Just A Reminder That Mixed Martial Arts Is Not Legal in New York

So I’m surfing through the blogosphere, doing my thing, when I happen upon this story on Deadspin about a 12-year-old getting trampled by a bull. The child was in a bull riding competition when he was thrown from his large animal and stepped on. Richard Wayde Hamar died when his left ventricle was separated from his heart.

It’s a truly awful story. I feel terrible for his family and friends.

Unfortunately, I’m kind of callous. The kid died doing what he loved. From Deadspin:

“That’s what that kid lived to do,” his mother said.

Despite Sunday’s tragic accident, Hamar said, she wouldn’t have done anything different.

“You can’t keep your kids locked up in a closet,” she said. “There are some kids who take motocross racing, and we take our kids rodeo riding.”

This is the part of the post where I remind you that MMA is illegal in New York State and bull riding is not. Just a couple months ago the Pro Bull Riders were in upstate NY doing a show. The politicians throwing a fit trying to keep MMA out of my state don’t seem to give a shit about the dangers of bull riding.

Let’s revisit one of classic anti-MMA quotes from Assemblyman Bob Reilly:

In boxing, you don’t hit someone when they’re down.

Hmm. Did that bull hit Richard Wayde Hamar with an upper cut?

So why no outcry in New York over bull riding? Because they understand bull riding. It’s old and simple. (Just like the politicians! Zing!) It’s some asshole in a cowboy hat trying to hang onto the back of an unwilling giant animal. Such beauty! Maybe if only one of the fighters in MMA were a willing participant New York politicians would be more welcoming.