e Halloween Carnival Another One of Life’s Darkest Moments

Another One of Life’s Darkest Moments

During my high school military years, I was a boxer. My freshman year I found out that troop B was the regimental champion  VY  `LHYZ PU H YV^ Weekends, our only time off, were great, but we couldn’t leave campus. To help keep the cadets happy, a boxing match was scheduled, and I was part of it. Most high schools in the US had canceled boxing as it was too brutal of a sport for the American psyche. Therefore, ^LOHK[VÄNO[IV_PUNJS\IZHZHUVWWVULU[)V_PUNJS\IZ \Z\HSS` OHK  [V  `LHY VSKZ ^OPJO [OL TH[\YP[` YHUNL compared to a freshman in high school just wasn’t a fair match. When I saw my opponent for that Saturday, it didn’t instill T\JO JVUÄKLUJL/L^HZVM HSLHUT\ZJ\SHYI\PSK^P[O H OLPNO[VM»¹[OH[0Q\Z[HIV\[OHK[VQ\TWPUJOLZVMM[OL NYV\UK[VJVUULJ[HYPNO[JYVZZ0^HZKLÄUP[LS`V\[TH[JOLK in both maturity and height. To make things worse, my VWWVULU[ OHK H ZLTPZTPSL VU OPZ MHJL YLÅLJ[PUN [V[HS JVUÄKLUJLOPU[PUN[V[OLWVZZPISLULLKVMHUHTI\SHUJL[V take me back to the barracks after it was all said and done. His ÄYZ[W\UJO^HZYPNO[VU[VWVMT`OLHK^OPJOOHKTLZLLPUN stars before I had any time to load my guns. My corner man Mickey (my coach between rounds) yelled out immediately that it was an illegal punch because in boxing you can’t hit a man on top of the head. My opponent’s corner man was yelling back answering the verbal match to convince the referee of its legality. I was kind of proud of Mickey as he reminded me of the movie Rocky and his corner man. As I [OPURIHJRVU[OLTV]PLT`JVYULYTHU^HZHSZVPUOPZ»Z needing a shave and was not putting up with anyone’s guff. ;OLÄYZ[YV\UKWYVNYLZZLK0IL[OLOP[TLVU[VWVM[OLOLHK [PTLZHUK4PJRL`^HZNVPUNJYHa``LSSPUNH[[OLYLMLYLL about throwing the illegal punches. ;OL H\KPLUJL JVUZPZ[LK VM HIV\[  WLVWSL HUK 0 Z\YL hated to let them down by letting my opponent have his way with me. Just when I thought I was feeling the pressure, it got worse. I looked down from the ring and saw my mother who was supposed to be 300 miles away. She was wearing a heavy coat carrying an umbrella and two shopping bags walking towards me. I knew I was in trouble when she started climbing the stairs to the elevated ring. She made herself comfortable by hanging her coat and hat on the ring corner pole. As she worked her way through the ring ropes, the JYV^KOHKX\PL[LKKV^U[Y`PUN[VÄN\YLV\[^O`[OPZVSKLY By Noel Shumann women was trying to get into the ring. She yelled, “Get my boy out of the ring!” The referee stood by the corner to talk to her and said “ma’am, I can’t do that. Before he might have been a boy, but once he got into the ring, he became a man.” A lot of the crowd heard that comment and there was an immediate chant of “mama’s boy, mama’s boy”. I couldn’t help but think this was one of the biggest messes I have ever been in. Truly a dark moment in my life and there was no light at the end of the tunnel to be found. To make things worse, Mickey began to blame all of this on me. /L ZHPK¸[OPZ N\` `V\»YLÄNO[PUNMLLSZSPRLOL JHUW\ZO `V\ around, and you have to stop letting him do that. If he hits you on the top of the head one more time, you hit him between the legs and hit him hard.” “I can’t do that; it’s illegal”, I said. Mickey exclaimed “what in the heck do you think is happening YPNO[ UV^&  0M `V\ KVU»[ OP[ OPT 0»T UV[ NVPUN [V IL `V\Y corner man. ” My mother had now succeeded in getting through the ropes and into the ring where all the action was happening. The entire audience had picked up on the chant and “mama’s boy” was heard throughout the arena. The captain in charge VMHSSVM[OLÄNO[Z^HZJVTPUN\W[OLZ[HPYZ(SS0[OV\NO[^HZ that this will be the end of me. I’ve got the captain who is getting ready to give me a lecture about my mother crawling into the ring, and my corner man about to quit on me. The referee realized the ring was getting real crowded and raised OPZ HYTZ[V Z[VW[OLÄNO[4`VWWVULU[»Z JVYULYTHU JHTL PU[V[OLYPUNÄZ[ZKV\ISLK\WYLHK`[VÄNO[4PJRL`Q\Z[[VHKK to the chaos. The captain and his assistant were doing their ILZ[[VIYLHR\W[OLÄNO[;OPUNZ^LYLNL[[PUNYLHSJYV^KLKHZ ^LUV^OHKWLVWSLPU[OLYPUN;OLJHKL[ZLY]PJLTLU were either chanting or laughing. Finally, they got the ring cleared to start round two. My opponent hit me in the head one more time. I put the hardest uppercut I could throw right IL[^LLU[OLSLNZT`ÄYZ[IPNPSSLNHSTV]L0M`V\OH]LL]LY been to a boxing match and you see a low blow, the recipient of that usually bends over double in pain. My opponent did better than that, he hit the canvas squirming like a snake that OHKHULWPSLW[PJÄ[0Z[VVKV]LYOPTOHUKZVUT`OPWZKVPUN my best to imitate David after conquering Goliath. In the deep recess of my brain, I knew that if that guy got up, he was not only going to make me dizzy, he was going to decapitate me. My mother, the Captain and his assistant, and the two corner

men were all back in the ring. The crowds were still chanting and you would have thought it was the end of the World’s Heavy Weight Championship, not minding the fact I only ^LPNOLKWV\UKZ2UV^PUNT`TV[OLYKPKUV[ILSVUNPU that ring, I leaned over and forcefully told her that I would never speak to her again if she did not get back down where the spectators were. The Captain ordered everyone out of the ring except the referee and the boxers. With my opponent playing the situation to his advantage, he slowly pulled himself up the ropes like a ladder with a terrible grimace to make sure everyone knew the pain he was in. Hollywood needed this guy! 5V^MVY[OL YLZ[ VM[OL Z[VY`" ULP[OLY ÄNO[LY^VU VYSVZ[ HZ both of us were charged with fouls and it was declared no JVU[LZ[0M\SS`L_WLJ[LKOLH]`YHTPÄJH[PVUZMYVT[OL*HW[HPU HUK HU`VUL[OH[ RUL^TL HUKOHK^H[JOLK[OLÄNO[I\[P[ really didn’t turn out that way. The cadets realized Goliath had illegally pounded me on the head 40 plus times, and the smile on his face did not win himself any friends. I was the underdog, and they all saw the David in me. I had a meeting with the Captain and because he had experience with boxing he understood my one low blow was necessary. Mom promised me faithfully that she would never enter the ring again and she declared she did not want to see me box as long as I lived. If we were to do some Monday morning quarterbacking, as we like to call it today, the disqualifying of the entire event probably saved me from early dementia. Back in the day we didn’t know the damage that could be done from a hit to the head. Good thing I’m on borrowed time to tell more stories like this. But let’s face it, at my age, I’m not going to be back in the ring again!

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