2162: Kissing & Screaming

[PsychoLoco]

Originally Posted by Scumhook

Is there a reason your crime graph is black & white?

If you need to use the N-word in your answer, it's OK, we all know what it means.

No need to bring race into this; testosterone is a colorless liquid as far as I can tell. Jon Hamm is as white as white can be, and at age 21 he took a claw hammer and underwear saw to an underclassman's junk. They don't even allow that kind of inhumanity in MMA. Whether it was testosterone, bad upbringing, or even a porkchop helmet, our African-American brethren had nothing to do with it.

EDIT: I guess, technically, some of our African-American brethren had something to do with some of the crimes, but testosterone is an equal opportunity offender.

[Lanfear]

Am I the only one that though about what hazing was done to Jon Hamm when he pledged the frat? Usually these rituals are not suddenly starting but are a "hey everybody goes through it" kinda deal, aren't they?

[PsychoLoco]

Originally Posted by Lanfear

Am I the only one that though about what hazing was done to Jon Hamm when he pledged the frat? Usually these rituals are not suddenly starting but are a "hey everybody goes through it" kinda deal, aren't they?

I did think about it, but it's really no excuse. I didn't pledge freshman year, but my roommate did. He used to come back every night drunk and/or in pain. I'd ask him the next day and he'd tell me what they made him drink and/or do. He wanted to join the frat so he put up with it because he thought only about 2 things: 1) being part of the group was worth the pain; and 2) he'd get to do it to someone else next year.

So, I taught my roommate about "hangers." That's where you pretend you're sitting on an invisible chair and hold your arms straight out parallel to your thighs. Someone puts a wire clothes hanger between your butt and the ground and you have to hold it there for as long as possible. If the hanger falls, you drink, get paddled, do push-ups, etc. If the hanger bends, you drink, get paddled, do push-ups, etc. This can be done against the clock or against a group where the first person to fail gets punished by the last person to fail. That last half-sentence was my addition to the "hangers" hazing, where a freshman could get a taste of dishing out the pain. Where did I learn "hangers" from? It happened to a friend of mine who was kicked out of The Corps at Texas A&M. Every time he screwed up he had to do 98 push-ups because he was the Class of '98. Every time the hanger fell, 98 push-ups. Every day, whenever an upperclassman felt like it.

I'm positive Jon Hamm had heinous shit done to him, but he accepted it, returned it, and no doubt added his own personal touch to it. Whether it's racism, sexism, homophobia, hazing, pedophilia, or sexual abuse, just because it happened to you is not an excuse to do it or anything like it to someone else.

For the record, I personally refused to put up with hazing. I never let anyone do it to me in high school as a freshman or first-year baseball player. When I got my business degree and pledged to join a co-ed business fraternity, I quit the day after they tried to make us all stand blind-folded in a supposedly empty auditorium and recite the history of frat. I've got better shit to do than play games to prove I'm worth someone else's while. And I write that completely understanding the irony that this is going on an internet forum. I'm here for fun.

[Lanfear]

Oh no I didn't mean it as an excuse, I'm just nosy :-)

[PsychoLoco]

Originally Posted by Lanfear

Oh no I didn't mean it as an excuse, I'm just nosy :-)

Well then, we should just assume that whatever Jon Hamm did, the same was done to him but just one degree less. He was probably led around the room by his balls, beaten, forced to drink, and suffered nuclear-Texan wedgies from multiple upperclassmen, just not at the same time Paul Bunyan style.

[Rufio]

Just finished listening to the show so I don't know if anyone has brought this up yet but Keith is wrong about not being able to fly Jets in the military if you've had Lasik surgery.

"After years of study, the Air Force has decided to change their long-standing policy which disqualified applicants who have had LASIK surgery from flight training and navigator training."
[source]http://usmilitary.about.com/od/airforce/a/pilotlasik.htm

That being said, I'm still on Keiths side regarding the Fallon Fox thing, there's just not any undoing puberty.

[theycallmepyro]

A couple of things that weren't brought up re: Fallon Fox during the show:

• Fallon Fox was in the navy as a male-bodied transgender woman, having decided to live as a man despite being aware of what transgender is.
• She didn't transition until she was 31 years old.
• Not all organisations would allow her to fight. Some organisations do, and these are the ones she's been competing in.
• She came out as trans after her second fight.
• She is by no means the "best" female fighter. She's only had six fights, with one loss, and hasn't fought anyone considered top-tier.
• She's 39 now, which is pretty close to retirement for most in the MMA business. The chances of her getting to face the best in the business are pretty slim.
• Any fights I've seen with her in have been displays of raw power over any real technique - they've mainly put her in the ring with people who are completely outclassed in terms of physical strength.

Ronda Rousey (the current UFC bantamweight champion, considered the #1 female fighter on the planet) has been quoted as saying she will fight "anyone, anywhere, any time" and that she would fight a man, but she refuses to fight top-ranked Cristina "Cyborg" Santos - who many believe to have used steroids to become a champion herself - or Fallon Fox. I believe the difference there is that she doesn't want to put the belt on the line against someone she feels didn't achieve their position in the sport through training and natural ability alone.

This probably comes across as quite negative towards Fallon Fox, but for the record I think if people are willing to get into matches with her, there's no reason for her not to do what she claims to love - fight. I strongly doubt we'll ever see her fight anyone that people consider a worthwhile opponent before she retires but hey, the UFC knows how to turn a dollar, and if there's money to be made in seeing Fallon on the biggest MMA stage, I wouldn't rule it out.

[theycallmepyro]

Originally Posted by John Harvey

I think that both genders should be able to fight each other anyway but the gals should be able to go for eyes and ball-shots to make up for the fact they could be KO'd in one hit by BIG STRONG MAN.

I'm sure you're joking, but just in case you aren't... if a trained MMA fighter knows you're going to try for his eyes and nuts, he'll be in even more of a hurry to knock your head off.

[FingerLakes]

Originally Posted by PsychoLoco

Jon Hamm is as white as white can be, and at age 21 he took a claw hammer and underwear saw to an underclassman's junk.

Under the right circumstances this sounds like a good time