EDITOR
Erin Gibson
OPINION
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Cliff Hicks
EDITORIAL
BOARD
Nancy Christensen
Brad Davis
Sam McKewon
Jeff Randall
Bret Schulte
Our
VIEW
No rest for
the wicked
Decision to reissue
Tyson s license a bad one
Mike Tyson will fight again.
And, although it was never really in doubt
that Tyson - the former heavyweight boxing
champion - would fight again, Nevada’s boxing
commission decided Monday that he would be
able to do so with a license and in a ring.
By now, nearly everyone knows Tyson’s
story: his rise from the streets; his early domi
nance in the ring; his troubles with the law; and
the culmination of it all, his ill-advised biting of
Evander Holyfield during a bout 15 months
ago.
After the ear-biting incident, Tyson had his
boxing license suspended, and some thought his
career as a professional fighter was over.
But Tyson is back. He may fight again
before year’s end. And although he has no
opponents lined up yet, it is almost certain that
he will wrangle a few contenders who are hun
gry tor the exposure and subsequent money that
Tyson’s comeback fight certainly will bring.
But if the world of boxing has any sense, it
will make sure that Tyson’s return to its profes
sional ranks will be accompanied by angelic
behavior both inside and outside the ring.
During Monday’s hearing, Nevada Boxing
Commission Chairman Elias Ghanem said
Tyson’s reinstatement was the fighter’s “one
chance,” and warned Tyson that any incident"
similar to the one that took place with Holyfield
would result in permanent revocation of his
license.
The problem with this warning lies in the
fact that it covers Tyson’s behavior only in the
ring. Alter only a few reputation-building years,
Tyson showed early on that his actions outside
of the ring were just as menacing as those he
presented to his willing opponents.
Domestic assault and rape are not the acts of
a responsible, professional or sane individual.
After looking back at Tyson’s behavior for the
last decade, a bite on the ear appears to be one of
his lesser atrocities.
Allowing a man who has broken these barri
ers of humanity with little remorse to enter the
professional world of boxing again is difficult
to approve.
But the boxing commission of Nevada
thinks Tyson deserves another chance. And,,
because the decision is solely theirs, it will
stand.
But for how long?
Will another fighter become a victim of
Tyson’s unbalanced nature? Will another person
close to Tyson fall under the uncontrollable rage
that he appears to hold? And how much will
Tyson’s re-entry into his inherently violent pro
fession foster that rage?
Only time will tell.
At Monday’s hearing, Tyson said “I’m the
only one who has to carry the weight of the
fool.”
Here’s hoping that Tyson doesn’t drag the
Nevada Boxing Commission and the boxing
world in general into that category along with
him.
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Mook’s
VIEW
mi m uwsm at-amto m..
Mama’s boy
Columnist steps out of the closet with pride
TODD MUNSON is a senior
broadcasting major and a
Daily Nebraskan colum
nist
For almost 23 years, I’ve been liv
ing a lie.
Well, in retrospect for the first line,
my life hasn’t exactly been a he.
Let’s call it a veil of false
masculinity.
Growing up, I’ve always
had problems with activities
which would be considered
manly. No power tools, sharp
objects or guns for me, thank
you very much. A manly man doing
manly things would be a bad %
description of myself.
Well, enough beating around
the bush, it’s time for me to
step out of the closet
I’m a mama’s boy.
That’s right, this young strap
ping buck is a mama’s boy, and \
he’s proud of it. Surprisingly /.
enough, admitting that wasn’t t
too hard considenng that I have "s
the most ace boom-boom moth
er in the world.
And conveniently enough,
today is her 29th birthday. Er,
scratch that 29 sounds a little
too gross. Let’s just say that
Mom is at an age where there is a
comfortable enough gap between
our ages that one wouldn’t think I
was bom in a thatched hut in a Third
World country.
Today, I’m proud to say that my
mom was the biggest influence on my
becoming who I am today. Cable TV is
a dose second, butWKRP can’t com
pare to home cooking.
By now you’re all wondering what
makes my mom so better than yours, so
don’tmindifl do.
She was bom and raised not in the
wuss town of Fargo, N.D., that some
other columnist thinks is the epicenter
of everything cool, but a few hundred
miles north in Ashland, Wis., a stone’s
throw from Lake Superior.
The stories ofher youth, confirmed
by her sisters, reveal a badass child
hood. In the summer, she’d play
Acapulco cliff diver by leaping off a
100- foot-tall ore dock on a regular
basis. In the winter, she once ice skated
7 miles across the Chequamegon Bay
to the town of Washburn. Oh, I almost
forgot to mention that the ice was as
thin as the paper you’re reading.
When she graduated from high
school, she bought a bitehin’ Z-28
Camaro, the kind that you only see at
car shows or in Hot Rod Magazine
these days. Gee, my mind must be slip
ping. I almost forgot to mention that
she always drove over the speed limit,
which was 85 mph back then, without a
seat belt, mind you.
Her adventurous ways rubbed off
aon as I was able
She taught me
jrything she knew
/' 'v
Matt Haney/DN f
about sports, beginning with swim
ming in the same frozen waters of Lake
Superior. My first solo bike ride is still
a vivid memory, mostly because! was
about hit by a car seomds after she let
go of the seat Maybe she wanted me
deacf but I’d like to mink she was just
gettihg me accustoiiied to dagger so
that I could follow in her footsteps and
become a daredevil on a sled Other
parents thought she was crazy instruct
ipg her kid to go down the off-limits
side of the local sled hill, but I thought
she was cool. Especially when she
proved it could be done.
However, there were a few short
comings to her sporting ways, but they
weren’t her fault. So what if I throw a
baseball like a girl, my mom taught me.
Then, there’s football, the sport that
boys in Nebraska are required to play
by order of law. I played in the peewee
league for one year but her advice of
falling as soon as I caught the ball, so I
didn’t get hurt, didn’t go over too well
with the coach.
The next fall, I learned to play ten
nis instead
Then, there’s her sense of wit and
humor. Again, years of too much tele
vision play a key role, but the backbone
of my style of humor comes from dear
old Mom. Any time you find some
thing funny, it wasn’t because I’m a
funny guy, it’s because my mom raised
me to be a funny guy.
Each summer, she taught die ways
of the road trip. Aside from freaky
night at ground zero of the French
Quarter, my favorite road trip memory
still makes friends jealous. Back
when other parents refused to let
their kids listen to the Beastie Boys,
, . we had “Licensed to 111”
\ cranked on one vacation.
Mom, you’d be proud to
| know Justin and I jammed
sspifr, • out to the very same tape on
/ our Colorado outing this
weekend Don’t be too mad
because I didn’t tell you I was
going, the postcard you should
have received by now explains
things.
Out of all of my mother’s great
virtues, she has two that tie for first
place. Naturally, since she still claims
me as her own, she qualifies as the
most patient woman in die world. If
any of you think I’m a hooligan now,
you should have seen me growing up. I
was the poster child for juvenile delin
quency, ami she kept me out of Juvey
Hall all by herself. As per her policy,
she says she’ll always love me, as long
as I don’t get an earring ora tattoo.
As I get closer to stepping out into
the real world, I realize she rocks
because she isn’t content with medioc
rity. When I got a C+ in Spanish 102,
she got an A in her Spanish class a year
later arid taunted me to no end. When I
pulled the unthinkable with a 3.5 GPA
one semester; she said the next step was
a 4.0. A few weeks ago when I called to
tell her I finished sixth inabicycle
race, she asked why I didn’t win.
Others may find this attitude dis
couraging, but I find it encouraging
when she raises the bar to the next
level, and for that I’m thankful.
Happy birthday Mom.
I