[HN Gopher] Shadow Boxing (2016)
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       Shadow Boxing (2016)
        
       Author : cenazoic
       Score  : 54 points
       Date   : 2024-11-17 12:35 UTC (4 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.espn.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.espn.com)
        
       | jibcage wrote:
       | A very poignant and well-written piece, which only gets sadder as
       | you realize the scale and extent of these systemic issues landing
       | people in such places, and it's only getting worse.
        
       | drbig wrote:
       | This touches on the "everybody else in the discipline" aspect I
       | have been thinking about lately; my conclusion is that we have a
       | spectrum of inclusive to exclusive sports.
       | 
       | Think about snooker: to live off it you need to be really good,
       | as in train for 8+ hours a day, every day. The top player will
       | earn multiples of 250k GBP a year, but already a 3rd ranker will
       | at best do a "decent office job". Everybody else pays to play.
       | This is an exclusive sport.
       | 
       | But look at UTMB[1]: A guy having a day job and training a couple
       | of hours before and after work... was able to finish it under 100
       | hours, which is jaw-dropping. This is an inclusive sport.
       | 
       | Now pro boxing: you can't have a ranking without enough
       | contenders, and by definition there can only be one champion at a
       | time. So you have the champion, contenders, gatekeepers,
       | journeyman and... everybody else is the filler. It's an inclusive
       | sport, but by pure statistics most players will be filler.
       | 
       | 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultra-Trail_du_Mont-Blanc
        
         | yapyap wrote:
         | I think the difference between running and snooker is that
         | snooker is a skill you can train for 8 hours a day (with lots
         | of dedication) whereas running for 8 hours a day instead of a
         | bit before and a bit after work would yield more negative than
         | positive results due to exhaustion and injuries
        
         | Cthulhu_ wrote:
         | There's a few "things" that you can only make a living off of
         | if you're either really good, really dedicated, or really
         | lucky; art, music, sports, e-sports, pidgeoning, acting, social
         | media, etc.
        
         | Someone wrote:
         | I don't follow your argument. Snooker is exclusive because few
         | people can make a good living of it, and trial running is
         | inclusive because some people can get good results in it?
         | 
         | I bet there are people training their snooker an hour a day who
         | have scored 147s, and I also expect very few people can make a
         | good living doing trail running.
         | 
         | Isn't this more a matter of a sport being popular/having money
         | available? If there were millions of $ available in trail
         | running, that sub 100 hour might start looking "goo but not
         | spectacular"
        
           | drbig wrote:
           | The focus is not "making money of off it".
           | 
           | The main point is "can you compete while not being fully
           | dedicated to the sport (i.e. it being your literal day job)".
           | 
           | And my examples along the spectrum: running - boxing -
           | snooker, are just an example. Shared because I think it's an
           | interesting _aspect_ of looking at sports (one of many
           | aspects!).
        
             | sabbaticaldev wrote:
             | Alex Poatan, double UFC champion, was a tire repairman and
             | alcoholic before/while becoming multimillionaire fighting.
        
               | Takennickname wrote:
               | Joe Lauzon was a network admin. He decided that being
               | punched in the face was a better job.
        
       | yapyap wrote:
       | Just got done reading it, it's a sad but beautiful piece.
        
       | jeegsy wrote:
       | > He points up at the perfect blue sky. "I'll see him again."
       | 
       | By the time I got to this line, I could not stop the tears.
        
       | ablation wrote:
       | What a fantastic piece of writing. Gripping. Thanks for posting
       | it.
        
       | littlekey wrote:
       | Hopefully it's not taken in poor taste to compare the situation
       | to a video game, but I can't help but think of Cyberpunk 2077's
       | Dogtown. This zone that's become a den of all sorts of sad
       | behavior, ruled by martial law.
       | 
       | That being said, I get the impression the author has a flair for
       | the dramatic. On a whim I clicked on a random restaurant there on
       | Google Maps (Red Rooster Overtown) and it was described as an
       | "Artful restaurant offering Southern comfort food with a twist,
       | plus craft cocktails, and happy hours." Doesn't exactly sound
       | like a hellhole to me, though I guess it has been 15 years and a
       | lot can change.
        
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