|
Reader question: Please explain "body blow" as in this sentence: Losing three games in a row will be a body blow to all the travelling fans. My comments: Understandable. Sports fans are queer, in that no matter how tough they look and how loud they shout at you, they are really very brittle inside - few can bear a loss by their team with any semblance of grace. Any loss is like a kick to the stomach or, or as in our example, a body blow. Body blow, as you can guess, is a hard hit with a hand to the body, blow as in, soon the two opposing fans are trading blows. Body blow is originally a boxing term. In boxing, players called boxers or fighters or, in the early days, pugilists hit each other on the head and on the upper body, above the waist. Hitting the head, if successful, can bring instant success - usually by catching the opponent napping. A hard punch to the head may knock an opponent out, causing him to lose all sense of direction or complete consciousness, thus rendering him unable to continue. However, boxers all know how important it is to protect one's head. That leaves coaches with the strategy of hitting the body, unleashing what is known as body blows. In comparison to the head, the body is a much larger target and therefore more difficult to defend. If a hard blow lands on the liver area, for example, it can literally take the opponent's breath away, which also renders him helpless. Or a body blow to the side of the torso may result in a broken rib or several broken ribs, not to mention, a loss of breaths also. | 
