I certainly am not an expert when it comes to discussing the history of Ireland. Quite honestly, my only obvious claim to being Irish is the fact that my last name is Murphy, and my nose resembles a potato suffering from the blight.
The tiny bit of the Emerald Isle’s history that I have studied is however quite fascinating. For example, I learned that the Irish actually invented the guillotine long before the French, as proven by the discovery of a 500-year-old print depicting Liam O’Shaughnessy using a guillotine to slice potatoes shortly before he picked up the nickname “Stubby.”
Just kidding.
But I do have a connection to the old sod as my father came over from Ireland when he was twenty years old. During my childhood, I certainly got the impression that life in Ireland back when Dad was a kid was tough.
He told us kids stories about how he hunted rabbits with rocks and that he had a job catching menacing wild dogs and hanging them for the nuns at the convent. True or not, his stories certainly captivated me and my four brothers.
As an Irish American, Dad liked spending Saturdays working in the yard and listening to Notre Dame football games on the radio. He would also drink beer and snore a lot, not while drinking beer, but afterwards while snoozing on the couch.
Boxing was no doubt Dad’s favorite sport. He never dabbled in the sport himself, but I’m sure, as a big-city cop, he had to get physical with more than one guy who was intoxicated and resisted Dad’s efforts to escort him into the paddy wagon.
My brothers and I joined Dad to watch Gillette Blue Blades Friday Night Fights on TV every week. We would sneak peeks at Dad’s subtle feints and jabs along with the boxers’ moves.
The only live sporting event Dad ever attended was the Golden Gloves regional boxing tournament. As a police officer, he got free entry for himself and us five boys.
The long history of Irish boxing champions sheds some light on how they earned the moniker “the fighting Irish.” I still enjoy watching the sport and, occasionally, find myself feinting and jabbing too.
