I am a fan of competition. In fact, I am so into the idea of winners and losers that I recently spent an entire night picking out candidates from the Miss USA Pageant along with a group of friends. We each got our own pick and hoped she would win.
Now this sad little parable was not just to make you think that I have no life (I don't) or that I watch too much television (I do). It was to point out that I am always excited for real, fierce competition.
And this weekend's Friday Night at the Fights is exactly the type of thing that excites me.
I have long believed that boxing, more than any other sport, is the epitome of a warrior's battle. Team sports allow people to lean on each other, or play to other people's weaknesses. That builds neat things like teamwork and such but doesn't always bring out the fiercest level of competition in the individual.
Boxing is different. There are two men or women in the ring with the knowledge that they have only one real agenda: to beat the person across from them. That is true competition. There is no, Well
I had a sprained ankle that game so I just passed the ball a lot. This concept does not exist. The boxer receives no chance to take the pressure off of himself, no way to escape the fire.
The only other sport that has even a comparable competition level is wrestling. But wrestling lacks the one other thing that gives me such sexy tingles about Friday Night at the Fights - the drama.
Like a WWE Wrestle Mania, the fights have a flair for the dramatic. Last year I was part of a standing ovation for the final fight, when Ohio's Zach Graham took on some punk from Miami University (and, yes, I am allowed to call him a punk without any real knowledge of his moral character because Miami is our rival. That is how rivalries are built). That was true excitement.
Though the event was at a smaller venue last year - Athens High - Graham's victory sent a universal chill down the spines of every student there. When was the last time you had that feeling about an Ohio versus Miami match-up?
The college rivalry is not the only made for reality television drama that will happen Friday night, as some of the boxers will be newly trained volunteers, people who want to get beat up just because it is their American right! That's beautiful.
And if that is not enough, there is also a repeat of last year's police officer versus fireman match. Is there a hotter rivalry in sports than the question of which one of these people you would rather trust to box their way in and save your life? The answer is no, and the winner can uppercut his way to my rescue anytime.
So if you're a fan of competition, or of boxing, or hell, if you just like it when people punch each other in the head, then I will see you Friday night.
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Mike Cottrill
