Boston Newspaper Headline Slams Sport Fighters

[Mutant]

click here for story---> Boston Herald: Cop On The Beat (http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=57023)

The full-page headline of the Boston Herald today slams Boston Police Officer and MMA fighter Sean "The Cannon" Gannon for his video taped fight with Kimbo Slice. You'll recall this fight (Gannon's victory over Kimbo) was making its rounds on MA forums a few weeks back.

Leave it to a rag like the Herald (a consistently terrible newspaper) to sensationalize this and put the spotlight on the 'horrors' of sport fighting. This will probably force the Boston Police to publicly investige Gannon. Major bad press for sport fighting in this state, hopefully there won't be a push to ban it now. And hopefully Gannon can go on making his living, I'm sure he puts himself on the line a lot more and works harder than the Herald reporter who wrote the story will ever understand.
Sure, 2 guys beating the hell out of each other isnt glamourous but thats what they trained for; theyre professional fighters.

Well, maybe all the negative publicity will give him enough notariety and infamy to actually help his MMA career, who knows...
Its still very bad press for sport fighting in this state, and martial arts in general. Real fighting is brutal. I suppose this is why sifu's and others have taken something that is inherently violent and remade its image as something mystical, spiritual and benign. Even the gentlest, mellowest stereotypical internal stylist (not that i think this is true of all internal stylists) is practicing to potentially maim another person, no matter how philisophical, sugar-coated or far removed from reality fighting. Maybe its better left under this facade, at least as far as the general public perceives it... What do you think? :confused:

[Ford Prefect]

Who takes the Herald seriously? I wouldn't worry about it. Most guys will only pay attention to it if Sarah Underwood covers the story. ;)

[Chang Style Novice]

I think the participants, esp. Gannon, should've known better than to participate in an illegal, underground fight. Kimbo's an ex-con with few career prospects, and I find it easier to accept that this is the best avenue open to him for making money. Officer Gannon though, knows the law and should respect it even when he disagrees with it.

Basically, they should've found a way to make this a legal event. If either of them ends up in hot water over it, they've only themselves to blame.

But yeah, it sounds like sensationalism: a slow news day on a cr@p paper. Aren't they the one that endorsed Bush?;)

[Ford Prefect]

Pretty sure he checked the law in that area, and this fight in the setting it was in was not illegal.

[Chang Style Novice]

Sounds fishy to me. If that's so, how come the video only showed a couple dozen spectators? If they weren't doing it on the DL, I'm sure they could've come up with more than that. Heck, they probably could've increased the purse size by 10 times if it had been an official, publicly promoted bout. I guess the small # of spectators and jerry-rigged ring might have been neccesary to keep it from falling under the jurisdiction of the state health board or something, but still, why do it like that unless you're trying to avoid official attention?

[Mutant]

yeah, the fact that it was underground, whether legal or not, automatically makes it look shady.

True, Gannon should probably have known better. but he's a fighter and was just doing what he does. And Boston cops certainly arent boyscouts.

The Herald always shoots for the lowest common denominator and seems intent of sinking society to a new low. Much like Fox News.

True that about Sara Underwood :p

[Ford Prefect]

Because if they had spectators and charged entrance fees it would fall under the jurisdiction of the State Athletic Commission, and then it would in fact be legal. Everybody there was either travelling with Gannon or travelling with Kimbo. No random people came in off the street.

It was conducted in a martial arts school under the guise of a sparring session. Unless of course, you want to be arrested for sparring in your MA school. I assume you don't. It's a technicality, but he did everything possible to keep it in within the confines of state law.

Kimbo was recieving huge praise for his skills in that internet video that made it's rounds. Gannon wanted to prove that he couldn't hang with a trained fighter. He was completely handicapped by the rules, and he still beat the guy. He would have killed him had it been under MMA rules.

[jun_erh]

there are far worse things going on in the world.

[Chang Style Novice]

Oh sure. I just think that this has the potential to reflect very badly on the MA community and possibly cause more restrictive legislation to be enacted. Presuming what Ford said is correct and it is legal, the outrage that could result from a sensationalist news story like this might lead to the banning of sparring in MA schools, for example. I think that Gannon and his colleages should have considered that possibility when deciding to set up the fight, too. Or at least when deciding to post the freakin' video on the internet so some scandal-hound yellow-journalist a$$hole can find it and make a mountain out of a molehill.

[Mutant]

Originally posted by jun_erh
there are far worse things going on in the world.

yeah like Bush getting re-elected, but lets not dwell on that... :rolleyes:

[MasterKiller]

Originally posted by Chang Style Novice
Or at least when deciding to post the freakin' video on the internet so some scandal-hound yellow-journalist a$$hole can find it and make a mountain out of a molehill. Post it? Hell, he's selling DVDs.

[Chang Style Novice]

Yeah, selling DVDs might again attract the attention of the State Athletic Commission...

Sounds like somebody's trying to have their cake and eat it too.

[red5angel]

personally I think making fighting illegal sucks. If two guys want to fight I say let them. Hell, I say if you legalize that sort of fighting you'd probbaly avoid some other more serious crimes.

[Ford Prefect]

Originally posted by Chang Style Novice
... the outrage that could result from a sensationalist news story...

See. That's what you people not from Boston don't understand. The Herald is a rag. All it prints in sensationalistic stories. This isn't the first time they slammed MMA either. Nobody in Boston really takes them seriously. They aren't far off from being on the level of the Enquirer. It's entertaining to read, and passes the time while you are in the john, but anybody looking for serious news does not read the Herald. 99% of all Boston knows this.

[Ford Prefect]

Originally posted by Chang Style Novice
Yeah, selling DVDs might again attract the attention of the State Athletic Commission...

Sounds like somebody's trying to have their cake and eat it too.

Dude, what don't you understand? It doesn't matter if the AC is attracted. They can't do anything about it. It is outside their realm of control.

[Chang Style Novice]

red -

As I've said in previous threads on this topic, a lot of state involvement amounts to wanting a piece of the action.

On another note, you've got to take the sore loser effect into account. You say "If two guys want to fight, let them." OK, but what if after the fact the loser decides to charge for assault. Well, the way to prevent that is to draw up a agreement (contract) beforehand right? Who has control over what contracts can be legally enforced and can impose penalties for violations? The answer is the civil court system, so you've got the gov't involved there already. I wouldn't be too surprised if the origin of organized fighting as a money making activity had its origins in the kind of "If two guys want to fight, let them" attitude that you're showing here. It's just that actions have consequences and sometimes those consequences can reach pretty far and unpredictably.

[Ray Pina]

That doesn't seem "sensational" to me, looks like good objective reporting:

Cop is under scutiny for what he did.

What did he do?
He faught in a video'd fight for money.

Was that wrong?
Could be if he got paid. Also, he wears his official cop hat while fighting sometimes which could be a violation.

Then it gives background information to put it in perspective, saying this type of thing has been outlawed before.

Don't blame the messenger.

[Chang Style Novice]

Sorry about the double, I crossposted with Ford.

OK, presuming you're right and that the Athletic Commission has their hands tied in this case, we still have the possibility of negative publicity harming MMA, heck all MA businesses and practice in the state of Massachusetts and even elsewhere if they really get on a roll. You might want to ask David Ross what his opinion of that is. I'm sure you remember the fight he's in with the City of New York to allow San Shou events.

My point is just this: knowing as we do that what we do is right on the fringe of socially acceptable behavior (albeit unjustly) shouldn't we hold ourselves to a high standard in order to protect ourselves from nanny-state advocates? It looks to me like Gannon acted recklessly in setting up that fight, especially given his status as a LEO.

[Mutant]

Originally posted by Ford Prefect
See. That's what you people not from Boston don't understand. The Herald is a rag. All it prints in sensationalistic stories. This isn't the first time they slammed MMA either. Nobody in Boston really takes them seriously. They aren't far off from being on the level of the Enquirer. It's entertaining to read, and passes the time while you are in the john, but anybody looking for serious news does not read the Herald. 99% of all Boston knows this.

Yes the Herald is a piece of sh!t and most thinking people dismiss it at such. but there are a lot of non-thinking people who get take it as news and it can wield some political power. Remember when they were in on the set up & character assassination of Massport Chief Peter Blount (he was an idiot for falling into that trap & probably deserved it) a few years back, that resulted in his resiqning and a major shake down within that beauracracy?

[Ford Prefect]

Originally posted by Chang Style Novice
Sorry about the double, I crossposted with Ford.

OK, presuming you're right and that the Athletic Commission has their hands tied in this case, we still have the possibility of negative publicity harming MMA...

That I can agree with. The thing is that Gannon didn't think it was going to as big a deal as it became. He thought it would be a small little video that only a small number of people in the MMA community would see. BTW, he's donated all his cut for the video to charity before any of this broke. He did it because he's a competitor, beleive's in his sport, and thougt maybe it could grab him some attention from a premoter.

I don't think MMA will have any problems in Mass because of this though. The gov't is getting their money from the MMA events currently being held, and it's very unusual for the gov't to give up money once they're getting it. If anything, it'll drive up sales of the video, the events that the HErald kindly plugged, and maybe even the next UFC PPV. MMA is a fringe sport with a small fan base. Any publicity at this point is good publicity.

MW,

That's different. It was a story about on-going gov't corruption in a place that was already rife with allegations of misconduct. Taxpayers were getting their money wasted (nobody likes that) and anybody who trvales in or near Logan is plenty upset at Massport to begin with. Gannon is just a random cop that beat a random guy's arse. There may be some call for action against him, but the most they could do is possibly suspend him for a technicality. We'll see how the Police Union deals with that too... I think the majority of the people won't care anything about it past this story. I can't wait to watch the news tonight. ;)

[Mutant]

Originally posted by Ford Prefect
That's different. It was a story about on-going gov't corruption in a place that was already rife with allegations of misconduct. Taxpayers were getting their money wasted (nobody likes that) and anybody who trvales in or near Logan is plenty upset at Massport to begin with. Gannon is just a random cop that beat a random guy's arse. There may be some call for action against him, but the most they could do is possibly suspend him for a technicality. We'll see how the Police Union deals with that too... I think the majority of the people won't care anything about it past this story. I can't wait to watch the news tonight. ;)

Very true. I was just citing it as a notable local example of the Herald directly affecting politics. I guess i was just worried that it would raise the lawmaker's eyebrows to some of the decent sport fighting events here. But youre probably right about them not cutting out a revenue source, and i think it was Cptn. Painter who recently posted here, quoting something like 'i don't care what you write about me, as long as you spell my name right.'

[red5angel]

CSN - state involvement, sure makes sense to me. Everyone wants a cut of anything that can make a profit.

Sore losers - That's why you make it legal. Hold events, create venues, and make it legal for anyone who wants to to show up and fight anyone else they want to. Sign waivers and away you go. You're probably right about organized fighting as well. It's hard to regulate anything that's sort of ad hoc.

[Buddy]

While I agree the Herald takes the typical Murdoch approach, I suspect you're more p issed off at its concervative slant, Mut. Easily as biased is the red-tinged, owned by the NY Times, Globe. Great for sports, bad for politics.

[Mutant]

Originally posted by EvolutionFist
That doesn't seem "sensational" to me, looks like good objective reporting:

Cop is under scutiny for what he did.

What did he do?
He faught in a video'd fight for money.

Was that wrong?
Could be if he got paid. Also, he wears his official cop hat while fighting sometimes which could be a violation.

Then it gives background information to put it in perspective, saying this type of thing has been outlawed before.

Don't blame the messenger.

No, not blaming the message, and i totally believe in a free press. And not even sticking up for Gannon. I am just irratated in the WAY in which the story was covered. Come on, most people will not bother to read the whole story and get to the part that begins to explain MMA. The sensational pictures and the basic message that the pictures burn into the general populaces minds about martial arts in general is a very negative one. And seeing the problems that New York's athletic commision is giving sport fighting and martial arts promoters in your state, its not such a stretch to see this as a potential and unnessesary public relations problem here in Massachusetts, which holds some very good regular Sport Fighting events.

[Mutant]

Originally posted by Buddy
While I agree the Herald takes the typical Murdoch approach, I suspect you're more p issed off at its concervative slant, Mut. Easily as biased is the red-tinged, owned by the NY Times, Globe. Great for sports, bad for politics.

Yeah youre probably right Buddy. I'm mad at the Herald in general for bombarding us w/ right-wing propaganda. And i readily admit that the Globe is no better, just a different bias (except for their great Sox coverage). ;)

[norther practitioner]

Sox coverage is a bias

[Mutant]

Originally posted by norther practitioner
Sox coverage is a bias

yeah, but until this year's playoffs it was a negative bias. you know, the whole 'curse of the bambino' and all that... the sports media in this town is insane.

yankees s#ck! ;)

[Ray Pina]

I don't think the public thinks about martial arts that much. I'm not worried about. I'll just add one more thing to the list of things that I'm not supposed to do but do anyway because they're a part of me.

[Ford Prefect]

Dunno. I've generally always swung more right than left being a product of Taxachusetts, and I've always thought the Herald was crap. I never noticed a right-wing bias probably because it is intermixed with utter crap. I don't see how anybody could call it a legitamate news source.

[Buddy]

"Sox coverage is a bias"
Wait, you must be talking about the WORLD CHAMPION BOSTON RED SOX. I read both papers and the bias in each is obvious. Although I am conservative I prefer the Globe's writers even if I abhor their politics. And the sports writing is second to none. Oh did I mention the WORLD CHAMPION NEW ENGALND PATRIOTS?
Buddy

[unkokusai]

Originally posted by Ford Prefect
See. That's what you people not from Boston don't understand. The Herald is a rag. All it prints in sensationalistic stories. This isn't the first time they slammed MMA either. Nobody in Boston really takes them seriously. They aren't far off from being on the level of the Enquirer. It's entertaining to read, and passes the time while you are in the john, but anybody looking for serious news does not read the Herald. 99% of all Boston knows this.


And if I recall correctly, the Globe is just as bad in its own horrid way. One big editorial pretending to be a 'news' paper.