Friday, February 29, 2008

MMA Fighting on Prime-Time TV

CBS has decided to infuse it's ratings by broadcasting 4 MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) events on Saturday nights. Not a good thing in my opinion.

UPDATE: Maybe this is why they're doing this: CBS profit falls more than 14%

I’ll have to admit to watching a few of these events which are presently only on Cable channels. I think the one I watched was on some sort of Cable Reality show.

Pretty brutal stuff. My biggest objection is the influence on the kids. You know they are going to imitate this. I mean, come on, they imitated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and WBF. So what makes CBS thing that they won’t imitate this? I remember some news report of a young boy killing a little girl after applying some WBF moves.

Can you imagine school kids during recess practicing ‘choke holds’ or elbow dislocating arm locks?

You know, we really don’t need to promote this anyway. Yesterday, I read an article that said 1 out of every 100 Americans is behind bars, in prison.

Not a good idea CBS. Now I’m not saying bring “Purple Barney” to Saturday night prime-time, but we’ve come a long way from “The Walton’s”

Keep this stuff as a pay-per-view event which is how it stands now.

Anyway, here’s the story:

“Cage Fighting” slugs its way on to prime-time TV

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - CBS is bringing mixed martial arts, the bone-crunching combat sport popularly known as "cage fighting," to prime-time television this spring, the U.S. network said on Thursday.


Branded as barbaric by critics in the 1990s for its lack of rules, mixed martial arts, or MMA, has evolved into a more mainstream sport that bars biting, eye-gouging, head-butting and strikes to the groin.

But fierce punching, kicking, karate, judo and wrestling moves -- with no protective gear -- are still very much a part of the sport.

One of its biggest stars, the bald, bearded Kimbo Slice, has become a YouTube.com sensation for video clips showing him punching his adversaries into submission within 30 seconds. The sport remains unsanctioned in more than a dozen states.

Beginning in April or May, CBS plans to broadcast four MMA events each year as two-hour live specials airing on Saturday nights, a time period once reserved for such family fare as "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," "The Bob Newhart" and "The Carol Burnett Show." MORE

1 comment:

  1. I am catholic, I love God, family, and friends as well. I am getting my MA in theological studies over here on the east coast, but I also enjoy MMA. I participate in the sport (for fun, not for competition) and although I see your point on the brutality of it all there is discipline and respect between fighters. after the fight it is awesome to see the fighters congratulate one another. I do not think kids should partake in armbars at recess, but I think it would be ok if they were in an environment like a gym or a dojo. Besides if the parents do not want their kids to see it, set their V-chip or whatever.

    PD

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