Don’t just do something, stand there!
Seems we were supposed to take full notice, but say nothing. Or maybe even cheer.
Unconquerable Ultimate Fighting Championship superstar Ronda Rousey last week was kicked flush in the head then hit the floor unconscious. Her opponent, Holly Holm, was then obligated as matter of making certain — rules are rules — to jump on her and strike her with hard-as-she-could punches until ref Herb Dean pulled her off, match over.
And I’m told Dean is known as one of the more safety cautious refs. In other words, as disturbing as this was to watch — let alone for Rousey or anyone else to suffer — it could have been worse.
Regardless, for Dark Ages brutality, this had to be close. Yet, in 2015, this is known as legitimate sport, especially the kind that can sell tickets and TV deals targeting the blood lust of the desensitized and omnipotent “young male demographic.”
And heaven forbid the media risk the rancor and ridicule of that demographic by denouncing such a popular, money-sniffing “sport” as indefensible. Only if Rousey had lapsed into a coma then died would it have come to that. Maybe.
No one wants to be accused of being out of touch or out of step, or old and “Get-off-my-lawn!” cranky. So it’s better to just let it go. A flattened, unconscious woman was further assaulted and punched in the head as per the rules of the sport.
Hey, it happened in a ring — actually, an octagon — and with a ref, and all three were being paid, and people paid to watch it. So what’s the big deal? No one held a gun to anyone’s head, ya know?
Besides, it’s popular. It’s entertainment. The Rousey-Holm fight brought 56,000 to a stadium in Melbourne, Australia.
What’s wrong with giving people what they want? This is a sport where you not only are allowed to knock an opponent flat by any available means then continue to beat them — just in case they still were conscious — such an assault is in fighters’ best competitive and even future financial interests.
And as UFC and cage-fighting entrepreneurs continue to lobby politicians to approve holding matches in New York State — the only state that hasn’t given sanction to this street fighting blood sport — we repeatedly are reminded by its backers, including politicians, that it is good for the economy, too!
The next time this matter is raised in Albany, its proponents should bring along a tape of the Rousey-Holm bout, show ’em what would be extra good for New York’s economy.
Nefarious extra charges on tickets? How convenient
Don’t know what NYC Public Advocate Letitia James has planned for this week, but it’s time someone with authority went after teams and arenas that apply dubious, malodorous tack-on charges to the face value of tickets.
For example, reader Brendan Beirne bought two tickets to this Friday’s college basketball doubleheader at Barclays Center. The tickets sold for $62 a piece, a total of $124.
But not really. An $11 “service fee” and a $5 “convenience fee” were tacked on to each ticket, thus $32 in suspicious added charges.
What “service”? What “convenience”? Online sales provide the seller — not the buyer — all the advantages, all the conveniences, from no-cost computer-coded paper tickets printed by the purchaser, to reduced overhead in the form of minimally staffed box offices and ticket windows.
These tack-ons have long carried the slimy feel of hocus-pocus fees, similar to the racetrack tout hustle performed by Chico Marx on Groucho Marx in “A Day At The Races.”
At the very least, James could provide us the answer to the difference between “convenience fees” and “service fees.” How much less if one chooses “inconvenience”?
Just for kicks Sunday, check out where the ball is spotted after play-ending whistles not close to either goal line. Most spots, I suspect, will be where the ball was last seen when the whistle blew.
Only when the ball is close to the goal lines does that standard seem to change. That’s when it suddenly becomes essential to note, not the ball, but where the ball carriers’ knees and elbows first touched the ground. The spot, which should be standard, becomes a matter of depends-on-where.
Perhaps the feel-right video of the week came from MSG’s telecast of the Devils’ win against Pittsburgh.
Jersey’s Mike Cammalleri, off a stolen puck from the left side, skated in, drew the goalie toward him, then threw a pass across to Lee Stempniak who, wide open, shot it into the net.
Stempniak’s reaction was fabulous for its absence of reaction. He didn’t jump or raise his stick. He just shrugged, as if to indicate, “How could I not score off such a perfect pass?”
Had Stempniak scored a touchdown, he would have been obligated to do an all-about-me dance — and TV would replay it in slo-mo.
Mets open late
Great news for Mets fans … who live in Guam. MLB’s opener will be Mets at Royals, Sunday night, April 3 starting sometime after 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time on ESPN and for ESPN money.
In other words, the chances that most Mets fans will be awake for the end of their opening game’s end — an interleague World Series rematch in Kansas City — are poor. Just another best-interests-of-the-fans gift from Bud Selig act-alike Rob “It’s Not Gambling” Manfred.
This season’s NHL All-Star Game will be played three-on-three. No better way to present hockey as it isn’t, or is it a gimmick to stimulate scoring in an annual game that generally includes 20 or more goals? Why not play 12-on-12 and use five pucks at once?
Now that ESPN has invested time, money and publicity to launch a women’s sports division that includes espnW and a department of Women’s Initiatives, we would love to hear how its staffers feel about ESPN’s steady on-air embrace and cross-promotion of vulgar, violent women-denigrating rappers.
Hawks-Nets on YES. Hawks, team colors red and white for decades, are wearing black. Nets, team colors black and white since moving to Brooklyn, are in grey and blue. Still, YES’ score graphics identify the Hawks as the team in red, the Nets as the team in black and white.
NBC NFL studio analyst Rodney Harrison, twice voted the “NFL’s Dirtiest Player” by his peers and as an defensive back was regularly fined and once suspended for flagrant fouls, last week criticized the Colts for “losing their composure.”
With Rob Ryan sacked, TV may be forced to show more football and fewer sideline shots.