Sports: On Sportsmanship

Brock Lesnar is the current UFC heavyweight champion, and he at least looks the part - the guy is massive, dwarfing the other heavyweights. Add in extensive college wrestling experience (Lesnar was an NCAA Division I champion), a crash course in fighting from Minnesota Martial Arts Academy, and a chip on his shoulder, and you get somebody who can pulverize:



But the actual fight with Frank Mir at UFC 100 was really only half the story. The other half was Lesnar's conduct after the fight, where he displayed antics seemingly carried over from the WWE. In a sport where 99% of the fighters shake hands or even hug each other at the end of bouts, it's disconcerting to see someone literally taunt an opponent that he had just beaten.

The double middle fingers to the crowd and the crude reference to having sex with his wife were sort of superfluous at that point; the damage was done. But, I'll give Brock credit - he spoke out in a public apology that actually appeared to be genuine. Sort of like that hypercompetitive jock in high school who can't turn it off when the bell rings: