Tuesday, June 21, 2011

New York State Assembly Opts for More Underground Shows... Again

Another year, another dance with the New York State legislature.  This time around, Zuffa put a lot of public pressure on the Powers That Be - holding a press conference at Madison Square Garden, handing out T-shirts, writing an op-ed piece in the New York Daily News, sacrificing virgins, etc.  And once again it was all for naught.  Oh well.  By now you have to damn stupid to get your hopes up that the folks in Albany will sanction a sport that's sanctioned in 45 other states.  The upside to all this nonsense, though, is that we now have a pretty well-mobilized grassroots movement, we have a clearer picture of who the sport's enemies are (Assemblyman Herman Farrell in Ways and Means, I'm looking at you), and we have greater public awareness.  Also, when RAW COMBAT, my book on the New York underground fight scene, comes out in the fall, people can beat Farrell, Bob Reilly and Sheldon Silver over the heads with it.  Literally, just beat them over the heads.