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March 29, 2005

Extreme Sports

I am a pacifist. I say this because the subject I am about to discuss may make some people mad. And if anyone can kick my ass it is the guys who participate in Ultimate Fighting Championships. Two men enter an octagonal cage and commence with beating the tar out of each other. The fighters are not boxing, not wrestling, not using martial arts, but rather a grab bag of the most basic parts of each. There are really no rules that I can see -- oh yeah, no guns allowed. I think it would be classified as an extreme sport, but everything is extreme nowadays. Flipping through the channels last night, I came across a reality show where several men were vying to become the champ of the octagon. The highlight of the show is when two men enter the ring -- I mean, octagon -- and begin the battle. To cut down on the painfully long ruleless brawl, there is a point where one man is standing over the other, whom is on his back and kicking at the standing man. That is when it hit me I have seen this before in a school yard when I was a tot. This is one kid bullying another. How is it that we have created sports just for people that cannot excel in others? This is where I invite your comment to tell me how wrong I am. There are already sports for the mastery of the elements of this sport. There's Greco-Roman wrestling (if you can't hang with that there is pro wrestling. There's also the martial arts and kickboxing. All of these sports have rules and some can even get you an Olympic gold.

I do not understand the need for this extra sport, this legitimizing of giving another guy a thrashing. Yes, I watched it. Yes, I was sort of riveted, but in the end I was a little ashamed and will not be watching the show again.

Hey, IÕm kind of good at soccer, baseball, pool, and Frisbee. Maybe IÕll make a sport combining these ... the player can run around with the soccer ball under his arm. When confronted by an opponent, he can beat him with his baseball bat. And when the bat breaks on someoneÕs skull you can throw billiard balls at him. I think I will hold it in an octagon so that it's extreme.

Posted by Kwaku at March 29, 2005 6:50 PM

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