Many peace-loving souls may be pleased to hear that boxing as a spectator sport is in trouble. The days of crowd-pulling Ali v Foreman contests are over, attendances are dropping, TV revenue is falling, and blockbuster household star names are becoming increasingly thin on the ground. In fact the main claim to fame for boxing today is its influence on underwear - shorts.

Thank goodness that such a barbaric sport with more federations than fighters is going downhill fast. Now there is an opportunity to sit back and watch some really noble and civilised entertainment - like girls fighting on Youtube and extreme fighters beating the holy crap out of each other, no holds barred.

Girls video fight

I watched the hideous bout between two members of the fairer sex who were videoed beating the snot out of each other at school, egged on by class mates. Not particularly tasteful and artistic, no ringside doctors in attendance, but at least the two girls put on a great show, and it is hard to beat that sort of free entertainment.

Extreme fighting

And then there is extreme fighting where every bout is brutal and bloody, but at least the baying crowds are left breathless and pumped up. Yes, those guys fighting in cages offer real bang for your buck.

Extremely boring fighting

Contrast those two examples of high octane scrapping with a slo-mo lo energy boxing match that I saw earlier this week. I don't hang around sports bars normally, but Mrs Ed was away and I was being a bachelor, chomping on turkey legs while watching the big fight. Jeez, to think someone paid to broadcast two oversize barrels with broken noses lumbering around the ring swinging and stumbling, trying to look pugilistic. Not impressed, and I felt like asking for a proportion of my meal money back to compensate me for the waste of eyesight.

So, after experiencing that level of ringside boredom,I would have to say that boxing is great yawn TV, and if fight promoters are going to stay in business, they need to think of alternative forms of combat.

A couple of fighting options

Pondering the possibilities, I wonder if extreme schoolgirl fighting will ever be the rage? Any volunteers? Coming from a playground near you...

Or perhaps they should channel the violence in shopping malls and promote freestyle mall brawls. Offer prizes of a 10 minute supermarket shopping spree. With the way food prices are heading, that is no mean prize, and winners would probably end up with a higher net worth than Mike Tyson has now. Any ideas?

I was in San Francisco getting the low down on (SSB) single side band radios. A seminar presenter, Captain Marti, told a story about the sea rescue of a sailorman who was suffering from a bad case of emphysema. Without missing a beat, a member of the audience quipped, "Is there such a thing as a good case of emphysema?"

Gold plated Email

You may have absolutely no clue or interest in SSB radios, and to be honest, it was all very radio hammy and full of geeky kilohertz radio wave references that flew straight over my head, (which is what they are designed to do, I suppose). However, my ears pricked up when she got into SSB radio's email capabilities, a subject a bit more down to earth and at my level.

SSB radios offer you the truly madly most expensive email service ever conceived. If you are at sea, it could set you back $1200 for a modem! plus $300 a year for a service, allowing you access for 10 minutes a day!

Sheet. If we ever go sailing, I will have the perfect excuse never to stay in contact with family and friends. Having said that, blogging will become a precious pastime. The Pisstakers could tout itself as one of the most expensive-to-run free blogs on the internet. I guess I better start filling up the blank spaces with adverts.

Want to buy a radio?

After waving good bye to the grim state, aka New Jersey, we drove and drove and finally arrived in Washington state. As expected, Seattle was friendly and cool, but it wasn't the scenery that put the spring back in our step after 52 hours non-stop driving. It was the North West's drink of choice.

Quad breve, pah.

When you can hardly think, let alone stand, the best legal medication is an espresso. Being from out of state, I thought I would mix it up a bit and asked for an octo breve with extra cream and a pound of sugar. I got a funny look until the server worked out the price, and she was all smiles. I hoped the caffeine overload would help me come around, perhaps just before falling into a jerky sugar coma... As expected, it hit the button and I got the spring back in my step. Enough spring to fall into bed.

Trouble is, the espresso effect is fast - and the benefits of caffeine didn't last till the morning.

Toyota comfort, pah

I woke up feeling like a 300lb stripper had tip toed over my lower back. Thank you Toyota! In terms of reliability and economy, Camrys rock, but thanks to the bastard nippons' barebones approach to car seat comfort, my sciatic nerve had broken down. It took 2 trips to the chiro practictioner, lots of moans and groans, and a bottle of placebo pain killers to rearrange my spine, from the bones in my ass to my elbow.

Life is good

Anyway, enough of the complaining. Long story short, we found what we were looking for on the West coast, and traded a spot in a nice rural house in Seattle for a half dismantled sail boat in a boat yard in Californ-ia. Life is good!

It is hard not to have a good time sharing a single bed with Mrs Ed, huddling up against the freezing wind gusting off the bay. And my back is fine, thanks for asking.

And if the Verizon modem thing can sort itself out, I may even be able to blog a bit more now. We shall see.

Hasta luego, as we say around here. And thanks to the commenters and visitors who kept this blog barely alive. (Barely is a relative term, there are still over 1000 visits a week, go figure!