Sioux Falls city councilor Christine Erickson is spoiling for a fight:
The Sioux Falls economy is losing millions of dollars by not allowing Mixed Martial Arts events at the Sanford Premier Center and other city owned venues, says City Counciler Christine Erickson.
Erikson wants to repeal the ten-year-old ban on such events at city owned sites. She says the State Athletic Commission established last year is more than capable of regulating the growing sport [Mark Russo, “Sioux Falls to Wrestle with MMA,” KELO Radio, 2015.09.21].
Hmm… people choose to engage in an activity that could hurt them, but since there’s a lot of money to be made, let’s stop banning it… how does that differ from legalizing pot, as our Flandreau Santee neighbors are doing and dozens of tribes around the country are considering?
Former legislator Erickson voted for the bill that created the state regulatory board in 2013. Perhaps her District 11 successor, Mark Willadsen, will come to the 2016 session with a bill to create a state marijuana board, and allow Councilor Erickson to push for pot bars in Sioux Falls to bring in the millions of dollars, just like Denver?
Violent entertainment. Time to dust off some of my rhetoric from a couple years back to push back on those who think it’s okay when a society loses its capacity to wince. Ah, it’s coming back to me now…. should we really feed the insatiable bloodlust of rubbernecking pay per view crowds?
And hospital sponsored cage fighting??? It’s remarkable really. Ask any neurologist in any hospital if they are seeing 40 year old former high school wrestlers with early stage dementia. They will say yes. Then ask how many micro traumas to the head is the magic number before irreparable brain damage occurs. They will tell you no one knows the magic number, perhaps 1 to 5. Then ask them if there is any athletic commission with the ability to make safe a flying heel kick to the head. They will laugh at you because it’s foolishness.
Christine, my good friend, don’t lead the way on this one. Lead the way as a mom in making our city less violent and more safe. It’s BS that it only looks violent. It’s stunning to me as we watch the NFL backpeddle and butt cover on the matter of head injuries/concussions that there is any medically-responsible athletic commission that would give a thumbs up to cage fighting.
I still find it ironically bizarre that the ED of the Athletics Commission that promotes MMA fighting in SD is the chief lobbyist for the SD Veterinary Medical Association, an organization in charge of the health and well-being of our pets and livestock. Maybe if we put some rules in place we could bring back dog and cock fighting, that would really pack them into the Denny Dome.
I did speak with Christine about this about a month ago. I basically told her my feelings on MMA fighting, but in her defense, I grouped all the professional sports into one kitty, I don’t watch them and think America’s fascination with professional sports is deteriorating our society. Let’s face it, the NFL is one of the most violent sports out there, but there are many others. Car racing & bull riding for example. I guess it comes to a point where you have to ask yourself what will we limit anymore? I will agree, MMA may look all athletic and a choregraphed dance with your opponent, but the fights all end the same, the loser getting their face punched into the matt. Isn’t it nice Sanford is their to help remold their faces?
Where’s Lynn??? Just legalize the pot. Why break heads when you can just chill out? Of all people George Zimmer, the Men’s Warehouse guy says “I’ve been smoking marijuana on a regular basis for about 50 years,” Zimmer said to CNBC, before joking, “As you can see, it’s really impacted me in a negative way.” Lynn, he’s a successful rich guy.
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/18/mens-wearhouse-founder-comes-out-in-favor-of-pot-legalization.html
I’d like to see concrete figures on how many “millions” the Sioux Falls economy has lost out on. Maybe in beer sales at at the arena, but that’s about it.
Does SF allow boxing? What reasons are given for disallowing MMA? Do they feel that it’s crooked, dangerous, unsound economically? I agree that it’s physically dangerous, but so are several other sports, football chief among them. I’d like to see an end to people being damaged for the entertainment of others, but I also think picking out some, but not others, in a random fashion, is unacceptable. SF needs something to stand on.
Better late than never?
Like it or not, understand it or not, MMA is no less of a sport than anything else. In most cases, especially in small market MMA, it’s a sport played primarily for the love of the game.
Hickey’s self-serving anecdotes notwithstanding, MMA is probably safer (in terms of head trauma) than football and hockey, and it’s absolutely safer than boxing. The risible claim that wrestling (a sport with very little head trauma) leads to dementia illustrates the depth of his bias. He personally doesn’t like contact sports, so therefore they should be banned. I’m glad he’s no longer representing me.
Banning MMA is typical for South Dakota — backwards policy based on ignorance and misunderstanding of issues.
That’s the only thing MMA has in common with marijuana.
… point of clarification: The citizens initiative which would have put before the voters the right of certain establishments to allow marijuana consumption on their premises (by adults) has been withdrawn. Mr. Mason Tvert has withdrawn (polls showed an easy election victory) to give the state legislature the opportunity to draw their own bill, with their own regulations on the issue. Should the legislature not respond favorably, Mr. Tvert has vowed to put the initiative back to a public vote.
South Dacola, Ronda Rousey may have cemented my distaste for the support. This national star, a confident women establishing her dominance in her field, could be an inspiring public figure, but she establishes her dominance by using the armbar, a move that forces an opponent to choose between surrender and a broken arm. The brutality of that move shows that, contrary to Neal’s opinion, we are watching not sport, but violence.
Deb, I’d say the physical danger of other sports differs from the physical danger of MMA. Sure, I can get hurt playing baseball or racing bicycles or running cross-country, but competing and winning in those sports does not depend on harming my competitors. Football… well, yeah, the merits of that sport over its violent intent is questionable.
A high school football player in Calif was caught on tape smearing gobs of Icy Hot on an opponents face during a game. Not in the rules of combat,but dirty stuff happens in games frequently anymore. Luckily the young man wasn’t blinded.
96% of retired football players tested,tested positive for brain damage.
http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/09/researchers-find-brain-damage-in-96-percent-of-former-nfl-players/406462/
“The brutality of that move shows that, contrary to Neal’s opinion, we are watching not sport, but violence.”
There’s a physical component in every sport. You can argue that every sport is violent. It’s just a matter of degree.
No one ever actually elects for the broken arm during an arm bar. The loser taps out, and the winner simply releases the loser unharmed, which is about as civilized a way to end a physical contest as one can imagine. It’s like catch and release fishing. Where is the violence here?
“I’d say the physical danger of other sports differs from the physical danger of MMA.”
You’d say that, but you’d have no evidence to support it, because there is none.
That said, I prefer your homemade conjecture to Hickey’s deceitful anecdotes.
Contrary to your misunderstanding of the sport of MMA, the loser suffers no “harm” in the vast, vast majority of cases. In submissions, the loser taps out. In knockouts, the ref stops the fight immediately so no damage can be done. When matches go to a decision, yes they can appear to be beaten up, but any physical harm is temporary and almost entirely aesthetic, and I’m certain that the competitors do not view it as “harm.”
If you find it distasteful, don’t watch it. But don’t diminish the unbelievable skill and effort it takes to be a mixed martial artists by saying it’s not a sport.
Reading Neal here is another reminder of the brain-dead support for mind-numbing sports in South Dakota. Read it for amusement….except for all the public money squandered on stupid sports of all kinds.
Let me be perfectly clear. I do not watch MMA, boxing ,wrestling, lacrosse, rodeo, auto racing, and many other sports. Nor do I enjoy the brutality of some sports. I put MMA and boxing on that list, but not Olympic boxing.
What I’m saying is that if SF allows boxing, how can they ban MMA? What is their rationale? ‘Whim’ is not sufficient. That’s my point.
[If you are curious – I watch many girls and women’s sports, especially basketball and softball. I figure the boys’ sports don’t need my support, but the women and girls do. They don’t have the advantages the boys do.]
Neal, it takes skill to operate a sniper’s rifle, too. With more skill, that Harrisburg student would have succeeded in giving Principal Kevin Lein more than a flesh wound. I am not obliged to respect, aggrandize, or refrain from diminishing skill turned toward more effective violence.
Excusing the brutality by saying the loser can alway tap out is like excusing the linebacker who goes for the headshot by saying the quarterback can always take a knee or the hostage taker who holds a gun to a child’s head by saying the parents can always submit to his demands.
The physical danger of MMA differs not necessarily on a quantitative level but on a qualitative level. I don’t need to count the number of concussions, broken bones, etc. to make my point. MMA encourages a violent intent that is not present or permitted in many other sports. Compare with wrestling (real wrestling, high school/college wrestling): the goal is still physical domination of an opponent, but wrestlers don’t get to threaten their opponent with imminent physical damage of the kind posed by the arm bar. Wrestling calls for greater skill, not brutality.
Excellent analogies and analysis… Hear, hear Mr. Heidelberger ?