WELCOME TO NEW YORK
If you were privileged enough to grow up in New York when and where I did, you'd know the sense of pride we have in how we talk, how we walk and what we do. New York was your race, religion and cultural identity. New York has changed a lot over the years but not New Yorkers. You don't have to be from New York to be a New Yorker, you just have to speak the language. Fast. Punctuation is for people with too much time on their hands. Take a sentence and turn it into one word. Youknowhatimtalkinabout? I'll be halfway down the block before you spit that out. The formal education I received in school would be worthless without the informal one I got in the schoolyard. You're only as smart as you're tough. You're only as good as you're brave. Brains without guts are useless.
Boxing is enjoying a renaissance among the masses who previously looked down on it because of its lower class associations and brutal nature. Now it's being embraced not just for its physical benefits but mental ones - more confidence, clearer thinking and better performance. Who needs ritalin when you got adrenaline? All the education in the world won't do you much good if you can't focus in class and deliver on tests. Boxing delivers on both counts.
THE TOUGH CLUB
How did they do it in the old days? World War 1, the Spanish Influenza, Great Depression and World War 2 without an iPhone, Instagram or Google Maps? Same way we made it through 9/11, cancel culture and Artificial Intelligence. Every generation faces their own set of challenges, none easier than the other. Just different. When people bemoan that 'everybody gets a trophy' these days, they were saying the same thing when I was a kid and that was in the 1960's. Calm down Ty Cobb. Just play the game.
BOXING SCHOOL
I loved being a kid. It was easy. I realize everybody didn't have the same experience I did but it made me who I am today. I walk around my neighborhood, whether it's New York or LA and everybody says hi. It wasn't always that way. Brooklyn is not Manhattan and LA was another planet. I found however when you start speaking Brooklyn to people, with a little practice they start speaking Brooklyn back. Before long those places changed. People started saying hello to each other, holding doors, and throwing footballs around. It was working. If you can't bring the Dodgers back to Brooklyn, then bring Brooklyn back to the Dodgers.
Let's Make New York Brooklyn Again.
LOCALs ONLY
We're back on Duane to the delight of the landlord, neighbors and passersby. I'll spare you the details of how it came about, but I will say this - to anyone looking to open a business in NYC, don't do it right below the apartment of a crazy old lady who lives with her son who once upon a time was married to your old girlfriend. At the very least it can cost you a lot of time, money and aggravation, especially if they have nothing better to do all day than file complaints. Now that we resolved that issue we're back with the old crew and we're dedicating to the gym to teaching kids how to be tough and teaching adults how to be kids. Growing up in Brooklyn was a privilege that not everyone got to experience but anyone can now if you visit us down on Duane Street. The world is caught up in a giant turf war over ego, not identity.
Can you tell the difference between an Israeli and Palestinian, Russian or Ukrainian? Me neither.
Stop fighting, start boxing.