Pugilistic Arts
 

I must admit that there is something perversely fascinating about watching a boxing match. What other sport has as one of its underlying objectives to induce unconsciousness in the opponent through brain damage?

In my man-clicking TV surfing last night, I stumbled upon a rerun of the 1986 heavyweight fight between the then 20-year old Mike Tyson and Trevor Berbick. Jesus H. Christ in a chicken basket! Tyson was a machine, a one-man wrecking crew. In the second round Berbick was utterly destroyed by the fastest and most powerful uppercut I've ever seen. And then there was Mills Lane, the ref who would later become a claymation star of Celebrity Deathmatch. And Tyson, with not a single Tattoo, rape conviction, or ear cartilage between his teeth. What the commentator said regarding this youngest heavyweight champion as they closed the broadcast was prescient: "The only person that's gonna beat Mike Tyson is Mike Tyson."

That was 20 years ago.

"Pugilistic Arts"

Using a fancy name and calling it "arts" makes it sound so much better than it really is. I wonder if a Republican came up with that name? It's the kind of thing they are good at.

How about "The Sweet Science"?

Hockey. Which is fascinating, to me, considering: at the other end of the spectrum, hockey requires incredible finesse and subtlety.

Hockey
 

Yeah, Flint, I grew up playing pond hockey; my mom even sent me to hockey camp one year (4:00 am to get some ice time at the rink). Big Bad Bruins of the early 70s. Bobby Orr, Gerry Cheevers, Phil Esposito.

I would hope, however, that the true goal for hockey is to get the puck in the net, not to knock the players out. Though the classic hockey fight does not seem to go away, to the delight of many.:neutral: