THE ONLY TIME IT IS OK TO HIT A WOMAN OR USE PHYSICAL FORCE

I had several hours in the car yesterday to listen to the talking heads and the topic dujour (or ad nauseam) was domestic violence and athletes. Greg Hardy has been, rightly or wrongly, given an outlet to tell his “story” and defend himself. People like him may be able to justify in their minds how they act or react, and like everything in life I can only tell you that my philosophies reflect the way I was brought up. There is really only one concrete and final answer in my book…

THE ONLY TIME IT IS OK TO HIT A WOMAN OR USE PHYSICAL FORCE

Never. Never. Never. 

No. No. No.

I had three older sisters growing up and my father, who was a Golden Gloves boxer had one rule for his only son–“you are never to hit your sisters.” (OK, he had other rules, but this one seemed particularly important to him–enough so that I remember him telling me at a very young age). He was happy to teach me to fight, and that came in handy the summer of ’76 when all of the boys in our Long Island neighborhood got hooked on the Olympic boxing team and beat the heck out of each other in our back yards. (We did it on a mat, with gloves and a timer and I think we all came out unscathed).

I think we came out unscathed–wait, I said that already…    🙂

The U.S. Olympic boxing team won seven medals on the night of July 31, 1976 in Montreal. The haul for the American fighters included five gold, one silver, and one bronze.

Several members of the 1976 team went on to win professional championships, including Boxing Hall of Fame member Michael Spinks and his brother Leon Spinks. After turning professional, Leon Spinks won the heavyweight championship, defeating none other than Muhammad Ali.

Other gold medal winners on the 1976 U.S. Olympic boxing team include Leo Randolph who won the bantamweight title; lightweight Howard Davis, and Sugar Ray Leonard, who won the gold as a light welter weight. Leonard had a spectacular professional career and is considered to be one of the greatest boxers of all time.

Other than chasing my sister Cindy around the house when I was 8 with a butter knife  (which got me the belt, that was rare, so lighten up….) I never  hit my sisters. Never means never, no means no.

I don’t think I was ever even tempted to strike my sisters (or any female in my life) despite my sister Karen (who was probably our families best athlete and could have been a woman boxer in her hey day) pounding on me for some reason (she is a Yankee fan, so…).

I truly believe that any man or so-called man, who strikes a woman is really not a man and I don’t care if he’s a 6-10 275 pound NFL player or  a 5-5, 1 50 pound weakling.

I am not passing judgment on anyone; I have no right to do that. All I can say is I have absolutely zero respect for any man who does this and for any woman in an abusive relationship, my hope and prayer is for you is to get out of it–quickly.

He will get his eventually. Trust me.