Everybody knows somebody who brags about their fighting ability. That person for me is my friend Ben. Of course guys who brag about their fighting abiltiies always have nicknames, Big Ben was no different. There are also stories that follow people like this around, you know anecdotes that have been exaggerated so much that they sound like legends. I believe the first such story I had heard about Big Ben was that he beat someone up so badly that the poor guy had to be confined to a wheelchair for life. I certainly didn't believe these stories, but I digress.
A few years back, I had just gone through a breakup and was just getting into the stage where I was ready to go out and start hitting on girls again. Of course, I didn't want to go out without some friends. So I called up some friends who'd been trying to get me out of the house for a while and let them know I was game for whatever. I knew a wild night was to ensue, but I had no idea just how wild it would be.
After a few beers at our regular bar, the guys decided it was time to go to a country western night that was serving $0.25 beers. In retrospect, I can't think of a time where mixing cheap beer and country music is ever a good idea, but I as I said, I was up for anything and I knew there would be a good amount of people at this bar.
When we got there we had a few drinks, but that's when I noticed something wasn't quite right with Big Ben.
“Hey Kevin,” Ben said, “do you see that dude over there, I saw him slap his girl last month, I was going to kick his ass but the cops stopped me from kicking his ass, it’s on now.”
I looked over at the guy sitting down at his table. Apparently he was with his “posse” too. Ben always talked a big game, but I had never seen him fight before, so I said what any guy who didn’t really think there was going to be an altercation would say, “yeah man, I got your back.” After a few minutes of being glared at the guy stood up and came to talk to Ben.
Before I go any further, I need to fill you in on some important facts.
Fact: Big Ben is about 6’4” and 300 LBS.
Fact: Ben looks like he's just a fat guy.
Fact: This other guy was 7 feet tall and outweighed Ben by at least 50 Lbs.
Fact: I have never been in a fight in my entire life, was 6 feet tall, and only weighed about 180 Lbs.
Fiction: I could have taken either of them.
The “fighting” words started off kind of slow. I still wasn’t sure there was going to be a fight, but from the looks of this kid I wasn’t sure if Ben could take him. Sure I had heard the legends, but I knew I was about to see things in action.
That’s when the other guy’s friend stepped in. We’ll call the first one Guy A and the second one Guy B to avoid confusion. Guy B was trying to stop the fight from happening, saying that a fight didn’t need to happen here or now. Of course, Ben didn’t want to hear it. So I stepped in the middle too and squared off with Guy B. As I looked up I realized that Guy B was at least 6’6” and had about 50 or 60 Lbs on me. Ben was in way over his head and so was I.
That’s when Ben told Guy B that he was going to fuck both of them up. I got a terrible feeling in the pit of my stomach. Was he serious? There was no way Ben was going to come out of this alive. While he was planning his fight strategy, I was planning my escape route and funeral. As I looked up I saw Guy B throwing the first punch. I had the sense to duck out of the way. Ben didn’t. A blow that would have destroyed a mere mortal seemingly glanced off Ben’s chin.
The next thing I knew, Ben was on the other side of the room going at it with these two behemoths. I tried to break up the fight, but they didn't even notice me when I tried to grab them. It literally took 10 people to break up this altercation. I was preparing for the worst. Ben had just taken on two guys that could have killed me just by looking at me the wrong way. Yet there he was standing up straight.
As we rushed out of the bar Ben said, “shit, I think I lost my contact lense.”
I ran back in to the bar to see if I might be able to find it, that was when I saw the two guys that had just been in the fight. One clearly had a broken nose and the other was sitting on the ground with a black eye. I guess it turns out that sometimes the legends are true.
We walked outside and I looked down on my shirt. There was a single speck of blood. It wasn’t mine. I had gotten the action I had so yearned for that night. Moreover, this speck of blood proved to me that I was now a man.
Read more...