I bet someone gave you a wedgie on your way here

January 4, 2015 6:26 AM

Former pro boxer Eric Kelly teaches boxing at the Church Street Gym in New York City. He could also be their best spokesman ever... or possibly the worst [NSFW language].
posted by Mchelly (19 comments total)

Head injuries are a hell of a thing.
posted by clvrmnky at 6:42 AM on January 4, 2015

That dude in the grey socks must've had some serious trauma then.
posted by fullerine at 6:50 AM on January 4, 2015

Mr. Kelly has a point. We all do different things well. We are all cut from different cloth; some even from suede. Some of us are cut from motherfucking leather or suede and some cut from velvet. Some of us are just dumb ass motherfuckers who can't follow simple directions like double jab, uppercut, straight right. I am one of those guys who can go down to Wall St and type and shit. If this guy hit me once, one good shot or probably a marginal shot, I am out cold crying like a baby.

But, the more I think about it, the truth of the matter is that I think he can be taught to do what I do while I can never do what he does well.
posted by 724A at 7:12 AM on January 4, 2015 [2 favorites]

Eh, it's a schtick. Some of the dumber Wall Street guys (his clientele) think that if someone's an asshole, they must be really good at their job. This is a manifestation of that.
posted by leotrotsky at 7:12 AM on January 4, 2015 [2 favorites]

Oh, and being the 50+ yo white male that I am, I am wearing my Larry Bird shorts from the 1984 Eastern Conference Finals. You got a problem with that?
posted by 724A at 7:13 AM on January 4, 2015

I bet this works as a coaching strategy for some type-A people. They tend to suffer from fear of failure that leads them to hold back or give up. Whereas this guy says, no, there is no need to fear failure, you are and always will be embarrassingly bad.
posted by vogon_poet at 7:31 AM on January 4, 2015 [4 favorites]

He might actually be a good teacher. As well as a jerk. The two are not mutually exclusive.
posted by From Bklyn at 7:31 AM on January 4, 2015 [1 favorite]

"Wall Street", "balls meet". I now have a new entry for my rhyming dictionary.
posted by sutt at 7:41 AM on January 4, 2015 [5 favorites]

Some of those guys were like watching a slow loris punch...
posted by jim in austin at 7:57 AM on January 4, 2015

Did anybody notice they're using the same canned music from "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia?"
posted by lagomorphius at 8:11 AM on January 4, 2015

He's no Mickey
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 8:21 AM on January 4, 2015

This is pretty awesome.

Pool stick in the eye, man, damn.
posted by sibboleth at 8:49 AM on January 4, 2015

I remember this one! Nerdy looking dude in the grey socks is actually an editor for Gawker or somesuch, whoever produced the video (not an actual patron of the gym).
posted by pravit at 9:03 AM on January 4, 2015

He's a standard issue bully. Every gym has one, it's one of the rules.
posted by dashDashDot at 9:55 AM on January 4, 2015

I'd like to see him look me in the eye and say that.
posted by leotrotsky at 10:59 AM on January 4, 2015

As a scrawny, nerdy motherfucker, I wouldn't pay a cent to be debased by this fool while I tried to learn something that takes a lot of practice and development of muscle memory. Of course bad-uppercut-guy doesn't know what he's doing, but he might through practice and hard work if he's given support and instruction, which I assume is what this guy is paid to give.

But he's just an asshole. I don't get it.

To me this is like berating someone picking up an instrument for the first time for not knowing the chords.
posted by unknownmosquito at 12:20 PM on January 4, 2015 [1 favorite]

This guy is great. Don't feel sorry for his students. Some people, like me, run optimally on spite. I was remarkably uncoordinated and weak 8 months ago before starting a martial art. I would've quit if I hadn't been regularly mocked for my lack of abilities. I respond to the abuse and I live for faint praise from the abuser. Sounds twisted, but when you know this about yourself you can use it to improve your life. Now I have muscles I didn't know existed, hit bags hard enough to take the skin off my knuckles without flinching, have much better balance, and can do long choreographed forms that looked Baryshnikov-level to me when I started.
posted by TheGoldenOne at 12:26 PM on January 4, 2015

Hey, it's a job, you know what I mean and, especially in America, you havin' a job is a blessing, and doin' something you love is a blessing, I, even if the people are...miscreants...

I've never heard anyone describe most Wall Street workers with a better noun.
posted by coolxcool=rad at 1:41 PM on January 4, 2015 [1 favorite]

Some thoughts.

- Gyms like this pretty much rely on the nerdy Wall Street guys to pay the bills these days.

- Nerdy Wall Street guys can certainly learn to be decent amateur boxers if they work hard and get good training.

- Some of the guys in this video were pretty bad, but they also look like total beginners. If they aren't total beginners... yeah, that's less good.

- Different people are motivated by different things. I don't like trainers quite as smart-assed as this one, but I know I work better with negative reenforcement than positive. I prefer someone goading me and telling me I'm not working hard enough than someone saying, "You're doing awesome!"

- Although I don't know how things work at Church Street (at some gyms the trainers work for the gyms and train everyone, at others they more work out of the gym but are independent and each trainer has their own clients), this guy is definitely not the only trainer at that gym. I imagine people can choose to work with other trainers if he is not their style.

- Everything else aside, this video, which went viral when it was released a couple years back, seems to have been great PR for the gym.
posted by retrograde at 1:47 PM on January 4, 2015