The MMA Athlete’s Foot in Mouth Disease
Jake Rossen Jul 8, 2010
It’s not worth repeating, but a quick Internet search will get you
a highly sketchy fight prediction from Josh Barnett
for his upcoming, utterly worthless bout against Geronimo
dos Santos in Australia. (Don’t worry: I’ve never heard of him,
either.)
Barnett is not a dumb guy, but his investment into the swagger and theatrics of pro wrestling is as processed and sterile as a Twinkie. The suggestion that he’ll give an unsolicited proctology exam to dos Santos is not offensive so much as boring to hear. Speaking as someone who will not be embarrassed to be first in line for “Jackass 3-D,” that kind of method for hyping fights is composed entirely of bile.
Barnett isn’t alone. Either because of the advent of social networking -- where personalities can send messages out to the world without stopping to audit themselves -- or because they feel that having a chip on their shoulder sells, there’s been a steady supply of regrettable talk. Marcus Davis skipped the HIV preamble and wished full-blown AIDS on Dan Hardy in a Twitter message; Frank Mir seemed to be publicly plotting the homicide of Brock Lesnar in meticulous detail; Ken Shamrock suggested steroids be legalized and accused fans of coercing athletes into using. (He later said his comments were taken out of context. He was also popped for steroids in 2009. Choose your own take on that one.)
I don’t subscribe to the idea that MMA is as all-American and carries as much gee-whiz integrity as other sports institutions. The goal is to beat someone up, and that attracts a very particular kind of personality. (Even if a fighter doesn’t start out unhinged, a few hundred shots to the brain tend to skew your perspective.) But being a public personality in a sanctioned activity does carry a minimum expectation that you won’t become that much of an eye or ear-sore on society. Like it or not, an increasing number of young adults are becoming infatuated with fighters and fighting. If their culture is shaped by athletes either committing felonies or threatening them, we’re really flirting with a generation that isn’t going to be a party to live with.
Barnett is not a dumb guy, but his investment into the swagger and theatrics of pro wrestling is as processed and sterile as a Twinkie. The suggestion that he’ll give an unsolicited proctology exam to dos Santos is not offensive so much as boring to hear. Speaking as someone who will not be embarrassed to be first in line for “Jackass 3-D,” that kind of method for hyping fights is composed entirely of bile.
Barnett isn’t alone. Either because of the advent of social networking -- where personalities can send messages out to the world without stopping to audit themselves -- or because they feel that having a chip on their shoulder sells, there’s been a steady supply of regrettable talk. Marcus Davis skipped the HIV preamble and wished full-blown AIDS on Dan Hardy in a Twitter message; Frank Mir seemed to be publicly plotting the homicide of Brock Lesnar in meticulous detail; Ken Shamrock suggested steroids be legalized and accused fans of coercing athletes into using. (He later said his comments were taken out of context. He was also popped for steroids in 2009. Choose your own take on that one.)
I don’t subscribe to the idea that MMA is as all-American and carries as much gee-whiz integrity as other sports institutions. The goal is to beat someone up, and that attracts a very particular kind of personality. (Even if a fighter doesn’t start out unhinged, a few hundred shots to the brain tend to skew your perspective.) But being a public personality in a sanctioned activity does carry a minimum expectation that you won’t become that much of an eye or ear-sore on society. Like it or not, an increasing number of young adults are becoming infatuated with fighters and fighting. If their culture is shaped by athletes either committing felonies or threatening them, we’re really flirting with a generation that isn’t going to be a party to live with.
