Unsportsmanlike Conduct

At last! As a boxing fan, I've endured all these years the reaction of people, most of whom don't like boxing but prefer football. "Boxing's too violent," has been their usual reply. "Look at all those punch-drunk ex-fighters," they say.

I would reply, "What's not violent and what's fair and balanced about a guy running down a field with a football in his hands, then suddenly being hit head-on or from a blind side, then tackled, crushed, and ground up by two, three, five giant opponents? In the boxing ring, at least it's one-on-one with your opponent never leaving your defensive sight. I myself played both sports in my youth---though not very well---and I would prefer the ring any day."

"Ahh, those football players are having fun doing that," my pro-football friends would answer.

And now we have reports unfolding about the serious, multiple, or undetected brain concussions which have been and are still being suffered by football players---a larger number than previously known---not only pro and college players but also high-school and even peewee players. For decades orthopedic-physician groups have complained about the unreasonableness of teenage and pre-teen boys having their growing bones broken in football games. Add brain injuries to the list of temporary or permanent medical consequences.

"Okay, then," I currently reply to anti-boxingites, "in light of the brain concussions (resulting in dementia, tremors, etc) in football, we now can speak of "pigskin-drunk ex-footballers" as frequently as "punch-drunk ex-boxers. If those helmets aren't doing football players much good, we might as well give them to boxers to wear in the ring."

But not to worry---I'll be there in front of my tv this Sunday with beer and popcorn in hand, enjoying the gladiator spectacle of colts stomping upon their opponents, and sending them as saints to heaven. I just hope to see a couple of heads---not merely helmets---go flying off on the field before the game concludes.