farmdoc's blog post number 521

Sport. It’s defined as ‘physical activity engaged in for pleasure’. Or similar. Most sport is just this. But elite sport most definitely isn’t. Somewhere way back when – I don’t know exactly but during my lifetime, elite sport morphed into an amalgam of business and entertainment. And at the exact moment it arrived at that destination, my interest in it dwindled to almost zero. Just a flicker. Arguably at the pinnacle of so-called elite sport (aka elite business and entertainment) is the Olympic Games. If you thought its governing body – the International Olympic Committee – is a sensible, rational and reputable body, you’d be wrong. That’s what I think, anyway. Witness its recent decision to include women’s boxing in the 2012 London Olympics. Boxing’s the only ‘sport’ I know whose primary aim is to injure one’s opponent [1]. And if possible to render him/her unconscious. That’s barbaric. Inhumane. Objectionable. I’m pleased the AMA, which I’m a member of, has condemned the IOC’s decision. As has the BMA. It’s true men’s boxing has long been an Olympic ‘sport’. Probably because of this longevity, it’s difficult to remove it. But adding women’s boxing varies the status quo. The IOC’s decision has no direct impact on me. But it’s subjecting the competing women boxers to potentially disastrous consequences. Including death. Shame on you, IOC.

farmdoc's blog post number 250

I’ve always thought Boxing Day is the day the boxes Xmas gifts had come in, were disposed of. But Wikipedia says it’s the day when people give presents, or Christmas boxes, to those who had worked for them throughout the year. In England it was once common practice for servants to carry boxes to their employers when they arrived for work on the first working day after Xmas. Their employers would then put coins in the boxes as special end-of-year gifts. Hence the name Boxing Day. But be this as it may, the word boxing invariably focuses my mind on the so-called sport of boxing. How can it be a sport when the aim is to inflict maximum injury on one’s opponent? Ideally to knock him unconscious. In the last 24 months 1,300 boxers have died due to boxing-related injuries. And many more have been permanently disabled. Boxing is deliberately brutal and dangerous. Therefore as a medical man I feel obliged to detest and oppose boxing. And I do. In my entire life, I’ve never punched anyone. I’ve never even donned boxing gloves. Unlike boxing, cricket and yacht racing are real sports. The Boxing Day Cricket Test against South Africa and the Sydney-Hobart Yacht Race both start today. It’s better to watch them than to go to the Boxing Day shopping sales. And buy more boxes.