It’s sometimes hard to believe how dumb people can be, but then you watch the news media and you realize that, well, they are.
We were treated to a beauty this past week. Seems the Canadian Pediatric Society and the American Academy of Pediatrics believe that amateur boxing, not professional boxing, but amateur boxing, is a major cause of head injuries in children and should be discouraged. They didn’t quite go so far as to say “banned,” but to them, “discouraged” seemed to be an appropriate stance.
At first, the report was simply thought to be “laughable,” by people who have worked so hard to make amateur boxing safe, enjoyable and socially important. After all, if you talk to boxers and MMA fighters who got into the gym and off the street, most will tell you: ”Boxing saved my life.”
“Knowing what we know about head injuries, I would hope that parents and the kids themselves would think long and hard about participating in a sport where blows to the head are rewarded,” Dr. Claire LeBlanc told the Canadian Press last Monday afternoon.
LeBlanc is co-author of the Pediatric physicians’ statement on boxing and one certainly understands where the good doctor is coming from — a world of rich, white, entitled people.
“The CPS and AAP are calling on pediatricians and other health professionals to strongly discourage boxing participation among their patients and guide them toward alternative sport and recreational activities that do not encourage intentional head injuries,” the report says.
“Canadian and American boxing agencies do not track injuries of participants, but the report says based on hospital reports, amateur boxers are at serious risk of face and brain injuries, including concussions.”
Huh? Are they at risk or have the hospitals been treating an inordinate number of amateur boxers? The answer is: neither.
Kent Brown (left) Coaching Team Manitoba
It is those sorts of blanket statements without any definitive proof that have driven boxing coaches – especially aboriginal and African-American boxing coaches – around the bend.
“When I heard it, I was so angry I couldn’t speak,” said Team Manitoba boxing coach Kent Brown, who is about to open a new amateur boxing gym in Winnipeg.
“These people know nothing. They don’t know how safe amateur boxing is. They don’t know that amateur boxers get better medical attention than football or hockey players. The world knows that there is a greater risk of head injury in football and hockey than there is in amateur boxing. I wish these people would do some research.
“But I also wish that the national media would have ignored a statement that is so ridiculous. Amateur boxing and the gyms that serve the sport, save the lives of young men and women at risk.
The most frightening remark that LeBlanc made, however, had nothing to do with the alleged dangers of amateur boxing.
LeBlanc and her colleagues stated: “Other sports, like tennis, basketball and swimming, can build fitness and character without requiring anyone to be struck in the head.”
You can take basketball out of the argument because getting hit in the head under the basket, fighting for rebounds, is a right of passage for any player. But swimming and tennis? Tennis?
“Tennis is a great sport but do you know how much it costs to play tennis?” said Brown. “There aren’t many kids in my neighborhood buying memberships to tennis clubs. Of course, there aren’t ANY tennis clubs in my neighborhood.”
And that’s the problem with the report. Even though hockey and football are much more dangerous sports for young people to play, boxing has been scapegoated once again by wealthy white doctors who have no idea what the sport has done for inner-city youngsters and kids at risk. Boxing has been an important part of the social fabric of Aboriginal and Asian communities in Canada and African-American and Latino communities in the United States.
“That report was laughable,” said Winnipeg-based Marc-Andre Drolet, columnist and editorial director with fightnetwork.com. “For one thing, amateur boxing – and remember, we’re talking about amateur boxing, not professional boxing — is a lot safer than football or hockey. For another thing, boxing has virtually saved the lives of at-risk, inner-city kids. These people have no idea what they’re talking about. They’re trying to blame boxing because they don’t have the guts to blame hockey or football.”
While the boxing report from otherwise very intelligent people was the dumbest thing we saw all week, there were others…
Miguel Cabrera Hits Walk-Off Winner
1) I love it when sports announcers get it so wrong you have to laugh just so you don’t cry.
Matt Vasgersian and Mitch Williams were going off about how sensational Chicago White Sox closer Sergio Santos had been since the all-star break. Williams went so far as to suggest that the Detroit Tigers would be lucky to get a sniff against him. After all, said Williams, “Nobody hits this guy. Right now, he’s the best closer in baseball.”
Of course, when Santos struck out lead off man Wilson Betemit in the ninth, his legend grew exponentially.
Funny isn’t it, how legends die so quickly on the ball field?
Austin Jackson doubled, Ryan Raburn homered and then, on the next pitch, Miguel Cabrera homered. In just two pitches from Sergio Santos, the Tigers went from a 5.5-game lead in the AL Central to a 7.5-game lead in the AL Central.
The White Sox had an 8-1 lead over Detroit and blew it. The unhittable Sergio Santos gave up three runs in the ninth to take the loss.
Meanwhile, Vasgersian and Williams are national broadcasters. They should know by now that in Major League Baseball, nobody is unhittable and when you suggest that someone is, you’ll probably get burned.
Blue suit on a blue field.
2) Let us assume that the NCAA is correct in its decision to ban the Boise State Broncos from wearing their blue uniforms on their blue football field.
Let us assume that the uniform color is too close to the field color and therefore it’s hard to see the Boise State players at home.
Let us assume that it’s a good decision.
In that case, why does the NCAA allow Oregon to wear their green uniforms on their green field? The Ducks’ dark uniforms are exactly the same color as the field on which they play.
Green suits on a green field.
One of the biggest problems facing the NCAA and all their football scandals is that the rules appear to be different for everybody. In the case of the Boise State uniform controversy (one created by the NCAA, by the way), it’s wrong to penalize Boise and let Oregon get away with it.
I’m not sure that the original decision to ban Boise’s blues on Boise’s field is a good one, but if it is, then the same rule should apply to Oregon.
B.C. Runs Over the Argos
3) It’s Sunday, two days after the B.C. Lions went into Toronto and whipped the Argos 29-16.
Toronto is now 2-7 on the season. They’ve lost to a team that was 2-6 — in their own building, no less — and only 19,593 people bought tickets (they might have purchased tickets but they weren’t in the building) to watch it.
Barker, the team’s head coach, has already scapegoated his defensive co-ordinator, Chip Garber, and replaced him with Orlondo Steinauer, who was a great player, but is obviously not much of a defensive coordinator. It’s a mess and it’s pretty obvious that Barker has to go (yeah, just nine games after he was named coach of the year for 2010).
The Argos are awful at a time when the CFL needs a good team in Toronto. Sadly, the only thing the Argos are doing is making people in Ontario pine for an NFL team of the their own. That’s not good.
(We’ll be back later to talk Bombers-Riders)