6 ms·

Fight

146 points by wallflower 11y ago

gwintrob 11y ago
Looks like a beautiful article. Saved to Pocket. It would be pretty cool if NYTimes changed their app to better support this long-form content or maybe let you save articles to Kindle.
luso_brazilian 11y ago
A beautiful read. A barely related event is the fighter that chose to tap out (signaling that he gave up) instead of knocking out his clearly inferior opponent (and risk injuring him or causing permanent damage). The commentary along with the video can be seen here [1] and it's refreshing to see that people still have empathy and care about others. [1] http://www.mmafighting.com/2014/5/21/5736360/morning-report-ufc-fighter-taps-out-dana-white-faber-ludwig-cormier-henderson-renzo-gracie-mma-news http://www.mmafighting.com/2014/5/21/5736360/morning-report-...
ars 11y ago
Very short summary: One of the fighters died. This is an emotional/touching story so read it for that if you like that. If all you care about is the bare facts, then that's the summary. Personally I just skimmed it picking up random sentences here and there.
- paulpauper 11y ago
  As violent as boxing is, it's very rare for fighters to die. Same for Football. Mountain climbing, rock climbing, downhill skiing and snowboarding are more dangerous, but the dangers get much less media attention than the attention over football concussions.
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
  - nikanj 11y ago
    Killed by gravity versus killed by the other players, makes it much less a human story.
  - Ericson2314 11y ago
    Hmm, the lifetime expectancy for football players is surely lower than those others? Football doesn't need to kill you outright to harm you the most.
  - nostrebored 11y ago
    And they're also activities with significantly lower amounts of brain damage. Ignoring the fact that you're watching poor, likely minority kids give each other brain damage isn't part of watching a snowboarding competition.
  - dsharlet 11y ago
    There's no way that those other sports are more dangerous than boxing. That's ludicrous. About 5-10 people die per year from boxing [1], while about 1 in 1.06 million people die per day of skiing [2]. That same source estimates that 1 in 1.2 million boxers die per minute in the ring. 1. http://ejmas.com/jcs/jcsart_svinth_a_0700.htm http://ejmas.com/jcs/jcsart_svinth_a_0700.htm 2. https://www.nsaa.org/media/68045/NSAA-Facts-About-Skiing-Snowboarding-Safety-10-1-12.pdf https://www.nsaa.org/media/68045/NSAA-Facts-About-Skiing-Sno...
    - CydeWeys 11y ago
      I've been downhill skiing most of my life and in all that time on the slopes I've never once sustained an injury as severe as getting punched in the face. You could very easily get hurt more in a minute of boxing than in a lifetime of skiing. It seems crazy to me too to state that the former is less dangerous than the latter. The statistics bear it out, too.
      - ggreer 11y ago
        > I've been downhill skiing most of my life and in all that time on the slopes I've never once sustained an injury as severe as getting punched in the face. I think you're right about injury rates of skiing vs boxing, but I don't find your anecdote convincing. One could just as easily say, "I've been free-solo rock climbing for a decade and I've never gotten more than a blister." Different sports have different distributions of injuries. In some, you're perfectly fine until you're dead. In others, you slowly accumulate damage. Because of this, it's better to ignore anecdotes (even ones involving lifetime experience) and look at stats.
    - fdanconia 11y ago
      I've read that bare knucke boxing has lower death rates compared to traditional boxing due to the addition of gloves. FORCE = MASS X ACCELERATION. The extra mass is something the skull and brain cannot take. Also, the protection of the weapon (hands) assures fights go on linger than in bare knucke boxing. There is conflicting evidence however.
pizza 11y ago
As someone with a concussion right now, it fucking sucks. Nausea, headaches, difficulty 'connecting-the-dots' with thoughts. I tried stepping outside today to fetch something I left in the car yesterday, and it was like turning on the lights to go to the bathroom after waking up in the middle of the night. Forget doing homework or reading those Greg Egan books I just got.. 1 month down, (hopefully only) 2 more to go before post-concussion syndrome goes away..
- wlievens 11y ago
  Egan doesn't sound like the stuff you want to read when your brain is not in a great shape :)
  - pizza 11y ago
    Not gonna lie, I made it through the first chapter of Schild's ladder - slowly, but at least I tried. Then I tried reading the second chapter, and that's when I realized I should just save it for when I'll better appreciate/remember it..
  - PhasmaFelis 11y ago
    I read the first two Orthogonal books, and while I loved the alien biology and culture, the physics were probably the first sci-fi in more than 20 years that I just completely could not understand.
- jacquesm 11y ago
  If you're using your computer while you have a concussion try switching to 'white-on-black'. No guarantees but it definitely helped me when I was in that situation.
padobson 11y ago
Youngstown was a pugnacious steel city of 167,000 when Loew was born, with boxing clubs anchored in many neighborhoods. [...] A half-century later, Youngstown is down to a population of 65,000, a hemorrhaging of 100,000 people caused by steel-plant closings, a failure to diversify and the absence, so far, of a sustainable second act. This is a fairly common story in the fighting world. The strength it takes to literally get punched in the face and keep moving forward is built as much by life circumstance as training. I live in Warren, OH, about 10 minutes from Taylor's home. I moved back here after I graduated in college in 2008. While building my career as a developer, I spent time working in a call center and breaking down cardboard on an assembly line at a local automotive plant. In those places, the lack of hope is thick in the air. Attitudes are negative, humor is sarcastic and caustic, and dreams are sparse. Just about every business around here has it. Poor service is expected and understandable, frustration is inevitable, and poverty is cyclical. It's a common story in the rust belt. Hopes and dreams are one of Warren's biggest exports - college graduates who never return, pro athletes who don't look back, and successful entrepreneurs who struggle to find markets and skilled labor in the city limits to re-invest their fortunes. Instead they make donations. Their new businesses are built elsewhere. You'll count as many missions and soup kitchens downtown as you will shops and restaurants. Hamzah Aljahmi and Anthony Taylor are both tragic figures. Aljahmi was killed pursuing his dream, while Taylor's dreams, undeterred by his physical deficits and crushing poverty, are now forever tainted. Like so many other would-be dreamers in Warren, he'll have to fight off the encroaching bitterness or risk being consumed by it. If that happens, his best scenario is a few acidy laughs on an assembly line. If he overcomes this tragedy, his best case scenario is escape to a fighting life in Las Vegas. I'll be rooting for him. I hope to watch him on pay-per-view someday. In the meantime, I'll be here, programming remotely, spending my spare cycles daydreaming about solutions to the despair of our common hometown.
- somberi 11y ago
  From Bruce Springsteen's "Youngstown" - Seven hundred tons of metal a day Now sir you tell me the world's changed Once I made you rich enough Rich enough to forget my name (1)http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/brucespringsteen/youngstown.html http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/brucespringsteen/youngstown.h...
- 11y ago

146 points by wallflower 11y ago

Looks like a beautiful article. Saved to Pocket. It would be pretty cool if NYTimes changed their app to better support this long-form content or maybe let you save articles to Kindle.

luso_brazilian 11y ago

A beautiful read. A barely related event is the fighter that chose to tap out (signaling that he gave up) instead of knocking out his clearly inferior opponent (and risk injuring him or causing permanent damage). The commentary along with the video can be seen here [1] and it's refreshing to see that people still have empathy and care about others. [1] http://www.mmafighting.com/2014/5/21/5736360/morning-report-ufc-fighter-taps-out-dana-white-faber-ludwig-cormier-henderson-renzo-gracie-mma-news http://www.mmafighting.com/2014/5/21/5736360/morning-report-...

ars 11y ago

Very short summary: One of the fighters died. This is an emotional/touching story so read it for that if you like that. If all you care about is the bare facts, then that's the summary. Personally I just skimmed it picking up random sentences here and there.

paulpauper 11y ago
As violent as boxing is, it's very rare for fighters to die. Same for Football. Mountain climbing, rock climbing, downhill skiing and snowboarding are more dangerous, but the dangers get much less media attention than the attention over football concussions.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- nikanj 11y ago
  Killed by gravity versus killed by the other players, makes it much less a human story.
- Ericson2314 11y ago
  Hmm, the lifetime expectancy for football players is surely lower than those others? Football doesn't need to kill you outright to harm you the most.
- nostrebored 11y ago
  And they're also activities with significantly lower amounts of brain damage. Ignoring the fact that you're watching poor, likely minority kids give each other brain damage isn't part of watching a snowboarding competition.
- dsharlet 11y ago
  There's no way that those other sports are more dangerous than boxing. That's ludicrous. About 5-10 people die per year from boxing [1], while about 1 in 1.06 million people die per day of skiing [2]. That same source estimates that 1 in 1.2 million boxers die per minute in the ring. 1. http://ejmas.com/jcs/jcsart_svinth_a_0700.htm http://ejmas.com/jcs/jcsart_svinth_a_0700.htm 2. https://www.nsaa.org/media/68045/NSAA-Facts-About-Skiing-Snowboarding-Safety-10-1-12.pdf https://www.nsaa.org/media/68045/NSAA-Facts-About-Skiing-Sno...
  - CydeWeys 11y ago
    I've been downhill skiing most of my life and in all that time on the slopes I've never once sustained an injury as severe as getting punched in the face. You could very easily get hurt more in a minute of boxing than in a lifetime of skiing. It seems crazy to me too to state that the former is less dangerous than the latter. The statistics bear it out, too.
    - ggreer 11y ago
      > I've been downhill skiing most of my life and in all that time on the slopes I've never once sustained an injury as severe as getting punched in the face. I think you're right about injury rates of skiing vs boxing, but I don't find your anecdote convincing. One could just as easily say, "I've been free-solo rock climbing for a decade and I've never gotten more than a blister." Different sports have different distributions of injuries. In some, you're perfectly fine until you're dead. In others, you slowly accumulate damage. Because of this, it's better to ignore anecdotes (even ones involving lifetime experience) and look at stats.
  - fdanconia 11y ago
    I've read that bare knucke boxing has lower death rates compared to traditional boxing due to the addition of gloves. FORCE = MASS X ACCELERATION. The extra mass is something the skull and brain cannot take. Also, the protection of the weapon (hands) assures fights go on linger than in bare knucke boxing. There is conflicting evidence however.

pizza 11y ago

As someone with a concussion right now, it fucking sucks. Nausea, headaches, difficulty 'connecting-the-dots' with thoughts. I tried stepping outside today to fetch something I left in the car yesterday, and it was like turning on the lights to go to the bathroom after waking up in the middle of the night. Forget doing homework or reading those Greg Egan books I just got.. 1 month down, (hopefully only) 2 more to go before post-concussion syndrome goes away..

wlievens 11y ago
Egan doesn't sound like the stuff you want to read when your brain is not in a great shape :)
- pizza 11y ago
  Not gonna lie, I made it through the first chapter of Schild's ladder - slowly, but at least I tried. Then I tried reading the second chapter, and that's when I realized I should just save it for when I'll better appreciate/remember it..
- PhasmaFelis 11y ago
  I read the first two Orthogonal books, and while I loved the alien biology and culture, the physics were probably the first sci-fi in more than 20 years that I just completely could not understand.
jacquesm 11y ago
If you're using your computer while you have a concussion try switching to 'white-on-black'. No guarantees but it definitely helped me when I was in that situation.

padobson 11y ago

Youngstown was a pugnacious steel city of 167,000 when Loew was born, with boxing clubs anchored in many neighborhoods. [...] A half-century later, Youngstown is down to a population of 65,000, a hemorrhaging of 100,000 people caused by steel-plant closings, a failure to diversify and the absence, so far, of a sustainable second act. This is a fairly common story in the fighting world. The strength it takes to literally get punched in the face and keep moving forward is built as much by life circumstance as training. I live in Warren, OH, about 10 minutes from Taylor's home. I moved back here after I graduated in college in 2008. While building my career as a developer, I spent time working in a call center and breaking down cardboard on an assembly line at a local automotive plant. In those places, the lack of hope is thick in the air. Attitudes are negative, humor is sarcastic and caustic, and dreams are sparse. Just about every business around here has it. Poor service is expected and understandable, frustration is inevitable, and poverty is cyclical. It's a common story in the rust belt. Hopes and dreams are one of Warren's biggest exports - college graduates who never return, pro athletes who don't look back, and successful entrepreneurs who struggle to find markets and skilled labor in the city limits to re-invest their fortunes. Instead they make donations. Their new businesses are built elsewhere. You'll count as many missions and soup kitchens downtown as you will shops and restaurants. Hamzah Aljahmi and Anthony Taylor are both tragic figures. Aljahmi was killed pursuing his dream, while Taylor's dreams, undeterred by his physical deficits and crushing poverty, are now forever tainted. Like so many other would-be dreamers in Warren, he'll have to fight off the encroaching bitterness or risk being consumed by it. If that happens, his best scenario is a few acidy laughs on an assembly line. If he overcomes this tragedy, his best case scenario is escape to a fighting life in Las Vegas. I'll be rooting for him. I hope to watch him on pay-per-view someday. In the meantime, I'll be here, programming remotely, spending my spare cycles daydreaming about solutions to the despair of our common hometown.

somberi 11y ago
From Bruce Springsteen's "Youngstown" - Seven hundred tons of metal a day Now sir you tell me the world's changed Once I made you rich enough Rich enough to forget my name (1)http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/brucespringsteen/youngstown.html http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/brucespringsteen/youngstown.h...
11y ago