A Pro's Review of 2013

[Targan]

Originally Posted by Tegyrius

Not so true in mainstream America as it used to be. The culture of emasculation and lawsuits is trying very hard to supplant the frontiersman/warrior ethos.

That's sad. It is starting to go that way here too but it very much depends on the location and the social group, and bizarrely what sporting code you are into. In both Australian Rules Football and Rugby we don't wear padding and a certain amount of on-field "biffo" is kind of expected. There is no physical contact allowed in cricket so that crowd are kind of soft Of course there is no physical contact allowed in soccer either but there is that weird tradition of "soccer hooliganism" that I can't quite explain.

Quite a few of my friends are either ex-military or surfers or both so we handle disputes a bit of the old fashioned way, either "taking it outside" for a "fair fight" or, if things have REALLY escalated we move to what the army guys refer to as "big boys' rules". Then it can get quite nasty.

Unfortunately increasing number of Australian city boys are turning into pansies though. Out in the country it is a whole different ball game. You would have to be very hard, a bit stupid or just plain insane to pick a fight with an outback Australian male. Most of those guys are hard as nails.