The recent explosion of side-show violence masquerading as sport and the associated media coverage has been quite the eye opener. Basically, it's a Darwin Award trilogy. Combat sports’ way of contributing to the awards which recognize individuals who have aided human evolution by removing themselves from the gene pool by dying or becoming sterilized under their own steam.
The first of the new look Darwin Award games was the wince inducing Power Slap. The two people slapping each other game has been around for a while now, created by UFC Empresario Dana White. Nothing subtle about this. One contestant stands still whilst the other contestant slaps them in the face with all the power they can muster. They then trade places. Defenceless. Sitting duck stupidity if you will.
Part two of the ‘can’t look away car crash’ triptych was released onto an unsuspecting public in the form of Run It Straight. An Australian game that has chosen to replicate the collisions found in rugby and rugby league. Zero subtleties here, one contestant runs flat out at the other one, holding a ball to give the exchange some tenuous connection to sport. They collide. That’s it. That’s the game. Dumber than a bag of hammers.
The third instalment of the trilogy is the Dan Hooker driven One Minute Scrap. Dan is a UFC fighter who holds a series of one minute stand up punch ups in his back yard. You have one minute to knock the other participant into next week. Agricultural if you will.
There are common denominators here:
- Appeals to the very baseline of the human psyche. Beat someone up. I’m tougher than you, I win. Straight out of the stone-age.
- The end goal is money. Money. Dirty cash I want you, dirty cash I need you, oh.
- Clickbait. It’s all there to hook straight into the veins of the bored social media hordes. Easy to understand, quick, violent.
- The rules are so incredibly simple, even the most mentally challenged can understand them. Indeed, the contestants appear to be in that same class.
All these pastimes (not sport) are a sad but wholly predictable reflection on the current state of humanity.
But before we get too judgey on this, let’s not forget that in our so-called advanced society, we still resort to war to settle our differences. Physically we’ve left the cave, but mentally we are still very much there.
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