[SlowToady]

Age: 20
When: Fall break last year
Circumstances: My buddies and I were drinking, and I was pretty tanked and not very happy, and my best friend and I exchanged some words. He pushed me, I pushed him back and it was on. It ended when he was on his knees and I stopped myself just short of smashing a wooden stool over his head. The *ONLY* reason I didn't do it is because I've known him since we were like, 7 years ago. Anyone else? No questions asked.

Before that, the last fight I was in occurred when I got jumped outside of the mall by two guys. As the one guy was 6'1 #230 or so, I didn't really want to do it, but being that I was cornered...

I agree with you, though, when you say that as you get older you tend to fight less. I think it has more to do with weighing the possible outcomes, however. For example, the last time I got into a fist fight over a girl, I was 18. Typical "oh he got with my girl so I'll beat his ass..." These days, there's almost no chance in hell of me fighting over a girl, unless it's like in the example you cited. Or like 3 weeks ago when some guy at a restaurant grabbed my (then) girl-friend's ass. We also exchanged words, and I offered to settle it in the streets, should he be so inclined.

Basically, it's like this: you fight over a girl, you'll either get beat up or arrested. Or both. And usually you'll loose the girl. So worst case is, you're beat up, arrested and have no girl. Best case is, you win, and don't get arrested, but she'll probably dump you because she thinks you're a psycho. Even if you win you loose...

Although, thinking about this again, I'm only 20 and you're nearly 53, so I think you might actually be on to something when you state that you realize the likely hood of getting your ass handed to you is much higher. That, and the possible financial and jail related outcomes....