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- Newsgroups: rec.martial-arts
- Path: sparky!uunet!enterpoop.mit.edu!bloom-picayune.mit.edu!athena.mit.edu!ras
- From: ras@athena.mit.edu (Richard A Shandross)
- Subject: Re: How do real fights start? (was Women's self-defense success stories!)
- Message-ID: <1993Jan22.172127.16275@athena.mit.edu>
- Sender: news@athena.mit.edu (News system)
- Nntp-Posting-Host: e40-008-11.mit.edu
- Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- References: <memo.881091@cix.compulink.co.uk>
- Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1993 17:21:27 GMT
- Lines: 38
-
- In article <memo.881091@cix.compulink.co.uk> bburgar@cix.compulink.co.uk writes:
- >I'd be interested to know (from a wide sample of people) how fights start.
- >
- >
- >If you have been in any situation that "kicked off", how did it start?
- >Was the first move a push, a grab, a punch, a kick, a headbutt etc?
- >What was the follow up and your counter etc.
- >How much talk was there before the physical action started and what words
- >pushed it over the edge into becoming physical?
- >At what range did all of the above occur?
- >
- >
- >Bill Burgar.
-
-
- Maybe this falls more into the category of how do fights end, or both:
-
- I was walking home through the parking lot of a shopping center and saw two
- guys going at it. It was clear that one guy was in control, toying with the
- other guy, who was drunk. The drunk seemed to be the aggressor, and the MAist
- was playing a sort of "don't push me, I don't want to fight" kind of game...
- yet he was not really de-escalating. I sensed that he wanted to kick the guy's
- butt... he wanted to be pushed into it.
-
- I approached and tried some de-escalation. I started talking to the MAist,
- saying "What are you letting him get you mad for? He's not worth it." The guy
- responded with a sort of shrug and looked back at the drunk. The drunk heard
- me and started paying attention to me instead of the other guy. He walked over
- to me and said something along the lines of "What the hell do you want? I'm a
- vet; this guy insulted me, blah blah." I could see the MAist head towards his
- car. The drunk took a swipe at my face and brushed my glasses off my face.
- Everything happened fast, so I'm not *quite* sure what I did, but I think I
- just quickly grabbed his wrist and quickly let go. I said "I didn't mean
- anything by it, man," and looked him right in the eye. He may have scowled,
- may have mumbled something, I don't remember, but he walked off to join some
- buddies sitting on a bench. I picked up my glasses and left.
-
- Rich
-