Put'em up.... Put 'em up...

[auth. Feb. 7, 2007]

I used to like watching boxing. It was another world. Now, I am solidly against it. Indeed I am now solidly opposed to boxing, hockey fights, extreme fighting and any deliberate sports activity where the human head is struck to obtain a questionable, short lived victory.

A legal consenting combat between two adults, so say defenders. The participants are willing. It is an ancient sport.

In what they say, I totally agree with. I don't disagree. Were that the only reason, I would too stand behind legalized, and did often support staged human fighting.

Why the change? Rather than those valid arguments, solid medical evidence continues to accumulate in showing the long term serious damage that concussions bring. Its all about concussions.

Each human encounters several accidental situations causing concussions. Having a sport that deliberately causes concussions as the ultimate goal of the strategy, any license must not be given. The goal of boxing is to knock out the opponent to win victory. Even winning a match on points gets a definition of technical knock out or TKO.

Suppose the sports of mixed marshal arts (MMA), professional hockey, professional wrestling and boxing, banned head strikes and scored with body shots only, I would change my mind. I used to like watching those sports. Any sport that undertakes to alter its regulations must be backed up by its fans. Its a no brainer.

For instance the sport of American style football, is now searching for answers for the multitudes of concussions that football players endure during their playing career. Mind you that research is finding that even small concussions are damaging and tend to be cumulative. The effort of the National Football League (NFL) should be commended. New helmet designs are appearing. And one must understand one thing. Concussions in football are generally all accidental.

The National Hockey League defends fighting as part of the game. Over recent decades those fights are largely staged or deliberate. Again the main feature of hockey fighting is to lay a beating on the opponents head. The rest of the hockey player is fairly well protected. There is more than enough chances for accidental concussions to occur during hockey play, but an intentional intent to give an opponent a concussion only piles the damage on.

From all the evidence then fighting must be banned in sports. In boxing a participant is disqualified if they deliberately punch opponents in the nuts. Rules can be changed in any sport to allow a measure of personal safety. The Marquis of Queensbury rules demonstrate that. These were major sports adjustments in that time. Similarly any head strikes on an opponent causes the disqualification of the person that threw the punch.

Here is the perspective. We protect the testicles with onerous prohibitions but we fail to protect the individuals brain? What gives?

Now I am not going to list the science regarding concussions. Two reasons. First unlike the tobacco smoking information, the there is nothing beneficial about getting concussed. Second the readers of this blig are intelligent people who will look up the information themselves. Further absenting the evidence from this blig should encourage that learning experience. If one studies the effects of concussions on individuals apply it on your personal view on the patterns of fighting discussed.