I was watching the latest episode of Louis (starring Louis CK) tonight and realized when he said he had never beaten anyone up, neither had I. Incidentally, it’s a great episode, worth watching … but that’s for the TV forum.
I’ve been in tons of fights, hit guys in the face, gotten hit in the face, wrestled, been in punching matches, fended off muggers, pushed guys over car hoods, been threatened, threatened people . . . but I’ve never been beat up and never beat someone up.
By beat up, I mean some kind of vicious fight/beatdown where basically you or the other person is as your (or you at their) mercy. I guess I’ve disabled guys (kick to the nuts) but never stood over them with their shirt in my fist like in a comic book or something. Scary shit.
How about you, ever been anyone up or been beat up, or seen someone beat up? The fringes of violence as an adult are a scary and weird place, as seen in the Louis episode.
Boxing class at VMI - mandatory along with wrestling for Rats (freshmen). I pounded a guy pretty bad in my first bout for grade, only to have the pride completely beaten out of me the very next week in the second bout for grade. I didn’t get knocked down but got a split lip and a bloody nose, and was basically covering myself up as my opponent rained punches on me. That really sucked. The instructor called it after two.
My friend ordered our “gang” to beat up some kid on the playground in 1st grade. We pushed him off the fireman’s pole and then jumped on top of him. Then we ran away.
That is about as close to a fight as I’ve ever been in.
The closest I’ve come is scuffling with a former roommate who was trying to hit his girlfriend at the time. Wasn’t a proper fight since I was just trying to keep them apart and he wasn’t trying to hurt me at all. Still ended up with a blackened big toe.
My definition of beat up and yours seem like two different things. I have been kicked in the nuts and as far as I’m concerned that’s beat up.
One time in high school I went out with my friend’s girl friend and then promptly dented her '68 gold GTO parallel parking. She dumped. He and I squared off a few weeks later and I didn’t even want to fight him. He punched me in the eye and I said “ow!” really loud. He looked at my eye and saw it was going to swell up and then said he thought that was good enough. I remember my pride was hurt, but mostly I felt so relieved. I told him about the dent and he laughed at me and then turned me onto some pot. I was constantly taking ass lickings like that one in high school and good bit of my twenties. Every now and again I would bluff someone and “win” a fight, with no blows thrown. None of my friends would slap box with me because I was too uncoordinated and there was always the risk that I’d inadvertently lose control in the heat of battle and humiliate them with a slap to the face, and then we’d have to fight.
It sounds sad, but those were pretty good times, baby. That’s for sure.
Coincidentally, I just had a guy shove a gun in my face and demand all my cash about an hour or so ago. Needless to say, I complied, then called the cops as soon as he took off.
I’m a little shaken up. Thank God bars take credit cards, because I’ve never needed a drink so much in my life.
In middle school this bigger kid beat the snot out of me. I couldn’t keep my mouth shut and kept calling him a pussy even while I was bleeding. He was a lot bigger than me and I still wouldn’t cow to him.
Twenty years later he killed his ex and her lover in the middle of the street and then killed himself.
I was also jumped while in high school led by a serious jerk of a guy who liked to pick on smaller kids. A couple of years later he died in a high speed single vehicle accident.
I have taken a lot of beatings in my life and really only given a few, but I’ll never forget those.
I got in a few fights growing up, but they were mainly with kids I knew pretty well. The main thing was that I was generally bigger then most of my classmates in terms of height and build, but not fat. The only one that went beyond a few wild swings at each other was when I was in Boy Scouts and a friend of mine decided to pick on a kid who was mentally disabled. Not only was I senior in leadership to him, I just thought it wasn’t cool. My friend didn’t take well to being told what to do and we ended up taking some swings at each other. It ended pretty quickly, though. He had braces and I punched him in the mouth. ;-)
Glad you’re ok. I know how unnerving that is, was robbed at my dad’s store back in 1981. Guy walks in, I was mopping the wine room, drops a sawed-off shotgun down out of his raincoat and jams it into my stomach, basically holding me hostage while demanding the manager open the register and safe. I studied my feet quite intently for the next few minutes. She (the manager) was shaking so badly she couldn’t initially open the safe, and I’ll never forget the calm, casual way in which he said, “Don’t make me kill this boy.” Even worse was being led into the back storage room and made to kneel down in the far corner. . .my entire body was so tense waiting for the sound of that shotgun going off, but I heard the door shut instead. It took about 5 minutes before the shakes hit me, but they lasted for probably a good 30 minutes. I was 17 and wouldn’t allow myself to cry–man, but I wanted to–but I couldn’t stop the shaking.
Anyways, glad to hear he just ran off Damien.
Haven’t been in a fight since 1988, stupid bar fight that could’ve been easily avoided sans alcohol’s evil influence. Trash got talked, we went outside, I threw him down, fell across his torso, smacked my head off the parking lot pavement, he grabbed my crotched and squeezed while I was stunned, I pounded him in the head a few times to make him let go, end of fight. Woke up the next morning with a scab on my forehead, and when it fell off a week later I discovered a small pebble imbedded in my head. Flicked it off and enjoyed a small indentation in my forehead for a year or so.
I was robbed, tied up and bashed one time when walking home drunk. Not going to do that again. I’m really glad no guns were involved, though; glad you’re OK, Damien.
