NiftyNiblick
1960s Chick Magnet
Did you box for entertainment or recreation? Not a thing wrong with competitive Sports... just swim in your own lane...
That's a VERY interesting question.
There are several different prevalent motivations for people in competitive sports.
Some people have what's know as fierce competitive extinct.
I never felt the need to measure my penis against the next next man's.
I never gave a enough of a damn about the next man.
I like dogs.
Some people have a deep seated desire for recognition.
They wish to be appreciated for existing. For having their abilities recognized and admired.
That doesn't sound much like me either.
On a really, really bad day, I've been known to curse my parents for my existing.
Only a tiny percentage of the people walking the planet have ever known who I am,
and that works fine for me.
Next item. The remuneration for success in sports can be generous.
That's a motivation for many athletes.
Some see it as their only likely conduit to a comfortable or perhaps even privileged lifestyle.
My purses from small time pro boxing paid for my gasoline card, my dates,
and my horse betting money.
It wouldn't have been enough for books and tuition, I don't think.
If I had to actually live on it,
I'd wash down a bottleful of seconal capsules with a fifth of Scotch.
So now I've crossed off three of the biggest motivators for athletes.
So what was mine?
Well, I hated jock culture in school, so schools sports were out.
I loved watching boxing with my dad, and playing golf with my uncles.
There were my competitive and recreational sports, both of them, right before my eyes.
I participated because I loved doing it it. That's it.
It wasn't the competition with others. It wasn't recognition. It wasn't material reward.
It was the joy of pursuing excellence at something that was fun.
I learned that maximum attainable excellence
can only come from the relentless pursuit of unattainable perfection.
An Italian football coach from Wisconsin said that, and it turned out to be true.
He also should have mentioned that you're more willing to work at something
at which you turn out to be pretty good.
I hated both exercise and dieting more than any other person who's ever lived,
but I enjoyed boxing enough to do both beyond a level
than a non-athlete has to even consider.
I did the roadwork and the gym work,
but sometimes cheated on the dieting
and turned to diuretics and laxatives to make weight for fights.
Then I'd still beat my opponent in that weakened condition.
IDIOT FUCKING NIFTY.
And then came the graduation and the Army
and then came the Gestapo after that
and that became a time when boxing needed to become a spectator sport again.
Recreational golf was still fun until my back gave out a couple of years ago.
That was a bummer.,
but I've got my family, including the Avatar, so I'm good.