checking for info on the long-awaited ending to the most bizarre, not to mention graceless, presidential campaign in modern American history.

Still, the Todt Hill resident who trained former heavyweight champion Michael Moorer is hopeful.

"Maybe they'll switch channels as an escape," was Atlas's optimistic take on ESPN viewership for those hours.

And he may be right.

Most people, it seems, had their fill of this political season some time ago.

The Atlas debut might turn out to be a worthy, if slightly weird, distraction.

Actually, this idea of the Islander doing football has been in the works for a while. Ever since last January's collegiate national championship game when Alabama defeated Clemson 45-40 in a prime example of fast-break football.

That night, ESPN had Atlas paired with college hoop analyst Jay Bilas and a couple of others in a studio setting giving on-air commentary from the perspective of non-football experts.

The reviews on Atlas's take of the college game was so positive they'd been looking for a spot to give him an opportunity to try live real-time coverage.

Atlas being Atlas, you knew the first person he'd call for help was his son, Teddy Jr.

The younger Atlas is the scouting coordinator for the Oakland Raiders.

"He helped get together a bunch or research material, and I've been watching film," Atlas said. "I try to take some pride in what I do, so I've been studying.

"But," he laughed, "I want everyone to remember it is a first time."

This isn't one of those totally under-the-radar middle of the week matchups that content-desperate cable TV has demanded, and which will likely someday down the road add to the eventual end of the college game due to over-saturation.

Western Michigan may not be a household name just yet, but they are currently 9-0 and ranked at No.17 in the most recent Associated Press poll.

And in P.J. Fleck, the Broncos have one of the hottest young coaches in the business.

"I think it will be fun, and I'm going to be prepared," said Atlas, who will be back home Wednesday working on final preparations for the annual Dr. Theodore Atlas Foundation Dinner.

Scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 17, at the Hilton Garden Inn and already a sell-out with over 800 expected, the dinner is the foundation's biggest fundraiser each year.

It's what allows much of the foundation's good deeds for sick kids, struggling families and beneficial local programs.

The dinner proceeds foot the bill for the 1,000 or so turkeys the foundation will be giving out on the weekend prior to Thanksgiving. It also helps with the Kids and Cops boxing program run out of gyms in Dongan Hills, Park Hill and Brooklyn.

And accomplishes all that while being one of the biggest sports nights on the Island every November, rooms packed with celebrities and people willing to give a helping hand to a local charity to rub elbows with them.

"Our lifeline," Atlas has called the dinner.

And in many ways it is.

And now that he's on his way into the college football world, maybe there'll be some folks from that community showing up on dinner night at the Hilton every year.