Sports and fighting

My beloved Detroit Tigers were involved in a brawl. Three separate melees in fact, all during the course of yesterday's game against the New York Yankees. One was a genuine fight. That is sad. Fighting has no place in anything which pretends to true sportsmanship.

So yes, you can gather from that that any and all sports which involve trying to inflict serious physical harm upon others are, I will vehemently argue, immoral. UFC and MMA come immediately to mind. So does prizefighting, boxing primarily among those. Intentionally trying to physically hurt another human being into submission is immoral. Period. Even when all involved agree. Perhaps especially so.

So it is too when it occurs within more legitimate sports and games. Most sports and games recognize this and mete punishment accordingly. This is good.

Some however do not. I've mentioned a few, yet there are more, this despite what they think.

Hockey comes immediately to mind. A five minute major for fighting amounts to telling a recalcitrant child, "Go over there and think about what you did". Because that's all it means. Take a player out of a game, hurt someone, sit a minute, and all is right. There is nothing more shallow and transparent in 'discipline' than this.

And it is so very transparent.

Fighting must be banned from sports. All sports. Period.