One of the perks of being a sportswriter is the opportunity to cover just about every imaginable sporting event.
Through the years, either as part of my job or simply as a fan, I’ve attended events ranging from pee-wee football games to professional sports and everything in between.
When I’m not working, my television set often is tuned to either ESPN or whatever channel the Mariners are on. I grew up watching Monday Night Football with Howard Cosell and the program continues to be a staple of my fall television viewing habits.
Given the choice of watching a sporting event on television or attending it in person, the latter is nearly always preferable.
Part of the charm of going to a Seattle Mariners game is the ambiance of Safeco Field. By its very nature, baseball is a leisurely and laid back type of sport that sometimes doesn’t translate very well on the tube.
At the other end of the spectrum, the speed and inevitable collisions of hockey also are best experienced in person rather than on television.
While football is one of my favorite sports to watch on television, I’m not the biggest fan when it comes to attending Seahawks and Husky games.
Football is one of the more complicated sports. You can focus on three or four different aspects of the game on every play. Television, with its multiple camera angles and instant replay, does a pretty good job of giving you an overview of what’s going on.
But the main reason for my indifference to football is the wonderful fall weather in the Northwest. My last visit to Husky Stadium resulted in a mad scramble by a friend and I to find some dry seats on the south side of the covered stands when a downpour threatened to wash us away.
Perhaps I’m just not hardy enough, but the idea of sitting in near-freezing temperatures in Seahawks Stadium in November or December just isn’t that appealing.
I can only fathom what goes through the minds of people in the Midwest who often are bundled up with 50 pounds of layered clothing, but who still look like they’d rather be home in front of the fireplace sipping a hot chocolate.
Of all the sports out there, one in particular is best experienced live and in person — boxing.
Nothing can beat the grandeur and excitement of professional boxing. One Sports Illustrated writer once described the atmosphere before a major fight as smelling of “raw violence.”
Boxing has its critics, many of whom deride the sport as barbaric and corrupt. It’s difficult to totally disagree. You know all is not right in boxing when two of the sport’s most recognizable personalities are heavyweight Mike Tyson and promoter Don King.
But whatever problems the sport has are forgotten, at least temporarily, once the house lights dim and the spotlight shines on the two fighters in the ring.
Nothing is more compelling than watching two men (women’s boxing is a subject for another time) pound away at each other.
In an ideal bout, there are no distractions — no coaches calling timeout, no delay of game penalties and no yellow cards.
It’s just one man trying to impose his will on another. It’s about seeing which fighter has prepared himself the best for the bout. It’s about who has the most determination to continue on when he is in such pain that all he can think about is that he wants to quit.
For me, the boxer is the most courageous athlete of them all. How many professions are there where there is the very real chance that you may suffer a severe or even a life-threatening injury simply by doing your job?
In some ways, boxing has to be an incredibly lonely sport. When the bell rings, it’s just you, your opponent and the referee, who if he’s any good will stay out of the way.
If you lose, there is no one to blame but yourself. Conversely, if you win, no one is going to accuse you of being egotistical if you take most of the credit.
The last few years, the Enterprise has chronicled the rise of lightweight contender Martin O’Malley, an Edmonds native now fighting out of Arizona, where his parents reside.
O’Malley returns to the Northwest to face Luis Villalta in a North American Boxing Association title fight July 19 at the Emerald Queen Casino in Tacoma.
The 10-round bout has the potential to be an interesting fight since the two fighters have such contrasting styles. O’Malley is considered more of the boxer of the two, while Villalta is a brawler.
The winner gets a leg up on the pursuit of a title with an automatic top 10 ranking in the WBA, one of the three major governing bodies of the sport.
Whatever the result, both men deserve our respect for their willingness to bare their souls in the ring.
David Pan is sports editor of The Enterprise Newspapers. Questions and comments may be sent via e-mail to entsports@heraldnet.com, by fax to 425-774-8622 or by mail to: Sports editor, The Enterprise, 4303 198th St. SW., Lynnwood, WA 98036.
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