This game is simple: reply with a comment. Your comment may include a response to the previous comment, but it must end with a jumping-off point for another comment. You may ignore the previous post's provocation and respond to one before it, or, you may add choose just to add your own and skip replying altogether. Any kind of question, claim, expression, and so on, is acceptable. You may post more than once, even in a row, but no one must end the chain until we have no more replies. Nothing is too stupid or too controversial; the idea is that only those ideas of interest to people will be picked up on.
Starting with an easy one: favourite breakfast food?
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OKC's Sam Presti is an overrated draft savant
2 months ago
12 comments:
First word that comes to mind is Beacon. But that's wrong. When it is perfectly cooked it comes close, and Bernice has given me a few true contenders, but it's not enough. There are a few things that are indeed better. 1) McDonalds hash Browns 2) Strawberry crapes 3) a REALLY good fruit salad. But these are hard to come by, because fruit like apples and watermelon are cheap, and pineapple is expensive
On another note, what’s the deal with the UFC raging in popularity, while boxing, once considered the king of all sports, is now flying almost completely below the radar?
(I think this was what I was supposed to do?)
i DO make really good bacon. i'm a sausage mcmuffin man myself, but i gotta kneel before a great eggs benedict. hollandaise might be comparable to sex, and lord knows i am the same way after i've had either of them.
the boxing/ufc discussion is a much more complex and ostensibly much less sexual topic. (and yes, i'm using it correctly. i looked it up to be sure).
Long ago, boxing was not only the king of all sports, but it was a "refined" sport for a tremendously large range of fan, from the cigar smoking millionaires in the folding chairs to the screaming rubes in the bleachers. those without money liked to feel the energy, pageantry, and prestige of the sport, and those with money liked to feel that they provided it. if you were in a boxing arena, you were somebody, just for being there.
You could argue that this pageantry is now dead in sports, but the popularity of "one-offs" like the indy 500 and the kentucky derby prove that wrong. the history of those events make them the only one in their sport that people watch, and they do in droves.
More likely to be the reason is the death of the classic culture of boxing, wherein the sport was essentially a bunch of really rich guys discovering fighters and facing them off against the fighters of other really rich guys, to see which rich guys won. Now, the fighters are also the multi-millionaire promoters, and the culture, and heirarchy of the boxing establishment is largely gone. (See Mayweather, Floyd, and De La Hoya, Oscar). Long ago, fighters were the extension of promoters and agents, and they were expected to put their personalities behind those of their ridiculous bosses (see King, Don).
Then, a 18-year old wizard of the gloves named Cassius Clay came along and won himself a gold medal at the 1960 olympics. he, who as we know later became Muhummad Ali, had the personality that transcended his sport, and made himself and boxing both extremely popular. He was the star that first transcended his establishment. the "great fighter, great kid" that every boxer is at some point no longer got that description from an old jewish guy in a smelly gym with a cigar, but from extremely popular journalists like Howard Cosell and Al Michaels.
After Ali retired we had Joe Frazier (Whom Ali poetically described as a "gorilla" before their fight which King called "The Thrilla in Manila". Not only did boxing have stars, it had stars who could rhyme), We had future grill magnate, brake salesman, and creative child-namer George Foreman, and then some rage-aholic kid from the projects named Tyson and a Mexican-American self-proclaimed demi-god Oscar De la Hoya. But, after they ended their careers (or in De la Hoyas case, their competitive relevancy), the sport lacked the personalities which, thanks to Cassius Clay all those years ago, came to define it. I mean, we all know how a fringe sport that's rocketed to popularity by a specific athlete survives without a star, right? (see Woods, Tiger).
The rise of UFC is a little easier to explain.
1. It's extremely violent. people like violence. there's blood and sweat, and they both come very quickly. the average boxing match is 7-12 rounds, the average UFC match is like two or something.
2. its grown men, in nothing but speedos or short-shorts, homoerotically grappling and smothering each other, like the ancient olympics. there's probably some sort of repressed sexuality here, like the NFL draft combine.
3. it's deliciously trashy. i don't particularly like the sport, but reading about guys named "tito" and "brock" and "kimbo slice" and their pornstar wives/girlfriends is similar to watching Maury or Jerry Springer. i think people might start to get into it for the novelty and stick around for the violence/gayness.
I ran out of Space. To continue:
Like Judge Judy and Jerry Springer before her, UFC is in its heydey of enthralling America with its trash factor. that shouldn't last too long, they didn't.
Well, enough about that.
"Octomom" is set to be added to the dictionary, in the last 5 before the english language officially reaches 1 million words. What's your favourite Word?
Hey now, Bernice. UFC deserves more credit than you're giving it.
Technically, the sport is much more refined than boxing. It's MIXED martial arts - one must master not only boxing, but also wrestling, judo, jiu-jitsu, etc.
A typical UFC match lasts, at the most, three rounds. A championship bout is five. Like in boxing, sometimes there are knock outs. Unlike in boxing, it's much more likely that a fighter will lose because of submission than being knocked out, though TKOs and KOs exist. A fight might end because a fighter is "unable or unwilling to intelligently defend" themselves, but rarely is an opponent rendered unconscious.
Kimbo Slice is a poor example. He's a tough SOB, but he would get destroyed in a UFC match. He's a street fighter, not a mixed-martial artist. He's fought in a few pseudo-MMA matches for CBS. In his first few fights, his opponents were set up to lose. When he finally fought a skilled (but still not UFC quality) opponent (side note: Slice's opponent owned a gym. The gym was sponsored by the very restaurant I'm in RIGHT NOW), he lost by TKO in 14 seconds. Slice represents the MMA culture you purport to exist; UFC is far above that.
UFC requires far more skill and far more fitness than boxing. UFC 1 might have been the bloodsport you envision, but UFC's come a long way since then. There are more permutations of matches; what happens when you face a wrestler against a boxer? A judo expert against a jiu-jitsu master? A former Montreal bouncer against... anyone? (Hint: He wins!) UFC is far, far more exciting than watching a couple of guys dodge and weave for half an hour. The matches are more fast paced, I'll agree. I *think* the difference lies in the experience: You watch a boxing match for the experience. You feel like a part of something, you have the chance to spend some time with your friends, the chance to experience the same thing as a millionaire-or-what-have-you.
You watch a UFC fight to see the fight. And the experience ain't half bad either. THAT's why UFC trumps boxing, IMO.
Octomom? Hell, Octomom's going to have her own reality show.
Favourite word...
Jeeze, that's tough. Christian Bok would have me believe that Eunoia (shortest English word to contain all of the vowels) is a decent contender, but I'm not a big fan.
Shuttle bus, maybe. Whisper it three times or summat, it's a pretty good phrase.
Shuttle bus shuttle bus shuttle bus.
I'll have to get back to you.
Rumour has it that in an upcoming edition, Archie finally chooses between his two sweethearts. That's right, Archie's getting married. Who should it be? Betty or Veronica?
1) Even stipulating that UFC is violent, homoerotic trash culture, remember that some violent, homoerotic trash culture lasts a fuckin' long time. Like the Olympics, B.
The key is to understand whether a phenomenon is "high trash" or "low trash" entertainment--in other words, does it appeal to our basest, most despicable instincts in a transient, faddish way, or in a compelling and lasting way? Blood sports in the ancient world were high trash: in my view, they persist to this day in both boxing and UFC. Dogfighting persists. Degrading pornography persists. Maury Povich is on the air at least through 2010. Hmm.
2) There was a time when my favourite word was "drily," that is, the British spelling of "dryly," which is a word I like anyway. But I've always had a soft spot for "bookkeeper," because it has three consecutive pairs of double letters. And "unicyclists" is the longest word I've ever thought of with no letters with enclosed spaces.
3) What the hell, Archie.
B, you'll love this. The girls have their own blogs.
From Betty's blog: I just heard Archie is getting married. He had better be asking me!
Xoxoxoxo
BetsAnd then: I am so sad, I don't even know what to say.
Xoxoxoxo
BetsArchie is 68 years old, but I feel like this decision comes too soon.
What was he thinking? And by "he," I obviously mean "they."
Whom would you have chosen?
Betty, obvi.
yeah totally.
betty was way hotter, nicer, and cooler. all veronica had going for her was money and that her dad was a straight G.
back to boxing: you're totally right about the skills and fighting intrigue. you're totally right. when i watch a UFC fight, my reaction is almost ALWAYS "holy fucking shit. these guys/this is nuts"
but fitness, i disagree. find me any pro boxer with more than 12% body fat and i'll fight him. and butterbean doesnt count. (keep in mind about 20 is an acceptable percentage, anything under 17 is considered "high level of fitness")
these guys can dance around and get hit in the face by other guys with 10% body fat for half an hour at a time, and not die. its insane. granted, watching ken shamrock beat the living hell out of somebody is similarly terrifying to think about.
maybe we'll call that one a draw, but i wont concede that MMA fighters are in better shape than boxers.
speaking of boxers,
Boxers or briefs? or in my case, boxer briefs?
Brevity is the soul of wit, after all. And boxers bunch when I put on my pants, which I loathe.
George Jonas came out against abortion in this morning's NP "not as a man... but as an ex-fetus." Your thoughts? Deal or no deal?
Mr. Jonas might be an expat, and even an ex-fetus - but he's not an ex-woman, as far as I know. Not his choice.
Boxers.
For lack of a better question: Stones or Beatles?
This one is a no-brainer.
I'm going to try and stay away from saying things I can't take back, because I know for a fact there are a few stones fans in our croud, but ask me this after a few beer and I might be handing out knuckle sammies.
Fact 1: Both of these bands changed music.
Fact 2: only one of these band REALLY changed music. I mean, really did something new. shit - Brian Wilson cried himself to sleep for a decade because he couldn't write anything as good as Paul. and that mans a fucking genius.
The Rolling Stones started their career playing songs writen by the Beatles. And held on to a large portion of their fans only by upholding their sexy bad-ass persona.
I'm not trying to say the stones weren't great, because they were, so don't get me wrong. but the Beatles were something unbelievable.
I'll stop there because I know you've all probably heard it before. But I would love to have a civilized conversation someday with anyone who believes I'm wrong. Hey, maybe I missed something in Mick and the boys. We can finish it off a few beer(s) on me, followed by the sammies just for kicks.
On a similar subject, with evidence (songs, lyrics, quotes etc.), Paul or John?
fudge I hate publishing things with a bazillion spelling mistakes and words missing like fudging Swiss cheese sentences (fondue?). clearly the solution is proof read before I post, but I just get too darned excited sometimes.
Is it better to delete the old, rewrite the post, and publish again with fewer mistakes (I wont say none because you probably already read my post about beacon for breakfast), leaving an empty deleted post in the process? Or just let you guys and gals figure out what I'm trying to say?
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