I got rid of HBO after the final season of “The Wire,” and that’s left me desperate to see the new HBO documentary, “Thrilla in Manila.” “Thrilla” tells the story of the third and final bout between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, a war of attrition that Ali won in the narrowest sense of the [...]
Posts Tagged as ‘Combat Sports’
April 2, 2009
Pardoning Jack Johnson
Sen. John McCain wants to pardon deceased boxing icon Jack Johnson:
“We need to erase this act of racism which sent an American citizen to prison on a trumped-up charge,” McCain said, adding, “I have great confidence this president will be more than eager to sign this legislation and pardon Jack Johnson.”
The act of racism to [...]
March 17, 2009
MMA Handwringing
From a NYT Magazine piece on MMA:
The Octagon is the ring for the U.F.C. It has eight sides and is enclosed by a chain-link fence. The name “Octagon” really seems like a way to keep you from calling it what it is: a cage. In spite of this and other efforts to make Ultimate Fighting [...]
June 25, 2008
MMA, the NFL, and Cultural Double Standards
You need not look long and hard to find outrage over the recent network-television debut of Mixed Martial Arts. Indeed, Kimbo Slice’s ballyhooed fight against James Thompson was a stomach-churning affair–both for those who don’t relish the sight of blood and viscera and for those who prefer their MMA matches to have some semblance of [...]
