ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, November 13, 1996 TAG: 9611130051
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-12 EDITION: METRO
ANYONE WHO'S got a problem with "extreme fighting" is asking for it.
Western civilization as we know it didn't end just because this sport has come to the Old Dominion. Heck, Western civilization itself has seen a lot of extreme fighting through the centuries.
Lawmakers and boxing commissioners in other states who have pushed to ban the sport are probably faint-hearted wussies. After all, at a match held recently in Prince William County, none of the contenders bit off an opponent's ear or gouged out a single eye, and look at all that came from the event:
*Male bonding. Fathers and sons, uncles and nephews, side by side and cheering for each punch, kick, crunch, thud, swack, choke hold.
*Easy money. Contestants going fist, tooth and nail for a share of $20,000 in prize money - enough possibly to pay for a few stitches in a hospital emergency room plus a raw beef steak. And, don't forget, a tidy profit for the sponsors from spectator tickets that went for up to $60.
*Real blood: None of the phony oofs and achhs of professional wrestling or rules of boxing. This sport's appeal is its no-holds-barred, head-cracking, bloodshedding potential - like Mortal Kombat, the video game that allows players to rip their opponents' hearts out, and which, incidentally, helped popularize extreme fighting matches.
Indeed, why be satisfied with a cockfight or dog fight, much less a video game, when you can watch real men go at it? We can't imagine why parents in Arlington objected when the sponsor of Price Williams' Fearless Fighting Challenge wanted to stage the event at an Arlington middle school.
What's the big deal if it promotes ultraviolence, especially to children? Anybody who has a problem with that must be a spoilsport
LENGTH: Short : 38 linesby CNB