As a sport, MMA?gets bad rap
I read the guest column, “MMA is too barbaric” by Bob Trumpbour (Oct. 11), and was amazed to read that the author is a communications professor at Penn State Altoona. Hopefully, this ill-researched article, filled with hyperbole, would not receive high marks if presented in one of Prof. Trumpbour’s classes. Allow me to present the rebuttal to the misstatements and poorly developed arguments put forth in the original column. First, it took an enormous leap to compare Michael Vick’s dogs with mixed martial artists. Vick’s dogs were forced to participate in fights to the death without any ability to consent. If unsuccessful, these dogs were put to death by the ringleaders. Is that truly how Trumpbour thinks MMA treats its fighters? These men and women come into the sport because of their lifelong participation in one or more traditional martial arts (jiu jitsu, karate, wrestling, boxing, etc.), and they desire to test their skillset against others.
» Full StoryMMA is too barbaric
As the details of Michael Vick’s involvement in dog fighting began to leak out, I became increasingly disgusted at what I read.
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The last time we saw the “Boys from the Burgh,” Santonio Holmes’ toe-tapping grab snatched victory from the jaws of defeat at the new Sombrero.
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The Pittsburgh Pirates meant everything to me while growing up in central Pennsylvania in the late 1950s and early ’60s.
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I have been engaged in many sports debates over my lifetime. A typical argument might focus on determining who is the most important person on the field of play at any given time.
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Editor’s note: Retired Mirror sports editor Jim Lane wrote this column after his dad passed away in 1987. It’s reprinted every Father’s Day.
Today is Father’s Da.
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