Quote:
Originally Posted by vanguardisle
http://www.bcmj.org/back-page/there-no-sport-boxing
Quote from this article:
Many years ago I saw Muhammad Ali interviewed on the subject of boxing and brain damage. He gave the sweetest smile and answered “who cares about the brains of a couple of black kids? Who cares about the brains of poor kids from the meaner parts of town?”
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I didn't want to go there last time around, but now that somebody has...this gets right up in the face of the "route out of poverty" bait dangled in front of impoverished kids. "We'll reduce funding for public education, and hand out some prep-school scholarships and vouchers to appease our consciences. We'll make sure you stay in line by having cops constantly harass and occasionally even kill the men of your communities. And y'know, it really bothers us that we can only fill so many football and basketball rosters when a lot more youths need help 'staying off the streets.' SO...c'mon down to the rec center tomorrow. Anybody who shows up can start to take up BOXING! Meanwhile swim meets persist in being overwhelmingly Caucasian, as do track events (aside from sprinting) and definitely cross-country. And that's leaving out all the rest of the myriad sports that are quaintly but accurately described by universities as "non-revenue." When's the last time you saw a Hispanic field hockey star? Or an AA lacrosse captain? It's not only racism or even "sport steering" that does this. Most of all by far it's the "route out of poverty" siren song. So-and-so basketball player just bought his fourth Bentley. Thus-and-such football star took over a whole club for a private party, and "YO! You shoulda seen da HONEYS..." Who wouldn't be enticed by the "livin' large" that the athletes in these sports can indulge in, as do the relatively few boxers who earn enough nowadays?
As for "non-revenue" endeavors, their participants pursue them as a diversion while getting ahead educationally. A relative who swam his way into the 2012 Olympic trials is now pursuing an advanced degree, which maybe he would've done anyway.
But there are no professional leagues for athletes of his caliber in that sport so the point's rendered moot. He knew that well before starting college but was all about keeping the passion alive for a little bit longer. This (it probably goes without saying) is a White kid from an upper-middle-class family who saw examples of productive members of society around him every day. Children growing up under disadvantaged circumstances mostly don't see "productive members of society" around. Their parents are apathetic if not absent. And it's not swimmers who are caught on camera tearing up the town or building custom mansions. Few pools are available in urban areas, and those that exist are so full of people that one can often only stand in the water. Lanes set aside for training or for adult/teen swimming only? Surely you jest! But, no worries, city kid. Even if you're too small for football or couldn't slam-dunk to save your life, you still have BOXING! And let's face it, your grades won't get you into many places with a swimming program anyway
although plenty of scholarships await court and gridiron stars. You dropped out of school or have no interest in continuing past 12th grade? You still have BOXING!
Up-thread somebody was throwing out the "you don't know what you're talking about" rejoinder - with nothing to bolster their position - regarding the pseudo martial arts. Nothing new there. I think what demands clearing up is that I'm in no way advocating the elimination of rough physical contact, as if that could happen, or calling for the "nannification" or "sissifying" of sports. Some of the regulation would be strictly in the form of mandating some basic protective gear, like knee/elbow pads and ear/chin protectors to go along with mouth guards. (Strangely, nobody's ever railed against putting on a "cup" - or at least a jockstrap or "Under Armour" - before jumping into the ring or stepping onto the mat. "It's OK if I incur permanent brain damage, but I gotta protect the family jewels!" LOL)
Boys and men LIKE to fight. It's in our DNA (or so it's said.) I reveled in horsing around as a kid. The "DNA" assertion showed some merit when my eldest nephew and his next-younger brother started wrestling all over the place as soon as the second kid could walk. We'd crack up watching the smaller boy smoothly take his brother down to the floor and promptly "ride legs" or apply a Nelson to keep him there - at the age of 2. "Where did they pick up this stuff?!" None of the men (or women) in the family were ever martial artists of any kind. But those kids somehow just knew. Why clip the wings of children like that who decide to take it from fun scraps in the yard or living room to team competition when they get older? I think it should be encouraged
as long as boundaries are set.
Almost unnoticed amidst all the March Madness this weekend was what's been dubbed March Mat-ness, the NCAA Wrestling Championships. There was nothing "sissified" going on there, that's for sure, more like hyper-aggression and rivers of sweat and not a little blood. And this is how it ought to be. Ditto for boxing and the traditional Asian martial arts. (Almost slipped and wrote "legitimate," but some people are
sensitive about that. Where the remainder of MMA, or whatever, regulation would come in is in terms of putting the brakes on the more extreme and rule-free aspects. There's nothing redeeming about laying somebody out, then looming above them & bashing them up-side the head again and again. We already know who won & who's therefore more bad-ass. If going way beyond what's necessary to be declared the victor isn't a sign of "sadism and anger-management issues" I don't know what is. Are guys (and the very very occasional females such as Ronda Rousey) like that apt to be able to "take it all into the match and leave it all there at the end"? The majority of boxers, traditional martial artists, and the super-jocks of March Mat-ness probably can. And to be fair perhaps the trash sport practitioners can too. Maybe it's the gangsta tattoos and the complete lack of sportsmanlike humility that give the wrong impression.
Regardless, make additional basic protective gear a requirement and tighten up the rules a bit. Nobody will lose testosterone over it.
True Fact time: Tamerlan Tsarnaev was a boxer, yes. And brother Dzokhar was a high school wrestler of some import. THEY WERE ALSO FIXTURES AT AN MMA GYM.
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