If you’ve never seen slap fighting, well, it’s pretty much like it sounds: two opponents stand face to face and take turns slapping each other in the face as hard as they can until someone just can’t take it any more. It’s not two drunks spontaneously going at it in a bar, these are organized, televised tournaments with sponsors and fan bases. Search YouTube for “slap fighting”, and you’ll see what it’s all about.
And now that you understand what slap fighting is, the following probably won’t surprise you one bit:
The assessments were based on the behaviors of contestants observed immediately after having received a slap:
Analyzing footage from the first season, neurologists from the University of Pittsburgh and the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System noticed several visible signs of concussion among the contestants, including blank or vacant stares, slowness in standing back up, coordination issues, vomiting, amnesia, or impact seizures.
If just one of these signs was observed and agreed upon, the team of doctors concluded that a concussion had been sustained.
It’s been many since the NFL outlawed head slaps. Rushing defensive linemen were actually allowed to slap offensive linemen in the head in an effort to get past them. The amnesia, dementia, and depression former Steelers’ center Mike Webster suffered after football has been attributed to a career’s worth of head blows received from defensive linemen. He was only 50 years old when he died.
My husband was watching Rocky this weekend, and once again, I was trying to figure out what was the “sport” in beating the crap out of each other. Surely there are better ways to determine who punches harder or faster without causing bodily harm or worse. I’ll put MMA and this slap-fighting in the same category.
I’ve watched some, too. Not very entertaining and not the scene for me. Sometimes, they wear … um, gstrings on fingers, I guess a figleaf of a glove. I’ve only seen clips of the slapping but it looks similarly dumb.
But it’s understood that closed fist strikes made with boxing or mma gloves do more damage. Fighters can hit without much fear of hand and finger damage.
I’ve been meaning to start a thread about this sport. It is the funniest, dumbest thing I’ve ever seen. It’s a martial art for people who don’t want to work too hard at it but don’t mind - or already have - CTE.
Well, you can see how the sport would have evolved from, you know, the fact people fight like that.
As brutal as it is, boxing IS a sport, one that involves a lot more than just the punching; punching hard is not remotely enough skill to win a bout. Footwork, cardiovascular conditioning, tactics and defense are all critical. I often tell people that if they want to understand a real boxing match (“Rocky” isn’t at all realistic. Great movie for other reasons though) you start by watching their FEET, not their hands.
As much as I enjoy the sport of it, though, what it does to people’s brains makes one question whether it’s moral. Football’s just as bad, maybe.
It’s a waste of words to say anything to the idiots but just for information purposes, probably the easiest way to concuss a person is to hit them in the jaw. the impact transfers to the skull and jostles everything. The inside of the skull is not smooth so the ridges can tear at the brain. Brain bleeds can easily be fatal if not treated immediately. Sometimes a person thinks (no pun intended) that they have a simple concussion when they are also experiencing a brain bleed.
I plead with all of you. Do not take injuries or impact to the head lightly. Dementia is no way to lead a life.
I recall seeing a film clip of slap fighting for the first time and thinking “This can’t be a real thing; nobody is that stupid.” Not the first time I’ve been wrong. I used to be a boxing fan long ago, but lost interest somewhere along the way.
Called “talk-and-die” syndrome, this is how Liam Neeson’s wife died. You thump your head, and you feel fine at first - at least until a little while, when the bleeding finally starts compressing your brain.
On 16 March 2009, Richardson sustained a head injury when she fell while taking a beginner skiing lesson at the Mont Tremblant Resort, about 130 kilometres (81 mi) from Montreal.[21] At first, she refused any medical help but complained of a severe headache about two hours after the accident.[22] Richardson was flown to Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, where she died two days later from an epidural hematoma.[23]
