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Techie Fight Clubs Springing Up

Browncoat writes "USAToday reports a new phenomenon hitting some of the cubicles of Silicon Valley. It seems that engineers and developers previously confined to sitting in front of their computers are getting their anger out the healthy way: by pummeling each other. From the article 'Inspired by the 1999 film Fight Club, starring Brad Pitt and Ed Norton, underground bare-knuckle brawling clubs have sprung up across the country as a way for desk jockeys and disgruntled youths to vent their frustrations and prove themselves. "This is as close as you can get to a real fight, even though I've never been in one," the soft-spoken Siou said.'"

21 of 648 comments (clear)

  1. Weenie Club by Skyshadow · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Weird, I don't remember Fight Club being about a bunch of dorks in headgear smacking each other with sticks until one of them got a bloody nose while spouting poorly-paraphrased movie quotes at some bored reporter.

    Aside from which, I loved how they worked in this:

    Earlier this month in Arlington, Texas, a high school student who didn't want to participate was beaten so badly that he suffered a brain hemorrhage and broken vertebrae. Six teenagers were arrested after DVDs of the fight appeared for sale online.

    So exactly when did "getting your ass kicked by a bunch of jerks" turn into being "an unwilling Fight Club participant"? I suppose next we'll be hearing about how Ken Lay and company were actually just repeating what they learned by watching "Wall Street" at the executive team-building offsite? Or how the well-abused Zonk and ScuttleMonkey voodoo dolls on my desk are actually just a result of my having seen part of "The Craft" one time on HBO?

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  2. I'm sorry, but... by Kagura · · Score: 5, Funny

    Doesn't this article violate the first and second rules of fight club?

    1. Re:I'm sorry, but... by Tackhead · · Score: 5, Funny
      > Doesn't this article violate the first and second rules of fight club?

      It's geek fight club. There is no second rule; only a zeroth, first, and tenth rule.

      Rule #0: You start counting from zero.
      Rule #1: Do not talk about geek fight club.
      Rule #10: Do not talk about geek fight club.
      Rule #11: Only two bits to the rules.

    2. Re:I'm sorry, but... by Pollardito · · Score: 5, Funny

      i suppose you've already answered my follow-up question :

      "what kind of two-bit fight club is this?"

  3. There's no need for RL violence by UmberGryphon · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The teams I've been on have always handled stress by Quake/Unreal Tournament/etc. deathmatching. What's the appeal of brawling? Same thrill of victory, longer-lasting agony of defeat.

    1. Re:There's no need for RL violence by kfg · · Score: 5, Funny

      What's the appeal of brawling?

      Depends on how big an asshole you are.

      KFG

  4. Unsupport claims by remembertomorrow · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Men involved in fight clubs often carry bottled-up violent impulses learned in childhood from video games, cartoons and movies, said Michael Messner, a University of Southern California sociology and gender studies professor.

    Is this fact, or just poor reporting?

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    1. Re:Unsupport claims by nsmike · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Men involved in fight clubs often carry bottled-up violent impulses learned in childhood from video games, cartoons and movies, said Michael Messner, a University of Southern California sociology and gender studies professor.

      Read:

      Men involved in fight clubs often carry bottled-up violent impulses learned in childhood from jocks, jerks and bullies, said Michael Messner, a University of Southern California sociology and gender studies professor, who got the sh*t kicked out of him every day for wanting to be a gender studies professor.

  5. I hate people by bigtangringo · · Score: 5, Funny

    Men involved in fight clubs often carry bottled-up violent impulses learned in childhood from video games, cartoons and movies, said Michael Messner, a University of Southern California sociology and gender studies professor.

    Dear Michael Messner,

    Please accept this large steaming cup of shut the hell up.

    Sincerely,

    BigTanGringo

    --
    Yes, I am a smart ass; it's better than the alternative.
  6. Utopian Nostalgia by GeekLife.com · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Men involved in fight clubs often carry bottled-up violent impulses learned in childhood from video games, cartoons and movies, said Michael Messner, a University of Southern California sociology and gender studies professor.

    Hopefully we can someday return to the world where none of thoseexisted, and men never fought each other.

    1. Re:Utopian Nostalgia by linvir · · Score: 5, Funny

      Dude, he's a university professor! Don't try to lecture him on common sense! He knows sociology! One day you're just walking along the street, whistling some new Eminem song, and BAM!!, he descends from the rafters, slices your head off with a 200-page dissertation on the causal relationship between videogames and violence, and gets like 6000 boners all at once. And that's what I call Real Ultimate Power!

  7. Re:No weapons! by mepex · · Score: 5, Informative
    Using your fists on someone ... that I can see. The damage level is low (unless you're trained) and you get really tired really quickly.
    Being married to a health care professional and hearing the stories of the ER, I know (secondhand) how wrong this is. Broken orbital bones happen all the time. Broken hands can take years to heal, and hurt like hell (just ask Fernando Vargas). The one picture in TFA shows a guy trying to knee another guy in the head. You get lucky and land flush, you're talking brain bleed, easily fatal. Actually, in my limited time of martial arts sparring when I was young, I noticed that it was the novices and not the experts that seemed to hurt and get hurt more often than the experts. But this was sparring for points, not for damage.
  8. Obligatory. by mattpointblank · · Score: 5, Funny

    His name is Linus Torvalds.
    His name is Linus Torvalds.

  9. Re:Repetition Club by linvir · · Score: 5, Insightful
    It's sad, too, because if people would give it a rest I actually liked the book and the movie.
    You know, you are allowed to like them despite a load of other people being dicks about it. Kind of like the internet.
  10. Re:No weapons! by Adult+film+producer · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "Hitting someone with a frying pan? What fool would take that?

    But using a blunt object? If you're anything other than a spaz, you'll crush a few ribs the first time you connect. Then the fights over.
    "

    We live in a nation where 45% of eligible voters believe the world is 6000 years old and their kids think WWF wrestlers are quality role models to be emulated.... It doesn't surprise me at all that people are smacking each other around with frying pans.

  11. Re:Repetition Club by Morten+Hustveit · · Score: 5, Funny

    I am sick to death of Fight Club. People talking about it, [...]

    I take it most people didn't pay attention when they were told the first and second rules.

  12. MAYBE the reason Fight Club is so copied... by tetsu96 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    ...is that the themes in the book / movie really hit home for a lot of people. Sitting back in your chair laughing at the idiots may be fun for the armchair warriors at large, but not everyone has really been tested and that was one of the core themes FC - how do you know what you've got if you never put it to the test? How do you know how you'll react to a fight when you've never been in one? How can you prove you've really pushed yourself to the limit without scars to show for it?

    And talk about a way to find out - if it's either kick some tail or get yours kicked in for you, I think that almost everyone would go into a full on a$$ kicking mode. At that point, it's the better man that wins but either way you're gonna push yourself harder than posting comments on a web site.

    For the office warrior who never got into a fight in his life, I can easily see this as thrilling beyond compare.

    I wouldn't recommend this to everyone, and there should probably be some safeguards put into this as even the UFC has rounds and referees to stop fights when it's clear that 1 person is taking too much of a beating, but I get it.

  13. Re:Repetition Club by Ucklak · · Score: 5, Funny

    I used to like Star Trek until I read about the ladies that are into this: http://www.thyla.com/fan-art.html

    --
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  14. The first rule of fight like a girl club is... by jheath314 · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...you do not talk about fight-like-a-girl club. For obvious reasons.

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    Procrastination Man strikes again!
  15. Re:No weapons! by molarmass192 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    According to a 2001 Gallup poll on the origins of humans, they estimate that 72% of Americans believe in some form of creationism (as defined above). They also estimate that about 45% of Americans concurred with the statement that "God created man pretty much in his present form at one time within the last 10,000 years."

    Supporting link, link, and right from the horse's mouth link.

    --

    Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws-Plato
  16. Re:Repetition Club by Skevin · · Score: 5, Funny

    > ok ok... s/hands/penis/ ...better?

    I took your advice and began coding with my penis instead of my hands. Everyone in my office is avoiding my cubicle now. On the plus side, I finally got other people to stop using my keyboard.

    Solomon

    --
    "Twice half-assed makes an ass whole." --Solomon K. Chang