Sporting an opinion

I have conflicting opinions on mixed martial arts. As a sports writer, MMA has the potential to send the lowest common denominator plummeting somewhere between WWE wrestling and "Gladiator"-era, um, gladiating.

(As an aside, I have a hard time imagining anyone in ancient Rome interviewing the athletes after a gladiator fight ... "Yeah, I didn't get killed today," Hudsonius said. "That's pretty much the goal any time you go out there, really. I didn't have my best sword on me, but that's what separates the good fighters from the bad ones - they come out alive even on days when they aren't wielding their best sword.")

As a sports writer, I'll take hockey any day (which, by the way, got its butt kicked in the local TV ratings, with Game 5 of the Stanley Cup finals going up against MMA in the same timeslot Saturday night).

The appeal of MMA is that it has more legitimatacy than WWE wrestling, but no more intellectual appeal. In that sense it's perfect: Watching MMA brings out the idiot in all of us, but without the fear of being made fun of for watching it. That's fine. The guys are good athletes, no doubt. Some of my best friends are WAY into it. I know of at least a couple former high school and college wrestling champions who are competing in MMA these days. I know first-hand how hard they worked to attain their skill level, and it's impressive. Take nothing away from them - but they weren't the main draw when MMA made its network TV debut last night.

No, that would be one Kevin Ferguson (AKA Kimbo Slice). The anti-Kimbo Slice argument is that he preys on the public's repressed stereotype of the Scary Black Man, and that he was rushed into prime-time TV having competed in just a handful of fights because he so perfectly fits the stereotype. Never mind the former collegiate wrestling champions in MMA who have worked all their lives to get to this stage; no, their stories feel too good for TV. Ferguson -- I think I'm going to call him "Ferguson" because it's less exploitative and closer to the truth -- is the sort of polarizing antihero that makes for good ratings, both because of, and in spite of, his qualifications as a "former street brawler from Miami."

Anyway, Ferguson is now 3-0 in his MMA career after beating Some White Guy From England. By contrast, Andre Ward is a 24-year-old boxer from Oakland with an Olympic gold medal to his credit, is a devout Christian with a wife and two children, sports a 15-0 record as a professional for goodness sakes, and how many times have you seen him on network TV? Perhaps the reason "boxing is dead" is because of guys like Ward, whose stories and image are just so darn good that you can't sell them to the much lower-minded American public.

You want to hold up an example of The Dumbing Down of America at its worst? Thank you, MMA. On Saturday night, you just made it 100% easier