Hehe, that was me, actually. And yeah, there are occasional debates on online forums about what the martial arts really mean, and the ethics of it entails. I’ve read a few personal stories about how certain individuals went back to more defense styles because they didn’t like the idea of having the ability to kill someone, and it bothered them. Many Budo stylists are prone to be reluctant to engage someone unless they had to, and I’m always intrigued by the moral injuctions surrounding that outside the usual “You’ll get jailed for doing X” argument. Unfortunately, the quality of many forums are quite uneven, to say the least.

I don’t think they would have developed the complete mindset, but I’m know that more than one of them involved blade arts such as Kali and Silat—I’m no expert on either (and there is significant cross over), but I trained in them an equivalent of a year, and it was an eye-opener. Even their unarmed systems, strictly speaking, are a treatise on dirty fighting and many official cage matches make specific techniques illegal. And for the longest time, Vale Tudo in South America was the equivalent to those dreaded underground matches.

(Although occasionally it happens someone really gets smashed, mostly on accident, but sometimes on purpose—I remember Wesley Sims stomping Frank Mir in the face in the UFC a couple of years ago and was immediately disqualified—the reason being that it’s THAT destructive from someone that knows how to kick hard, and on asphalt . . . yeeesh!).

As for boxing, there’s a few things I could say, but I suppose I didn’t try to make a career out of it because of the all of the stories I’ve read about possible neurological injuries. Then again, I’ve trained in Muay Thai off and on since 2003 among other things, and that can be just as dangerous. Not everyone walks out of the ring afterwards.

“Hmmm - Maybe we could get you some Armor, and add that to your CV, there, SR.

I’m old, fat, and slow now… :D” — Gonzman

Ha, I might still take you up on that offer. Let the armchair pseudo-cynics cry about LARPing all they want, that might be pretty damn fun.

I should qualify my last statement: I am a big fan of (traditional) sumo wrestling - it’s really custom-tailored to my extremely short attention span when it comes to sporting events, and it’s backed by a tradition full of pageantry.

I’ve witnessed similar attitudes to the stereotypical “talking about sports” attitudes discussing everything from Dungeons & Dragons to politics to independant music.

I’m old, fat, and slow now… :D

Add my favorite classics book about sport, Greek Athletics and the Genesis of Sport, by David Sansone. He argues that all sport is a religious act exactly the same as animal sacrifice. Even if it does not convince you, it will change your attitude about sport forever, and it will make you think differently about modern religion, too.

The Michael Chabon book Summerland considers baseball and mythology in a whimsical novel with a 12-year old protagonist. I have written that I think Chabon knows very little about mythology and less about baseball, but it’s a fun read anyway.

Last summer I was picking up my son from baseball camp and met his former coach, who is a divinity student. He is also a macho guy who played ball in his time, and we had a conversation like this.

Me: “How was your week?”
Him: “Okay. I had a couple of funerals. That sucked.”
Me: “I’m sorry.”
Him: “Yeah. But it’s all good. It keeps you grounded.”
Me: “Just like baseball. Life. Death. Everything.”
Him: “I know. I’m writing a curriculum about that.”

If you’re someone who’s a deep thinker and you have no one with whom to talk about sports in a deep way, you’re missing something. Anyway, I like it.

If you are so inclined, click on the DF above and Google site search for baseball or sports and you will get a lot more thoughts in this same vein.

I guess I missed the boat there, because as someone who’s been called (strangely enough) by a few men and women as “too masculine” for some—make that as you will—I care little to nothing about most sports.

Except combat. Then, we’re talking.

UFC, Cage Rage, PrideFC, K-1, Muay Thai, WCL, Grappler’s Quest, and even boxing, then you got my attention. Of course, being a sparing partner for professional fighters of all those kinds of fighting (yes, I’ve actively done anything from Thai boxing, submission fighting, dirty boxing, wrestling, and a mix of all of them together at once—which is basically MMA) makes my interest go way up.

I’ve never harped on you, Hugo, for being a pacifist and doing boxing drills for cardio, but I’d still curious about your own personal outlook concerning your love for “the game” and still being ambivalent about it because of it’s violent edge. As I’ve said before it would be an intriguing blog discussion, plus I’m curious as to what percentage of your readership thinks about self-defense measures and anything they’ve done, loosely speaking, from a more martial arts perspective.

(And I’d love to do a friendly sparring session with Gonzo, just to see what his game face is like, haha).

Do you ever listen to Jim Rome? I’ve been a huge and reluctant fan of his for fifteen years; he does wonders for the English language. But his “jungle” atmosphere perfectly captures the hyper-masculine, anxious posturing about sports. His insistence that everyone “have a take” (a point of view expressed firmly and knowledgeably, generally accompanied by insults directed at fans of opposing teams) sets his mostly male listeners to see sportstalk itself as a competitive event.

It’s great stuff, and I love it. But it can be horrifying.