All Purpose UFC/MMA/That Kind Of Thing Thread

Re: "60 Minutes" piece on UFC/MMA

Mr Pritchard,

So touchy. Point is: Give it little or no attention--otherwise you sanction and encourage it. And that would be wrong. Period.

YHS, etc

 

Re: "60 Minutes" piece on UFC/MMA

so friend, how many boxers have died this year?

 

Re: "60 Minutes" piece on UFC/MMA

Mr Sole,

That's a winning argument. So clever. How many have died like Nelson Rockefeller? Boxing is a sport. Incontrovertible. UFC isn't. Only marginably debatable. And what Rockefeller was doing, you can make a case that it's more a sport than UFC even if it has exactly the same effect on stooge spectators.

YHS, etc

 

Re: "60 Minutes" piece on UFC/MMA

The funniest thing looking back on this thread is that those who don't like MMA can offer no better argument than "it isn't a sport because I say so," no matter how much evidence to the contrary is offered.

 

Re: "60 Minutes" piece on UFC/MMA

Nope. There are plenty of dudes in the newspaper trenches every day who love this stuff, and who love to write about it. I'm not one of them, but as someone who pimps for soccer every chance I get, I say this stuff should be covered within reason.

Event in your town, hit it hard. Like the XGames get covered in the local papers. Event out of your town, throw some facts in your boxing column.

Or online. That's where the readership is.

 

Re: "60 Minutes" piece on UFC/MMA

I don't think a lot of things are sports, but shouldn't we be covering things our readers want to read about, not just what we like?

 

Re: "60 Minutes" piece on UFC/MMA

A friend of mine asked me the other day what I thought of UFC and i said i thought it was ok.

 

Re: "60 Minutes" piece on UFC/MMA

Yes, yes I do. Especially when I see somebody who registers the day before the 60M segment runs and posts exclusively about MMA.

And, btw, we've had the UFC coverage thread more than a couple of times. I think the consensus is "We aren't going to cover the podunk wanna-be UFC fighters at the local armory, but if the AP will move some stories on UFC we'll run them. Of course, MMA runs into the same problem as boxing in that most East Coast and even Central time zone papers aren't going to hold the presses for a main event that starts at 11:30 EST."

 

Re: "60 Minutes" piece on UFC/MMA

As the one who gets to cover all the sports everybody else in the office hates (soccer, prep wrestling & auto racing) I am often faced with the same battles as when I try to explain UFC.
Examples:
It's boring. (soccer/racing)
How did you manage to write 20 inches on a 0-0 game? (soccer)
God, they just roll around on the ground and grab at each other? (wrestling)
So, all they do is drive around in circles? (racing).

But mostly, I get a lot of "that sport is dumb." The MMA equivilant being "it isn't a sport."
To those people, there is no real answer you can give them that will ever make them change their mind.

However, a couple of points ...
Does MMA/UFC need to be covered on a daily basis? No, because like college recruiting, web sites do a much better (re: consistent & in-depth) job than we could ever do. That doesn't mean if, like the national stock car circuit, there is a particularly big event in your area that you should blow it off simply because you don't like it.

Is it a sport? I'm not really sure how one can argue it isn't. [And, "nuh uh, it's not" does not constitute a valid argument].
Clearly kickboxing, judo, boxing and wrestling are. MMA isn't a whole lot different them those sports. They are the most basic, elementary athletic contest of human existence (along with running). Consider it barbaric. But it isn't any more so than two men waging a contest to see who can knock the other unconcious first using only your fists.
And I'm sorry if I hurt any feelings, but if you can really compare keg racing to MMA, then you're not making a rational argument, you're just an idiot.

And yes, we've had this argument many, many times in many, many different versions.

 

Re: "60 Minutes" piece on UFC/MMA

When in Rome. Hooray for Caligula.

 

Re: "60 Minutes" piece on UFC/MMA

Sirs, Madames,

UFC is a sport in the same way Battle of the Network Stars was sport.

It's a novelty sport. Call me when it has 40 years worth of history and is sanctioned by the IOC and clears several other aesthetic hurdles and we'll see about dropping "novelty." Right now, it has to catch up to roller hockey before it can mentioned in the same breath as boxing.

YHS, etc

 

Re: "60 Minutes" piece on UFC/MMA

The real problem is how to cover it.
Features are the easy and best way. As has been pointed out on previous threads, the big UFC events simply don't get over in time to get much, if anything, in the morning paper.
And don't blame Friendless. After all, there's high school swimming to cover. Now that's a sport!