The following is the first in a three-part series examining violence in sports, and its role in society.
We all know the benefits sports bring to our world. The classic and predictable clichés abound: “Sports build character, teach athletes to bounce back from defeat, and keep kids off the street.”
I’m not denying these and other sayings hold some credence. In many cases, they do. But let’s not kid ourselves: Like all major corporations, sporting institutions have their imperfections.
In athletics, the primary commodity that is labeled with a value is the human body. Bodies are manipulated by athletes themselves and those vested in promoting their commodities in hope of maximizing a financial return.
In other words, get as much out of the body for the longest time frame possible without risking a future loss on that investment. It’s a cynical reality of capitalism, and sports are hardly immune from falling into our economy’s pitfalls.
At some point, we need to ask if our societal obsession with athletics pushed the industry too far. In addition to the outrageous salaries prevalent in some professional sports, we need to question why we celebrate—even revere—various dimensions of violence.
Are our daily lives so mundane and saturated with occupational stress that we come to crave time off simply so we may fall into the foray of sporting violence?
I have to ask myself this question all the time. My fascination with mixed martial arts (MMA) made me question if I was a violent person, sucked into the spectacle of fighting as a sport. But as I entered the MMA world, I came to learn more vividly that sports in general tend to be violent, and, further, that sporting violence does not discriminate. No matter how invincible an athlete may seem, everyone is vulnerable.
Athletes, coaches, and fans generally don’t know how serious or pervasive concussions are in certain sports. Remember former Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Trent Green's head bouncing fiercely off the ground in a 2006 game, or his head colliding with a Houston Texans lineman’s knee the following year (Battista, 2007)?
Both of those injuries were Grade 3 concussions, the most severe. Research on NFL retirees has shown that those players who sustained three or more concussions during their career were significantly more likely to fall into clinical levels of depression later in life for no apparent reason other than the concussions (Schwarz, 2007a).
And it’s not just at the professional level. About 10 percent of all youths who play football and hockey report sustaining a concussion every year. For kids, suffering from a concussion is especially problematic. If a child sustains a concussion, the younger he or she is, the easier it will be for him or her to sustain a subsequent one, and the next concussion has a greater chance of being more severe (Schwarz, 2007b).
11 comments Last one added 11 months ago — Leave a Comment
Dorothy Willis 12 months ago
In the Parade Magazine today it mentioned sports injuries and said that in a 1973 fight between Ken Norton and Muhammad Ali, Ken broke Ali's jaw early on but Ali continued to fight until the 12th round to finish the fight (which he lost in a close decision). Then the author mentioned that in 1996 at the Olympics, Kerri Strug's vault on a sprained ankle which helped her American team win the gold medal.
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mark Picot 12 months ago
The latest information on concussion prevention is now focused on securing the jaw. Fighters or football players are best protected with a medically prepared orthodic device used by the N.E. Patriots. Only now is the latest research indicating further more extensive research is needed. www.mahercor.com is leading the way in this endeavor.
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kerry 11 months ago
well i kinda look at it this way, you get in a ring and fight, your chances of getting hurt are high, you get into a race car your chances of getting hurt or killed are high, you get into a dragster your chances of getting hurt or killed are very high, i guess my point is when you get into the ring it (is) in a controlled atmospher with a ref !! On a race track there is only a flag and brakes dont always work right away and not only that accidents can be dealy !!
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David Mayeda 11 months ago
That's a good point. I didn't address NASCAR or other versions of car/motocycle racing.
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rob altman 11 months ago
as a former football player, i know all too well the dangers of the sport. i injured my neck before my senior year started. i continued to play, only missing the jamboree. i was an offensive/defensive lineman. all i did the entire game was hit. my season finally ended after the 5th game. come to find out i had severely damaged the nerves in my spine around the c3-c6 area. had i done anymore damage, at best i would have been paralyzed from the neck down permanently. mine wasnt the only neck injury of the season in my area. a sophomore from another local school was paralyzed from the neck down 2 weeks before my season ended. i know all too well the dangers with other sports. i wouldnt say that athletes are in fear of being labeled weak by coaches/other players. kids want to be out there participating. when they see that something's wrong and it could keep them from being out there, they will hide it. i was a competitor. i wanted to play. i didnt want to lose my spot. thats why most hide their injuries, they just dont want to sit. this is why mma should be applauded. when a fighter appears injured, thats it...fight over. if a fighter cant defend themselves, thats it...fight over. this just isnt the case in other sports.
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Wade Peery 11 months ago
Good article---
Very well written and researched!
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Andrew Kneeland 11 months ago
I agree with Wade. This article is excellent. Props to you for taking your time in your research and not rushing this to the print!
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Chad Miyamoto 11 months ago
Great article that was well researched and researched based.
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Alan Bass 11 months ago
great article
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Ted Nugent 11 months ago
Translation:
Boo-hoo. The media doesn’t pay enough attention to the x-treme sports I hold so dear. There’s nothing I love more than chugging a Mountain Dew and watching two grown men punch each other’s brains out in a cage-fight. The mean old media says it’s not a real sport and its violence is degrading. Look at these statistics I can cite which demonstrate other sports are equally violent merely because athletes occasionally get injured. Judo bear-fighting deserves just as much attention as football because me and my neanderthal friends love it. And it’s, like, totally x-treme.
Sincerely,
Doctor Crybaby
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Kimberly Archie 11 months ago
Interesting article. One thing I would point out is that there are new statistics for cheerleading from the Catastrophic Sports Injury Research Center or you can check out www.nationalcheersafety.com
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