Boxing, Football, and Damar Hamlin

    A couple of weeks ago, I was reading a piece in the Washington Post which reported that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) may drop boxing from their schedule for the 2024 Olympics to be held in Paris, France. The IOC had threatened to do this for the 2022 Olympics, however boxing received a stay of execution at the time. Things look much bleaker this time around. Interestingly, at least for me, the reason for dropping the "sweet science" from the Olympic agenda is not what I would have thought. You see...boxing has a corruption problem. No, c'mon Peter...not boxing! Yep Sancho, boxing. Who knew??!! And the IOC has had enough. The main organization that the IOC deals with is something called the International Boxing Association (IBA)...one of the seemingly 5,000 boxing organizations that oversee the sport. The Olympic pooh-bahs have been beating boxing over the head for years telling them to clean up their act. The IBA (and all the others) keeps saying, well...nothing, I guess. And here we are. I'll let those of you who know more about this than I do ponder the irony that the IOC is taking the high road against corruption. Pot...meet...kettle!

    Now, being the dork that I am, I immediately called a couple of friends of mine to ask their opinion about this in a slightly different way. The different way was that maybe boxing should be banned due to its inherent danger to the participants. Trust me, I know that corruption is a good enough reason, but I was always a little uncomfortable with the idea that the main goal of boxing was to rattle the brain of your opponent inside his (or her) cranium, so as to induce a coma.  Don't get me wrong, while I have never done the pay-per-view thing for boxing...I admit to watching Mike Tyson, Sugar Ray Leonard, et al., whenever the fights were aired for free. And a younger version of myself enjoyed the sweet science. I'm old enough to remember Frazier, Ali, Foreman, Hagler, and Hearns. Back then a boxing champion had gravitas, and the heavyweight champion was THE MAN! And to be be honest, a lot of those fights were something to behold. And I defy any of you to name the current heavyweight champion in any of those 5,000 boxing associations!

    Anyway, I asked a couple of close friends. We'll change the names to protect the innocent! When asked this question and then listening to my speech about a civilized society and waxing ineloquently about throwing the Christians to the lions, etc., Don Staffer, while agreeing with some of my positions, noted that there are much more dangerous sports out there now (i.e., mixed-martial arts). He also reminded me that while it is no longer mandatory, the Olympic men have the option to wear headgear (headgear is still MANDATORY for the women). All valid and reasonable points. Then I turned to Chuck MacArthur and as he always does he listened patiently to the same spiel I gave Don. When I was done, his first words to me were the same words that I would have used 15, or even 10 years ago. "Pete," he said, "nobody is forcing these guys to box." Short and elegant...so Chuck!

    I'm going to be curious how this plays out. I admit to not being quite as adamant as before after talking to Donny and Chuck. Noooo, Peter. Nobody is ever going to figure out who they are...idiot! And boxing does have a passionate base. Maybe not like the old days, but it's there. Which brings us to football, a little hypocrisy on my part, and Damar Hamlin.

    Unless you live under a rock, you know that Damar Hamlin, a 24-year-old safety for the Buffalo Bills, suffered a heart attack and collapsed during a game against the Cincinnati Bengals on January 2nd. He was involved in a tackle, got up after the tackle, and then proceeded to collapse, in what was one of the scariest moments I've ever seen live involving a sporting event. He was given CPR twice on the field and taken to a local Cincinnati, Ohio hospital. The pictures of the players on the field were heart-wrenching and more than a little frightening as Hamlin was tended to. After a week of genuine fear for the young man's life, the latest reports are that he is not only conscious and communicating but doing well and seemingly on the road to recovery. It has also been reported that Hamlin had no pre-existing conditions, and one physician (who is not part of his medical team) has suggested the hit Hamlin took to the chest could be that “one-in-a-million” hit (commotio cordis) that caught Hamlin right in between heartbeats. If that's true, how's that for awful luck...

    Now for the "Peter is such a jack-ass" part of our program. Uh-oh. Because this awful happening has come on the heels of the NFL's continuing concussion fiasco, football's demonization has returned louder than ever. Much like boxing, certain segments of society have again reminded the rest of us they believe football should be hated and seen as a source of "toxic masculinity", "unnecessary health risks", and a "relic of a dying patriarchy." 

    Please, just stop. I can't tell you how many times I've read those phrases in the last 10 days. Toxic masculinity? Has anyone ever seen two women fighting in one of those MMA matches? Trust me, there's plenty of toxic femininity to go around. Unnecessary health risks? Every single day is a health risk. You drive your car, you workout at the gym, you swim in the ocean or your pool; you cut the lawn and climb a ladder to clean the gutters. With regard to sports, Hank Gathers collapsed and died on a college basketball court; Reggie Lewis of the Boston Celtics collapsed and died during practice (and for the record, both Reggie Lewis and Hank Gathers had pre-existing conditions); Dale Earnhardt slammed into a wall on a racetrack and died. And not to put too fine a point on it, but the only death on an NFL field (I know, one is too many) took place in 1971. Chuck Hughes, a 28-year-old receiver for the Detroit Lions died during a game. He suffered from blood clots. Doing some research, this wasn't treated as a national tragedy. No doubt, it was tragic for his family...but the games went on. Sports, like life, is not fair and is inherently dangerous in varying degrees. And with regard to "relic of a dying patriarchy", most of the people who use that phrase don't even know what patriarchy means. 

    And let me rant a little more. Oh, for the love of Vince Lombardi! During this past week of national concern for Mr. Hamlin, fans, commentators...everyone, it seems, was talking about the life and death aspect of football. Former players were talking about "putting our lives on the line," as well as the constant ad nauseum platitudes comparing football to war. You people can stop, as well. I know football players who played in high school and college. I never heard any of you talking about "putting our lives on the line." Football is a game; it's dangerous at times, but it's still a game. Police officers put their lives on the line. So do members of the military. Hell, those two sports I mentioned above, boxing and MMA, take more risks. So let's take it easy, please.

    Look, I'm quite sympathetic to parents who, after seeing the data on concussions, don't want their kids to play football. Maybe I wouldn't either. Give them golf lessons. I know I would. But think about this: I've been hit twice by a golf ball. It's not fun, and it smarts! Fortunately I was hit in the body both times. I'm guessing it would have been much worse if I'd been hit in the head. I've seen that up close and it's scary. There is danger in everything, but I love watching football. I cheer for Tom Brady every week to defy the greatest opponent of all...Father Time...and win one more Super Bowl. So there's my hypocrisy or rationalization...whatever you want to call it. Football players are well protected by technology and rules. It's not perfect, but if you want perfect...go watch flag football.

    So, Peter...change your mind about boxing? Well, Sancho...I'm going to give a qualified no. My good friends make compelling cases; cases I have no doubt echoed in the past. But boxing, like its off-spring MMA (which I would also like to see abolished), seeks to intentionally damage the brain...and much more. Maybe it's the trajectory of life and the fact that I'm older. And maybe I look at other contact sports and see that they wear protective gear and rules are constantly evolving, especially in football, to try to ensure safety. Or maybe I've just devolved into a cranky, "get off my lawn" kind of guy when it comes to boxing. Maybe???

    Being a history guy...we don't have certain "sporting" events any longer, whether it be the aforementioned Christians vs. lions thing, or gladiatorial games, etc. We also don't string up effigies of the Pope while filling those effigies with cats so that when the effigy burns, the screeching and dying of the cats is meant to personify Satan being purged from the Catholic Church. Bow your head when you write that last one, Peter. Oh, sorry about that, Sancho! We like to think of ourselves as so civilized and evolved. And I know that we are...most of the time.

write to Peter: magtour@icloud.com