The Tricks

[Howlin Mad Missy]

How does Bernard stretch the rules? Let me count the ways!

-A thumb in the eye
-Kidney shots when the ref's view is blocked
-Low blows not hard enough to cause a stoppage, but hard enough to, ahem, get one's attention
-Grinding one's chin into the shoulder of the foe during clinches
-Holding onto clinches with the arm opposite the ref to burn some clock
-Using the top of the head as a ram
-Spinning the foe and hitting him from behind

The guy is a frakkin genius!

or a dirty cheating bastard...

It's an inconsistency in my thinking. I am generally an obey the rules guy. But I think in the most brutal of sports, boxing, football (the one where people don't pretend to have no arms) there is such a thing as gamesmanship that recongizes the primitive kind of competition we are seeing.

it's illegal AND intentional = cheating

Yeah I get that...and like I said, in boxing and football? On the field and in the ring I'm ok with it.

I'm not otherwise why bother with rules in the first place.

[marbleheadmaui]

How does Bernard stretch the rules? Let me count the ways!

-A thumb in the eye
-Kidney shots when the ref's view is blocked
-Low blows not hard enough to cause a stoppage, but hard enough to, ahem, get one's attention
-Grinding one's chin into the shoulder of the foe during clinches
-Holding onto clinches with the arm opposite the ref to burn some clock
-Using the top of the head as a ram
-Spinning the foe and hitting him from behind

The guy is a frakkin genius!

or a dirty cheating bastard...

It's an inconsistency in my thinking. I am generally an obey the rules guy. But I think in the most brutal of sports, boxing, football (the one where people don't pretend to have no arms) there is such a thing as gamesmanship that recongizes the primitive kind of competition we are seeing.

it's illegal AND intentional = cheating

Yeah I get that...and like I said, in boxing and football? On the field and in the ring I'm ok with it.

I'm not otherwise why bother with rules in the first place.

To prevent egregious actions and to organize the sport. I understand where you are coming from and 99.9% of the time I'd agree. But I like how, at the top of the sport, toughness is emphasized.

[Spicoli]

I think there has to be a serious distinction between flagrant fouls and getting bogged down in by the book bureaucracy. Fine line I know and easy enough to say from the sidelines but can you sit back and envision a match in which every single technicality and incident is enforced by the referee. We'd have a stable of Joe Cortez's as refs and they would need top billing with the actual guys we pay to see, the fighters. Not to mention a record number of dq's on the books for holding. Some guys fight out and some look to refs.

Something is to be said about letting guys work it out themselves and rubbing some dirt in it so to speak. Less we let it turn into a game of checkers.

[Howlin Mad Missy]

fact is plenty of fighters don't do it so no real excuse for it.