D'Arcy Waldegrave: Combat sports' contributions to the Darwin Awards

The recent explosion of side-show violence masquerading as sport and the associated media coverage has been quite the eye opener. Basically, it's a Darwin Award trilogy. Combat sports’ way of contributing to the awards which recognize individuals who have aided human evolution by removing themselves from the gene pool by dying or becoming sterilized under their own steam.  

The first of the new look Darwin Award games was the wince inducing Power Slap. The two people slapping each other game has been around for a while now, created by UFC Empresario Dana White. Nothing subtle about this. One contestant stands still whilst the other contestant slaps them in the face with all the power they can muster. They then trade places. Defenceless. Sitting duck stupidity if you will.  

Part two of the ‘can’t look away car crash’ triptych was released onto an unsuspecting public in the form of Run It Straight. An Australian game that has chosen to replicate the collisions found in rugby and rugby league. Zero subtleties here, one contestant runs flat out at the other one, holding a ball to give the exchange some tenuous connection to sport. They collide. That’s it. That’s the game. Dumber than a bag of hammers.  

The third instalment of the trilogy is the Dan Hooker driven One Minute Scrap. Dan is a UFC fighter who holds a series of one minute stand up punch ups in his back yard. You have one minute to knock the other participant into next week. Agricultural if you will.   

There are common denominators here: 

1. Appeals to the very baseline of the human psyche. Beat someone up. I’m tougher than you, I win. Straight out of the stone-age.  
2. The end goal is money. Money. Dirty cash I want you, dirty cash I need you, oh.  
3. Clickbait. It’s all there to hook straight into the veins of the bored social media hordes. Easy to understand, quick, violent.  
4. The rules are so incredibly simple, even the most mentally challenged can understand them. Indeed, the contestants appear to be in that same class.  

All these pastimes (not sport) are a sad but wholly predictable reflection on the current state of humanity.  

But before we get too judgey on this, let’s not forget that in our so-called advanced society, we still resort to war to settle our differences. Physically we’ve left the cave, but mentally we are still very much there.  

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the All Sport Breakfast podcast with Darcy
Waldgrave from News Talks EDB his News.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Talks HEB on the All Sport Breakfast. That is seven
twenty nine strange last few weeks. A recent explosion of
what what do you call it? Sideshow violence and associated
media coverage has been It's got quite an eye opener,
or if you keep punching the face, quite an eye closer. Basically,
it's the dar On Award trilogy. It's combat sports way

(00:33):
of contributing to the awards, which recognize individuals who have
aided human evolution by removing themselves to the gene pool
by dying or becoming sterilized under their own steam. The
first of the new look dar On Award games is
the WinCE inducing Power Slap. The two people slapping each
other game has been around for a while now, created

(00:54):
by UFC impresario Dana White. Nothing subtle about this. One
contestant stands still whilst the other contestants slaps them in
the face of all the power they can muster. Then
they trade placers. Is defenseless, sitting duck stupidity if you will,
Part two of the I Can't Look away car crash
tripteck was released to an unsuspecting public in the form

(01:16):
of Run It Straight, an Australian game that has chosen
to replicate the collisions found of rugby and rugby League.
Zero suttled is Here. One contestant runs flat out at
the other, one holding a ball, though to give the
exchange some tenuous connection to sport. They collide. That's it.
That's the cane dumb with than a bag of hammers.

(01:38):
The third installment of the trilogy is the Dan Hooker
driven one Minute Scrap Danzyfca fighter who holds a series
of one minute stand up punch ups in his backyard.
You have one minute to not the other participant into
next week agricultural if you will. There are common denominators here.
At one, it appeals to the very baseline of the

(01:59):
human psyche. Beat someone up, well, I'm tough with the
new I wind. It's straight out of the stone age. Two.
The end goal is money, money, money, money, dirty cass
wan't you dirty cats? And you do well? Three clickbait.
It's all we had to hook straight into the veins
of the board social media hoards. It's easy to understand.
It's quick, it's violent, its instant gratification. And four, the

(02:22):
rules are so incredibly simple even the most mentally challenged
can understand them. Indeed, the contestants appear to be in
that same class all of these pastimes because they're not
a sport. Right there, they're sad but wholly predictable reflection
on the current state of the human race. But before
we get to judgy on this, don't forget that even

(02:46):
the most advanced of our civilizations, as we think, still
end up reducing themselves to violence to solve their problems.
You take a look at all the wars around the planet.
Nothing has changed it all. We think we've grown up,
we think we're sophisticated, but it all comes back to
that base level. I'm bigger than you. I'm going to

(03:08):
beat you up. I win so very sad. It's seven
point thirty two d.

Speaker 1 (03:16):
For more from The All Sport Breakfast with Darcy Watergrave,
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