Will and Gameness II

Movies love it. You see it all the time. Rocky, Iron will, Shawshank Redemption, and just about every fight movie that there ever was.

I'm talking about 'gameness'. It's a hard term to define, but here goes my try at it.

"unflagging courage, will, heart, unstoppable "Plucky and unyielding in spirit; resolute", the quality of never giving in to pain, injury or fear" Bravery. "

There it is, universally appreciated, seldom duplicated, worshipped by some and feared by cowards and the weak of soul.

It's as common as as a close up in the movies, but we all know that the movies are art and they pick and choose what they represent. Gameness looks good on camera, it makes a good story line so we see it quite a bit. In the real world though it's a different matter. Normally an army will rout if they take much more than 20% of their number as casualties, or if they are forced to endure loud scary noises, i.e. artillery shells blowing the shit out of them, for prolonged periods.

In the real world gameness is rare, in the animal kingdom even more so. If lions willingly gave their lives for the game that they killed the pride would become extinct before too long, Solitary hunters cannot afford to become incapacitated due to battle, they would starve to death before they healed. A good definition of a human is an "opportunistic predator" and rarely do we exhibit 'game' behavior. To be game, for the most part, is a low yield behavior, the risk/reward percentage looks to be way too low.

Why then is it valued so much? Why is the brave man sought above the coward? Why is it that most everyone who talks about what they would do in a fight always claim that they would never quit? When in reality they would fold if the fight turned even slightly against them. I inserted "turned against them" on purpose as almost nobody quits while they are winning.

One reason is because gameness is rare, and everyone wishes to possess something rare. Another is that gameness carries with it a promise of something great. Being so rare it usually intimidates a foe and if used to accomplish a task, success is almost certainly assured. The game individual is the definition of determined. Those who have had it are still spoken about with honor: Theodore Roosevelt, John L. Sullivan, Jeremiah Johnson, Jim Braddock, Gunnery Sgt Carlos Hathcock, and Lance Armstrong.

These men, all game in their own way, have had books written about them, gained the respect and love of legions of people and all lived life according to their rules consequences bed damned! If you follow the philosophical meanderings of Crispin Sartwell, according to his logic, A game individual has achieved transcendence, not through pain and mutilation, but through perfect will, the refusal to stop no matter what the cost. That pain and mutilation may be the consequences of the game choice not to stop are merely side effects of the ultimate execution of will over reality.

The code of bushido elegantly encouraged gameness in it's followers by stating that a warrior who died in the service of their lord was considered to have succeeded, whether they completed their task or not. In fact one of the major tenets of Bushido was that a Samurai, if given the choice, was to choose death over life, for in doing so he would not waste valuable time, effort or thought worrying about his own life.

Above all a game individual is able to overcome fear, and perhaps in that we find another reason to admire gameness. Perhaps a story will serve where words seem to fail me. Perhaps in looking at an animal we'll find through his example, a deeper understanding of gameness.

Many years ago, (30's or 40's if memory serves) men got together for a convention in a town called Rulesville Mississippi. One of the men had a little dog he called Toney, which he had brought to fight another dog whose name was Ted. Toney was not blessed with athletic ability, nor did he have a strong bite, The man, who we will call Bob, was matching him to see if he had heart. Bob loved the dog and wished to breed him, but feared to breed him if he did not prove to be game. No one there that night could have guessed just how much heart that little dog had.

You see men did not fight dogs to see them kill each other. Sure there was the visceral thrill of combat, the excitement of conflict, but these men had spent a great deal of time and money on their dogs and wished to see them do well. It's a brutal sport, a dogfight, but I don't see it as cruel. At least no more so than the father who puts his son into football or any other full contact sport. The dogfighter and the father alike know that life is full of risks and that one must take these risks in order to be fully alive. By the way Ted, it turns out, later went on to become a champion fighting dog and was considered by many to be one of the best ever.

When the dogs were released Ted went immediately into Toney's shoulder. For those who are not aware, a broken bone is a rarity in dog fighting. Bob had no way of knowing that Toney's shoulder was broken and not just temporarily disabled. Toney gave no hint of it, for his tail was up and wagging, and he always managed to have a hold some place. Because of his handicap, Ted was ahead all the way. Toney occasionally obtained an advantage, but it was always short-lived; however his enthusiasm for the contest never faltered. Finally Ted got into Toney's other shoulder, and this time there could be no doubt that the shoulder was broken. At one hour and forty minutes Bob picked up Toney, thereby conceding the match.

Torn by emotion, and worried that he had left his dog down too long, Bob sat his dog down for a seemingly impossible courtesy scratch*(see below). Actually, Bob just wanted to see if he was interested in trying to scratch. Who could have dreamed he would actually make it! Slowly and awkwardly, but with a determination and intensity that brought the crowd to it's feet, Toney started his arduous journey across the pit. Inching along, both front legs completely useless, Toney pushed with his rear feet. Two or three times he rolled over on his back in order to correct his course toward his opponent when his obstinate front end actually obstructed him. When Toney finally reached his opponent, he had to be broken off with a breaking stick. Bob, tears streaming down his face, picked up Toney and wrapped him in a blanket. The crowd stood and applauded for a full ten minutes. Bob was not the only one crying.

.... Some days I don't want to get up out of bed, we all do. With the bills piling up, all the assholes in the world, Global Warming, Terrorists, Republicans, Democrats, Monosodium Glutamate, Mold, asbestos, depletion of the global gene pool, Cholesterol, Political Correctness, The Patriot act, Spam, other drivers, Love, Hate, indifference, reality television, and the Rolling Stones going on tour at 85 years old some times I just want to pull the covers up over my head and call the whole thing off. I don't though, in my mind I see that little pit bull dog, Toney, pulling himself through hell just to get one more chance to try and excel, and I think to myself "if he can do it, so can I. Suddenly I'm filled with a lust for life, and I bound out of bed with my problems not seeming quite so luminous as they did a moment before. Most of the time life hands me a curve. Knocks me back on my heels and kicks the ladder out from under me. I get knocked down a lot. I believe though if I can get up just one more time...one more time...that this time....I'll come out on top. Whether I do or not is irrelevant but that I do try is the more important lesson. I don't pray for success, for riches or for power. When at night I ask the lords forgiveness I also ask him one more thing; Please lord let me die game.

peace,

Shane




* A scratch is the term used when the two dogs are faced toward one another from the corner. One dog is let loose and allowed to run toward the other dog across the pit. This is used to determine if the dog still wishes to continue fighting the other dog. This term has spawned several phrases often used in the english language; "Scratch to win", and "toe the line" being two of the most common. after combat is joined, the dogs are then picked up  whenever they are "free of holds" and taken to the corner to scratch, they dogs alternate scratching till one, eventually, quits.  This is what is known of as the "cajun rules" for dog fighting.  they were created to save dogs.