Fighting without fighting in sports

Be it football, basketball, or any other sport which doesn’t directly require you to punch your opponent in the face, punching your opponent in the face is almost a part of the sport now.

Sports evolved from gladiatorial contests. Back when men were men and would prove their manliness by maiming each other. By their very nature, sports are a contest of manly qualities. Running faster, jumping higher, being stronger. By extension all this translates into a one-upmanship contest.

A man never backs down from a fight. He takes what is his and protects what he owns. I can’t even begin to fathom the depths to which real men use that logic to justify coming down hard on their arch enemies.

If Zidane was put in the same situation once again, would he still choose to headbutt Materazzi? Now that some years have passed, does he really think a headbutt would do more damage than snatching away a World Cup win?

Zidane headbutted Materrazi like a bull would a red flag. In football you only get two strikes, yellow ones. And one red strike if you headbutt hard enough. Is it worth it?

To me the only time it’s an appropriate response to deck someone is when they throw the first punch at you or your teammate. A response to most all things which fall of that, is playing right into the hands of the person who is taunting you. In a professional sports contest, what would hurt your opponent more? A bruise which will heal in a week or a loss which can sting for ages?

Picture yourself face to face with a wolf. A big one, teeth gnashing and saliva dripping. The wolf can talk and insults your mother. You have two choices: do the manly thing and punch the wolf in the face, or retreat up a tree and snipe it with the sniper rifle kept on top of it. The manly man would have his hand ripped clean off by Big Bad Wolf. The manlier man who recognizes that pulling back doesn’t make him smaller scores a perfect headshot with the sniper rifle.

If you have a gun stashed up on a tree, then why would you give in to the wolf’s taunts and play right into his hands? The smart thing to do is to bide your time and strike in a way to inflict the maximum damage on your opponent.

The NBA is littered with such instances. The Indiana Pacers were on the cusp of greatness. They had all the pieces around Reggie Miller. One beer can throw later, everything changed and the Malice at the Palace happened. The Phoenix Suns were in a position to knock the San Antonio Spurs out. One bench spillout later, everything changed.

In each case, a professional plying a trade for which he is paid obscene amounts of money for saw fit to turn caveman and jeopardize his team in the process. It’s one thing to stand up for yourself and your team. Its understandable to not back down when someone else throws the first punch. But to do so by compromising your availability to your team is inexcusable.

In ice hockey, fighting is an ‘established tradition’. Teams have ‘goons’ who are adept at dealing damage. There was even a movie on the theme starring titled as, well, Goon.

Look at it in the cold light of the day. What earthly gain could you get from losing control and getting yourself ejected in a game where your team needs you?

The point is to get a message across. Blake Griffin is one smart baller. He used to be non-confrontational when fouled hard. He would raise his hands and let the refs take care of it. Until he realized that the hard fouls just kept coming. Until he began to retaliate, and his teammates also started to return the hard fouls to the opponents. Sometimes you need to fight to stop the fighting.

Sportsmen get into scraps to mess with the heads of the opponent and to throw key players out of their comfort zone. If someone decks you when you drive in, you may think twice next time before driving, and may just settle for an outside jumper. Fighting is punished by ejection in most sports, so the opponents may taunt you to incite a reaction which would get you out of action. Falling for it is playing right into their hands. But there is a way to do it in a controlled manner. Fighting without fighting.

These days, funnily enough, fighting in sports is less of a Flying Kick and more of a Forehead Kiss:

Which is a good thing.