Letters to the Editor
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Aaaaaaand Thrasher in ...
Three, two, ...
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hoorah for violent, superstitious athletes
"I asked him how he reconciles the peaceful spirituality of his religion with the violent and, in his word, dirty world of boxing."
"peaceful spirituality"
Hopefully that was meant as some sort of ironic in-joke meant for readers?
I mean a religion that extols genocide, slavery and the genital mutilation of children in its 'holy' book should never have the word 'peaceful' applied to it.
And for those who think I am making this an issue ex nihlo, exhibiting anti-Semitism, etc.:
Salita himself says: "And some people's job is to study and to completely dedicate themselves to Torah. I believe that God gave me talent to box, and my job is to do the best that I can do with that ability. It's certainly not a contradiction in my mind at all. I don't come from a family of rabbis."
Don't invoke the Torah if you don't want its violent, racist religious supremacism held back up to you like a mirror.
Moreover could there be any more solipsistic position than implying divine agency in his ability to beat on another human being for the sake of money. What a grotesque vision of divinity and arrogance masquerading as religious humility.
This guy is no different than the rank-and-file homophobic, god-fearing Christian athletes who think Jesus helped them score that winning touchdown.
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Permanent institutions (and update your website!!)
If there are two things that will be with us until the dying breath of human society, those things are combat sports and religion. Actually, make that three things (prostitution)
Note to Dimitry:
It's been 6 months since Ricky Hatton KO'd Jose Luis Castillo. You might want to update your personal pound-for-pound rankings on http://www.dsalita.com/ that have Hatton at #9 and Castillo at #6. Just a thought.
Note to everyone else:
As a boxing fan and a Jew, I'm telling you the weight classes Salita could fight in are the deepest in boxing right now and Dimitry Salita is a LONG way from being competitive with any of the better guys around 140 lbs - Floyd Mayweather, Miguel Cotto, Ricky Hatton, Shane Mosley, the aforementioned Zab Judah, even Paulie Malignaggi. Get in there with Oktay Urkal and then let's talk.
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Bait
Oh Gawd, KK, don't summon that idiot, please! He is like the party guest that will never leave. He could be in a skit. He could be a cartoon...
Oh.
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MORE Sports & Religion????
I guess that means the football season really is over.
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Yuks
Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Jews egged on the whites and that's no yolk. I'll fight for truth, this guy can't be for real.
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It's Thursday morning at Salon
Let's attack the Jews for something.
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To be honest, at first I thought "Orthodox Stance" referred to a different sort of behavior....
I didn't realize we could use "stance" anymore without snickering....
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Moshiach is here...
and he's going to knock you out. Or at least win in a split-decision apparently.
Sorry, it's not every day that you get to engage in a little Lubavitcher humor.
I'll be curious to see the film. Like King says, it is hard to make a bad film about boxing, but the Lubavitcher angle makes this one really interesting. While it is true that Jewish boxers were once quite common, a Lubavitcher boxer would still be unusual by any standard. The real question about faith and boxing in this case is: is it a Mitzvah to put a "good whuppin'" on someone?
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Boxing
People are still boxing? People are still paying attention to boxing? I thought it had all devolved to hobo fights and HBO and Vegas grabbing two guys off the street, claiming they're boxers and letting them go at it.
So what's next King, an article on the UFC or one of those other boxing offshoots? Or maybe professional Wrestling. Those guys are athletes, they're just also actors. You can watch it like ice skating or dance competitions.
Isn't it close to time for your annual curling article? Don't worry, baseball starts soon.
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The Chabad Lubavitch Sect
Was the founder named Chabad Lubavitch or something.
When you trace religions back to the start it had to be one dude, or a few dudes, making rules for a small group. Control and power.
I wonder if in their wildest imaginations they thought that way off in the future there would still be schmucks swallowing it and following their dreamed-up, hocus pocus, ooga-booga regulations. Probably not, and didn't care. They were just into their own power trip. After they died, they didn't really give a hoot what happened.
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"Wrapped in tefillin and standing before the Western Wall, race-car driver Jon Denning"
http://www.virtualjerusalem.com/leisure/jewishleisure_article.php?article_id=5630
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To answer -- Ms. Anthropia
Hi:
In response to a documentary about an incredibly hard-working, accomplished, and admirable young man who is spiritual, ethical, athletic, and so much of what aspire to be...
You just trash Judaism and call him violent and superstitious.
Answer one question: What kind of person are you?
Peace,
Xy
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cool
I'm always fascinated by the intersection of sports and demography (or should I say "class"?). I wasn't aware, but am certainly not surprised, that boxing used to be a significantly jewish sport. It's the same thing with basketball. Both are primarily lower class urban sports, and the jews used be overwhelmingly urban and lower class. As their social position changed, other minorities replaced them in the athletic arena.
All of which kind of makes one rethink their feelings about the athletic abilities we ascribe to the different races, doesn't it?
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Chabad Lubavitch
"The religion most similar to Judaism"
-apocryphal jewish joke
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I'd Advise
Steering clear of anything "Orthodox", religious or otherwise.
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There's another "C" in Hasidic?
Must be a West Coast PC thing. Here in Brooklyn - and I'm talking Midwood, Crown Heights and Williamsburg ova here - we just go with Hasidic... Left coasters are wierd.
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Moshiach Said Knock You Out
Insert random Mattisyahu joke here.
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Jews "Dominated" inside the ropes? Doubt it.
Sure there were great Jewish boxers between the wars, but there were also great black, Irish, Italian, etc. boxters in those years, too. Fact is, in the early part of this century, no one group dominated boxing - in fact it was one of the most ethnically diverse and democratic spots going. Not to detract from the great Jewish boxers of yore, but to say they "dominated" is just divisive, triupmphalist hyperbole that ignores the facts.
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Sociology of boxing
@ debaser: great point about boxing traditionally being a lower class, urban and often immigrant pastime. Italians, Jews, Irishmen, African Americans were all communities in which boxing played a large role. For a fantastic look at the social history of boxing, check out Jeffrey T. Sammons, Beyond the Ring, The Role of Boxing in American Society.