Well, this didn't take long

Nothing better than reading the op-ed page in the CJ to hear some woman rambling on about something she knows nothing about. It is about the death of Greg Page (whom she has never met) and the sport of boxing (which she has never participated in and probably has never even seen).

[url]http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20090511/OPINION02/90510008/1018/OPINION/Boxing++insane+[/url]

I love uninformed opinions. Needless to say, my letter has already been written and sent to the CJ. They may not run it because they like the letters to be less than 200 words and mine is about 450, but we will see. If they don't run it by the weekend I will post my letter here.

man some people just cant keep to there self i watch boxing most of the time and have not seen any one get hurt other than the tipcal cut or bloody nose and then they call the fight if that what some one wants to do and it make them happy let them do it

Yep another educated, professional opinionated woman commenting on a sport that she knows little about.

The statement that got me was that our Medical System is overburdened with gunshot wounds and unneccessary accidents? I guess she forgot about the Millions of Illegals and Americans who abuse the medical system. But I guess with her logic she can lesson the burden by stopping the masses of boxing injuries that clogs our medical system.

When I read it I thought....far left wing extremists....I mean she hit all the high points like Gunshot wounds, cigarettes, alcohol and violence. Sounds like the country should stop anything and everything that's legal or accidental since she doesn't agree with it.

Tim I would love to read that letter!!

The part where she commented about being a registered nurse cracked me up, like that automatically makes her more educated than others. My wife is a registered nurse and at one time was a licensed amatuer boxing referee with USA Boxing certification. Plus she has been married to me for 20 years so I would be willing to bet that my registered nurse has forgotten more about boxing than this woman even knows.

Don, you have a pm.

Well it has been a week so I am assuming the C-J is not publishing my letter, so I am posting it below:

I was really disappointed in a recent letter to the opinion section by Angela Gaskins (Boxing Insane, C-J May 11, 2009) in regards to the death of Greg Page. As a former amateur and professional boxer who is married to a registered nurse I felt inclined to comment.

Why in a civilized country do we still allow a person of the human race to play football, race cars, bungee jump, parachute, walk across busy streets, drive cars, swim, jump on trampolines and other such “dangerous” activities?

To say Muhammad Ali’s Parkinson’s disease is a result of boxing is reaching. While it could be true nobody seems to know for sure. I do know that I have an uncle who has Parkinson’s disease and has never boxed and most people stricken with this dreadful disease have never set foot in a boxing ring.

“It is cruel to allow this so-called sport to be televised where young people can see that this is sanctioned. Why do the legislatures of this country not get on the bandwagon to bring this to a stop? Our medical systems are already overburdened with dealing with gunshot wounds and unnecessary accidents. Why do we still condone brutal attacks that serve no purpose except to falsely portray boxing as a sport? “
To try and make a correlation between boxing and street violence is once again reaching on the part of the author. That is similar to blaming the upcoming Indy 500 for speeding and road rage.
“We are a nation that has laws against alcohol and drug consumption, including cigarettes, but we still allow people to hit each other in the head on purpose.” There are restrictions on alcohol use, cigarettes and other substances, but most of these laws still give a human being the right to make a choice.

The death of Greg Page is a tragedy, there is no doubt. His injuries and eventual death have been (and will continue to be) used to make the sport of boxing safer. Making it illegal has failed in this country before and would likely result in more injuries and deaths than currently happen.

Every choice that we make in life has inherent risk and boxing is no different. I would be more afraid for my son walking to the store from my house than I would him getting in a boxing ring, but being educated on the inherent risk involved with each activity makes it an easier, more informed choice.


Tim Tipton
Shepherdsville 40165

Well done.

[QUOTE=psprowler;368442]Well done.[/QUOTE]

I agree.