Football & Wrestling's Dehumanizing Nature - From a Fan
Things in Football that are dehumanizing:
•Fans mythologizing the players
•Fans believing the players are superhuman thus dehumanizing them
•Players dismissing the violence and cosigning what the NFL is doing which encourages fans to say, "Well, if Jason Kelce is okay with football, who am I to question the sport or the NFL?"
•TV personalities (former NFL players) seeming just fine to the viewers so it perpetuates the illusion that playing in the NFL isnt "that dangerous".
•Constant cognitive dissonance is encouraged at all times throughout every presentation of the NFL by players interviewed after the game, play by play announcers and color commentors, sideline reporters and studio analysts.
Are you ready for some death?
Viewers watched Damar Hamlin die live on TV. We had no update when he left the field. Then we found out later he was in a coma. Teams went back to practice.
Damar finally spoke, "Did we win?"
Back to your regularly scheduled programming.
The NFL had initially put a 15 minute timer on the screen when the ambulance removed Damar from the field. Players had been vomiting and sobbing around him. Viewers saw him lifelessly collapse backwards from an ordinary shoulder tackle to the chest.
Then we saw Stefon Diggs, one of the Bills captains, rallying his troops. Then we saw Joe Burrow warming up and throwing the football. The timer continued to tick down.
70,000 Bengals fans had been silenced.
Troy and Buck tell the viewers there is no official word yet on whether the game is going to continue but, as viewers, we can see Stefon Diggs and Joe Burrow getting ready to get back on the field on the sidelines. Then we see the teams head to their respective lockerrooms.
Troy and Buck tell us theres still no word on whether the game will continue, be postponed or cancelled. We are taken back to our studio analysts Booger, Schefty and the female co-host. Over an hour passes by without a decision. Finally, the call is made to suspend play.
But once Damar speaks, the NFL media removes the on-screen 15 minute timer from the endless retelling of the story.
Stefon never rallied his troops. Burrow never warmed up on the sidelines. The official story retold all week was that there was an official process the NFL had to undertake to call the game off and that, yes that process takes some time and isnt automatic and it did take over an hour, but the NFL did the right thing.
There was no on-screen timer. Stefon Diggs and Joe Burrow were never shown on the sidelines preparing to return to play.
Dont believe your own lying eyes.
Fans are constantly given mixed messaging. Football is at the same time: a children's game, war, brutalistic, violent, a blessing to be able to play, potentially career ending on every play, gladiatorial, as American as apple pie, entertainment, a crucible, a maker of men, just a game, high risk/high reward, not for the faint of heart, a character builder, concerned with "player safety", maximizing profit at all costs, a game that children play that NFL players get paid millions of dollars to play as adult men, a game with 100% risk of injury.
NFL players have an aura of invincibility and immortality. Therefore, they will never get old, injured, have CTE, early onset dementia or memory issues.
They will live forever, always young, strong, unstoppable and immutable. They are our avatars and the audience lives (and plays football) vicariously through them.
Fans are constantly fed the lies by current players and TV analysts, many of whom are former players themselves, that the NFL players are "grown ass men" who knew the risks when they signed up, they chose to do this and, by the way, they are being paid handsomely for this. They would rather be playing football with all its risks than be a life insurance sales rep, for example. They live for the rush of the adrenaline and the hits just like the fans do.
Bullfuckingshit. What 8 year old can make a decision like this? Many NFL players started playing football at the Pee Wee, Mighty Tykes or Pop Warner levels.
An 8 year old child can truly decide if the game of football is worth sacrificing his mind over?
Most NFL players have older men in their families who also played football - fathers, older brothers, uncles. What kind of a choice is that if football is just what the men in your family do and you are a child?
Football is violent, exciting and fun. 14 year old teenagers - not adults - are filled with hormones and pumped up with testosterone. Even the NFL players who started later in high school, at the age of 14, I would argue were influenced by the glamorization of football in American culture, the hero worship its players receive, the tough gladiators they see every Sunday on their TV screens during football season and the social status conferred upon popular football players in the social jungle known as high school.
A million teenage boys play football in high school every year and never get paid a dime for it -- even the ones who play for big programs with games that air on ESPN Friday nights.
They are getting concussed. They are sustaining serious injuries. Their high schools are profiting handsomely. They are just kids! They are being exploited.
In high school football, per the rules prior to a recent rule change in 2022 - just last year, a quarterback cannot throw the ball away like he can in the NFL if he can't make a play.
Why are "grown ass men being paid millions" being protected more than kids playing for free in high school?
Out of the million high schoolers who play football every year, only 100k play in college and only 1,000 play in the NFL.
Division I college football rakes in billions, the men who are playing Division I football make nothing and are not even offered health insurance by their schools.
They often suffer debilitating lifelong injuries including head trauma, CTE, paralysis and even death. Yet the schools pay them nothing. Yes, they can now make money off of their Name, Image and Likeness (NIL).
But why do the schools make billions and the young men who sacrifice their bodies and minds for this sport get paid nothing by the schools endlessly exploiting and profiting off of them?
Why cant the schools making billions off of these young men's literal blood, sweat and tears even offer them at least health insurance that would cover catastrophic injuries?
College teams routinely administer powerful painkillers and narcotics to players, often times vastly exceeding the recommended dosage, without warning the players about the risks and serious adverse side effects.
A "grown ass man" is a fucking 18 year old per the laws of the United States. None of the men playing in the NFL made the initial choice to play the game of football as an adult.
Most started playing as kids, some as late as high school, at 14. All were children, not adults, when they made the decision to inflict bodily violence and harm upon themselves and others, to accept head trauma, collisions, concussions, potential memory loss, potential early onset dementia, potential CTE, potential paralysis and even potential death.
It was a decision guided by and heavily influenced by the older men in their families, our cultures worship of football and deification of the men who play it, the smiling TV analysts with their expensive suits who played the game, the intense poverty many players in the league suffer in childhood that they are so desperate to escape, the millions they believe they can make on the professional level when less than 1% of high school football players will ever even suit up for a game in the NFL.
Thats not a free choice by a "grown ass man".
Thats a coerced choice made by a child with long lasting and potentially debilitating, devastating and even fatal consequences.
Why are we okay with this?
So, even if the choice to play football is made as children and teenage boys, even if that decision is endlessly influenced by their fathers, brothers and uncles who played, the football gods on TV every Sunday, the smiling TV analysts in their expensive suits and the social rewards from playing the game, well, (the disingenuous argument goes) -- why don't they just walk away as adult men playing in the NFL? Why don't they do what Chris Borland and Andrew Luck did?
The reason those names instantly come to mind is because walking away from your NFL career early is vanishingly rare.
These men, since they were boys, have been indoctrinated into the mythos of football.
All they have known is football. If you start playing at 8, by the time you make it to the NFL, you have literally been playing football for most of your life. They don't know anything else.
Football is practically a religion.
Its not just a game. Its going to war with your brothers. Its a brotherhood. Its the epitome of masculinity. Its manhood distilled to its purest essence. It proves youre a man. It purifies you. Its a crucible and, if you pass through, you are a battle tested warrior.
•Father, brothers, uncles and older men in the family play football so its "just what the men in the family do"
•American society endlessly glamorizes and glorifies football
•Football is presented as the ultimate sport on TV and the players are shown as heroes
•Social rewards for playing football as football is the sport in most high schools that has the most fans in the stands and the good players are popular and are at the top of the social hiearchy in high school
•Football is equated with masculinity in our society - "its what tough guys do". There is a social reward for playing football in that you are automatically regarded as and conferred with the status of being a "tough guy".
•A child and even a teenager is not truly capable of making a truly informed choice weighing all of the potential devastating, debilitating, life altering and potentially fatal consequences of playing football. Children and teenagers tend to think of the "right now". Their brains aren't even fully formed and developed yet. Teenagers also are dealing with a rush of hormones and being flooded with testosterone. No one is actually sitting them down and walking them through the dangers of CTE, the dangers of multiple concussions, the long term and permanent brain damage associated with repeated head impacts and subconcussive blows, potential memory loss, devastating injuries, possible paralysis and even death. No one is showing them former NFL players who cant even get out of bed in the morning. They cant move their neck from side to side. They cant open a pickle jar. They are seeing the gridiron heroes on Sunday afternoon running out of the smoke filled tunnel to the roar of 70k screaming fans. They arent seeing the men who have lost their minds to this game. Their lives to this game like Junior Seau and Dave Duerson. They arent seeing Aaron Hernandez. They arent seeing the men who have killed themselves, hurt their families, killed other people. They arent seeing the men diagnosed with early onset dementia at 36. They arent seeing the men unable to work, completely disabled from their playing days, at 40 who are denied any assistance from the NFL. They arent seeing any of that.
Theyre seeing the glory, the glamour, the hits, the violence, the excitement, the social rewards, the rich NFL athletes with the money, chains and cars, their seeing society's worship of the game of football, they're seeing the fun and the good sides of the sport, that it instills toughness, discipline, builds reslience and courage, and gifts you lifelong friends. Theyre not being shown the Eric LeGrands. Theyre not being shown that men who stopped playing even at the high school level have been found post mortem to have had CTE. Not college. Not Division I. High school.
How many men -- and boys -- will we sacrifice on the altar of football?
"The physical, gladiatorial nature of the game attracted them in the first place, many said. Among its rewards were electrifying Sundays, deep relationships with teammates, personal pride and social mobility - it paid for their college educations and afforded them a lifestyle they would never have enjoyed otherwise."
Most were kids when they started playing (ages 5 to 8 - Joe Burrow started at 8). Why wouldnt football seem alluring as a child? Its violent, exciting and fun. In real life, you cant hit anyone, throw anything, be too loud, etc.
In football, you are rewarded for lack of impulse control when teachers and parents punish you for it in real life. Its attractive because all of the "look both ways before you cross the street" rules get thrown to the wayside in football. You are not only allowed to but are actively encouraged to and have to hit. You have to be out of control. The rule in football is, dont follow any of societys civilized rules and go out there and hit each other.
What child doesnt want to break the rules?
I feel the wild and unrestrained nature of the sport naturally appeals to a childs rebelliousness and impish nature.
Does that really mean that that child wants to struggle to walk and remember where their keys are at 40?
"Supplanted those thoughts deep within us"
Sublimation of the mind, sublimation of the self.
Its the only way the players can get into 70 to 80 car crashes Sunday then put the pads right back on Wednesday at practice and start hitting again.
Similar to training camps in boxing where you are literally getting punched hundreds of times in the head to prepare for a fight for weeks.
Its a constant process of self denial, self abnegation, erasing the self, willful amnesia, willfully brainwashing yourself, always with a cool bravado, an indifferent attitude, a devil may care swag, always unafraid, never questioning the constant physical trauma that you are constantly subjecting your body to.
The body doesnt want to be traumatized regardless of how much the mind or spirit of these players may want to play the sport. They are constantly going against their bodies' natural wishes and self preservation instinct to not be harmed.
Yet they get in the car again and suit up and put the helmet on for yet another car crash.
Serious injuries that require surgery temporarily short circuit the brainwashing ritual.
They are no longer with their teammates every day. No reviewing film, taking notes. No reviewing the game plan. Studying the opponent. No drills. No hitting.
Nothing but surgey, pain, solitude, recovery, medication and your body rebelling against your desire to go back to the very thing that caused the injury and surgery in the first place.
This applies to wrestling too. Flat back bumps are the most unnatural thing in the world. Thats why so many corporate team building retreats will ask you to fall backwards and let your co-workers catch you.
Wrestlers brainwash themselves for six to twelve months during training.
What do you think ring rust really is?
Its the body rejecting the unnatural trauma it is being asked to put itself back through after the wrestler returns after time away from the ring.
Theres nothing normal about concussing yourself as you slam your body against a mat that has wooden boards underneath it thousands of times.
The wrestler brainwashes himself and, through thousands of repetitions, forces the body to adapt, but to never truly accept the constant physical trauma.
So, when theres an injury and the wrestler is out of the ring for awhile then returns, the body initially rejects the unnatural reintroduction of the trauma. We saw this with the Young Bucks on AEW All Access.
The body doesnt want to be continuously and repeatedly subjected to physical trauma.
The body rebels, the mind suppresses. The body rejects, the mind denies. The body pushes back, the mind brainwashes.
8 in 10 former NFL players per a 2017 study report pain that lasts for most of the day.
The current NFL players are young men in their 20s who have an invincibility aura endlessly reinforced by the fans.
Testosterone, money, fame, women, 70k roaring fans and smoke-filled tunnels.
You cant play in the NFL, box, fight in UFC or professionally wrestle unless you have a self myth of invincibility.
They all feel like that and the media and fans endlessly uphold and reinforce the myth.
Why would they think beyond the current season, much less 15 to 20 years from now?
We worship their recklessness and marvel at their ability to throw caution to the wind, their physical courage and their lack of regard for their own well being.
Their braveness, toughness and swag. How they pop right back up no matter how hard the hit is. We endlessly cheer this all on and adulate them for it.
They are the only ones who have to pay for it later once the cheering stops.
"It's like being awfully drunk at night and throwing up and swearing you will never let it happen again," said Ralph Cindrich, a former NFL player who now serves as a player agent. "And the next morning you're having a bloody mary at 9."
It is exactly like this - this is the ritual brainwashing where you convince your body to get back into the car crash Wednesday after 70 to 80 car crashes on Sunday - 17 weeks in a row.
Same with hitting drills for months during training camp.
"To improve the quality of life for my family."
If the above quoted former player (now disabled human) doesnt care and is okay with all this, then I care that the NFL exploits all its current and former players by not offering them guaranteed contracts. A lot of the money in NFL contracts are incentives based on performance so if you dont play, or you dont play well, you dont get any of the incentives.
Contracts in the NFL aren't guaranteed like in all other major US sports so you can be cut at any time. Team physicians makes decisions and diagnoses based off of the teams interest, not the players.
Just because the players have been brainwashed all their lives by the men in their family who played the game and by coaches yelling and barking orders at them ("Sir, yes sir!") to accept all this as okay doesnt mean I have to.
They are told they're invincible their entire lives!
The fans tell you. Your coach and father brainwashes you.
What the hell else are the players going to believe?
They're already reckless or they wouldn't be playing a collision sport.
Then the fathers and coaches add their machismo crap and the fans add their worship and adulation.
Then we act surprised that the players themselves think they're invincible?
How else do running backs run through a wall of linemen 25 to 30 times a game? How else do cornerbacks launch themselves against players sometimes outweighing them by 100+ pounds? How else do tight ends bang on the line 70 to 80 times a game? How else do you get sacked 70+ times in a season and keep brushing it off like it's nothing?
The entire sport, like PBR (bullriding), is based off of the lie that these men are invincible gods, that they are indestructible, superhuman and impervious to pain then we as a society want to blame the men for believing the indestructability myth they have been indoctrinated with their whole lives??
Thats the vicarious nature of football, boxing, UFC, professional wrestling and PBR.
If just for a moment, I can pretend that I would have stood still and calm in the pocket and gotten absolutely smashed like Joe Burrow did when he calmly and accurately threw an absolute dagger for first down to seal the game against the Chiefs with a 350 lb defender barreling towards him at top speed.
If only for a moment, I can pretend that I would ride a 1500 pound enraged bucking Brahma bull then get wildly thrown off after 8 seconds.
Just for a moment, I can pretend I am Adesanya with my arms held high in exultation, in the bloody octagon as the fans roar their approval.
But then we get to go back to our real lives, heads and minds and memories and joints and bones and ligaments and tendons intact. They don't.
They pay the price for us to live vicariously through them as our avatars.
Why the hell didn't Jon Moxley (AEW former Champion wrestler) take his vacation?
We all know Moxley has replaced his alcohol addiction with an UNhealthy addiction to self-mutilation in the ring (aka the cute and dismissive euphemism of "blading") and constant physical matches.
He should have gone on vacation when MJF won. He literally can't. Renee knows this and the fans mock her for it when she dares to tweet her concerns over the love of her life and father of her child bleeding like a stuck pig for no reason on a random Rampage Friday night at 10:06 pm.
Moxley bleeds when his theme song hits someone on twitter says. Renee forces herself to type LOL in response while she cringes internally.
Why else was Moxley doing deathmatches in GCW as the World Champion on TV in AEW?
Its the same reasom why Joe Burrow said "I like getting hit" the season he was sacked over 70 times.
I know. Why am I still watching then?
Joe Burrow, Eagles, NFL, WWE, AEW, ROH, Impact, NJPW, Ricky Garcia.
Im still watching because I cant let go of my admiration for them.
Like, thats my internal struggle. But hell yeah, I'm human. When the music hits and Joe Burrow runs out of the tunnel, I mean seriously?
Its what their father, uncles and older brothers and coaches told them they were supposed to do.
Seriously, pull up Pop Warner tackle football drills for 8 year olds on Youtube and listen to how the coach gets them to hit each other.
We laughed at Giselle because she dared to tell an uncomfortable truth about the goat.
2,000 individual players played in the NFL last season.
There is no other sport like that in the world.
It allows and causes all these excesses and abuses. The players are nothing but interchangeable and disposable chess pieces because theres so many of them. Theyre nothing but videogame characters we get to switch off with a push of the remote button. Theyre not flesh and blood. Theyre not real. They are here to entertain and excite and inspire us. Then when Troy and Buck say good night, we turn them off, and they cease to exist.
How else does Sammy Guevara fly off the top of the cage unless he convinces himself of the same invincibility myth that NFL players convince themselves of?
Nothing can hurt me. I am invincible and unbreakable. There is no ladder I wont jump off of, no cage I wont leap off of, no spot is too high or too dangerous.
Its all bullshit but the fans eat it up and so do the athletes. Its an endless reinforcement loop.
We cheer Vikingo on and we pretend that Rey Mysterio hasnt had 14 knee surgeries.
We cheer the needlessly reckless and fucking dangerous high spots the most.
Our jaws drop, our adrenaline flows and we roar our approval as the spots continue to get ever higher, more reckless and more dangerous.
And all we do is give a bigger pop in return.
"The analysis, based on self-reports among former NFL players, found that Black players were significantly more likely than white players to experience diminished quality of life due to impaired physical function, pain, cognitive troubles, depression and anxiety. In four of five health outcomes, the gaps were greatest between Black and white former players."
The above analysis showed that Black former NFL players were 50 percent more likely than white former players to have pain that interfered with daily activities, as well as depression and anxiety.
Black former players were 36 percent more likely to have cognitive symptoms -- including memory deficits and attention problems -- that impacted their quality of life. Black former players were also nearly 90 percent more likely to report impaired physical functioning, compared with their white peers.
Other factors that may affect health outcomes, the researchers also looked at number of seasons played in the NFL, position played, concussion symptoms, surgeries, body-mass index, use of performance-enhancing drugs, lifestyle habits including drinking and smoking, as well as pain medication use. The differences between races persisted even when the researchers accounted for the possible influence of these factors.
The researchers examined whether differences in health varied by a player's age, as a surrogate marker for diversity and equity in the era that they played in. Although younger nonwhite players were in the NFL during a period marked by greater diversity and greater equity, their risk for adverse health outcomes remained the same as that of older players.
A first-of-its-kind comparison between elite pro athletes suggests higher overall mortality among NFL players compared with MLB players. NFL players also appear to have higher risk of dying from cardiovascular and neurodegenerative causes compared with MLB peers. The differences warrant further study of sport-specific mechanisms of disease development. Clinicians treating current and former NFL players should be vigilant about the presence of cardiovascular and neurologic symptoms and promptly treat risk factors such as sleep apnea, obesity, hypertension.
The findings are based on a retrospective analysis of death rates and causes of death in 3,419 NFL (National Football League) and 2,708 MLB (Major League Baseball) players over more than 30 years.
There were 517 deaths among NFL players and 431 deaths among MLB players between 1979 and 2013. The difference translates into a 26 percent higher mortality among football players compared with baseball players. NFL players had a nearly threefold greater likelihood of dying of neurodegenerative conditions, compared with MLB players. They also had a nearly 2.5-fold risk of dying from a cardiac cause, the study showed.
Football players sustain countless traumatic head injuries throughout their careers. These athletes enjoy the best of care while on the team, but it's estimated that up to 80% of NFL's former players are not covered under employer-sponsored medical plans.
Theres such a high impact, risky style thats popular in wrestling today. I believe there will be severe consequences of this high risk style for todays wrestlers 10+ years down the road. Its just not safe or sustainable the way Darby Allin, Sammy Guevara, Young Bucks, Bryan Danielson, Vikingo, Lucha Bros, etc wrestle. It is too high risk and it is too hard hitting and there are going to be many repurcussions down the line.
The USFL and XFL players get a CHANCE to get to the NFL, theyre on TV and theyre continuing their dream.
They are also ALL getting concussed for ~$40k a year with NO health insurance coverage once they leave the USFL.
Unlike NFL, there is no vesting, pension or continuing health coverage.
So yeah, they can continue the dream, but at what cost?
Unlike a minor league baseball player, these USFL and XFL players will all have brain damage (literally what a concussion is) and may also have debilitating and even permanent physical injuries that continue after they leave their respective leagues with no continued health insurance from the leagues they played for.
If someone is paralyzed on a kickoff return in the USFL, what does that person do?
Its all the risks of the NFL without any of the financial rewards and without even the possibility of vesting, receiving a pension or continuing health insurance once they stop playing.
Injuries incurred while in the USFL will be viewed by employer sponsored health coverage plans as pre-existing conditions and most will be denied coverage.
Then what happens as most of these guys will never make it onto an NFL team?
Wrestlers do need protection from themselves but NXT, AEW, NJPW, GCW, etc encourages a flashy, risky, dangerous style with tons of stunts and ridiculously high spots.
Yes, they wrestle a lot less today, especially AEW, with a lot less house shows.
But coffin drops on the apron arent sustainable. 450 splashes from the top of the cage arent sustainable. Botched unnecessary risky ladder spots are completely dangerous.
Yet they happen again and again.
I gasp too, my jaw drops too, I say holy shit! too. Im human, I love drama, I love characters, I love personas, I love larger than life personalities, I love storylines, I admire physical courage, I respect the sheer physicality of it all and the toughness required, I love their bravado, I love their swag, I love that they took the road less traveled in society and said fuck a 9 to 5, the women are sexy, they are all brave and fearless as fuck, I love the gimmicks, I love the faceoffs, the staredowns, shit talk, confrontations, backstage segments and all the rest of it.
So similar to how I feel about football.
I dont love them breaking down their bodies and minds to entertain us in wrestling and football and boxing.
I asked myself why I cant stop watching wrestling.
I am too invested in the characters, storylines and the wrestlers journeys. Too caught up in the drama.
Who else is Swerve adding to his crew? Cant wait to see BTE and BCC tear it down. Jade vs Taya, are you kidding me. Want to see Ruby, Saraya and Toni fuck it up.
I dont just want the adrenaline, I need the release. I seriously wanted to do that 7 week wrestling training class with Quackenbush. I am doing the 1 day wrestling workshop at Chikara's wrestling school in June.
I cant get over concussions from the flat back bumps. Thats why I backed out of the 7 week class.
They say subconcussive, science says me slamming myself backwards against a mat with wooden boards under it, "spreading the impact" or not, my brain is still being jerked with the impact, hitting the inside of my skull, thats a concussion!
Linemen hitting every play, concussion! Running backs running into a wall of linemen, concussion! Quarterback still as a statue in the pocket throws a dart to his wide receiver and gets absolutely smashed by a 300+ pound defender, thats a concussion! Tight ends banging on the line, concussion! WR smashed in the open field, concussion! Every QB sneak is a concussion! Every time the QB runs it in less than 5 yards from the goal line and smashes himself into a wall of men, concussion! Every kick off return that doesnt end in a touch back, concussion! Every onside kick, concussion! Punt return, concussion!
Every time players collide in football, concussion! Every time the QB falls backwards while being hit and slams his head against the turf, concussion! Every time a QB is sacked, concussion! Every time a LB hits the QB, concussion! Every time the DE rushes and hits the QB, concussion! Every time the QB is hit, concussion!
Every suicide dive is a concussion!
A concussion is head impact where the brain moves forward or backwards and hits the inside of the skull!
Its not nausea, dizziness, seeing stars, blacking out, loss of motor control, difficulty walking, memory issues or what a CT scan or MRI shows!
Its head impact where the brain moves forward or backwards and hits the inside of the skull even with no symptoms!!!!!
Every 450 splash, every splash to the outside, every top rope maneuver, every superkick, every stiff strike, every hard slap, every elbow strike, every kick to the head, every jump off the ladder, every jump from the top of the cage, every single time someone is put through a table, every time someone is thrown into the barricade, every time someones head is slammed into the exposed turnbuckle, every dive off the stage, every body slam to the outside, every slam into the ringpost, concussion!
Football and wrestling ARE concussions, period!
CTE tests in living people once available will expose the current lie that pretends that all of the above arent concussions and are normal football plays, normal wrestling spots, and "subconcussive impacts".
Science says they are concussions, multibillion dollar corporations like the NFL and WWE say they arent.
Heading the ball in soccer is a concussion. Batter being hit in the head by 95+ mph ball is a concussion. Catcher getting a foul tip to his mask is a concussion. Runner trucking the catcher or colliding with the catcher is a concussion. Many spots in cheerleading and gymnastics are concussions. Being checked against the board in hockey is a concussion. Tackles in lacross and rugby are concussions. Falling on hard wooden floorboards in basketball is a concussion. Elbow to the head from a defender in basketball is a concussion.
There is a reckoning coming in virtually all sports once CTE tests in living people are possible and neurologists say they will have it in 3 to 5 years tops.
Punches to the head in boxing, their entire sport, IS a concussion.
Elbows to the head in MMA, concussion. Knee strikes in MMA, concussion. Blows to the back of the head in MMA, concussion. Certain takedowns in MMA, concussion. Ground and pound in MMA, foundational to the sport, concussion.
There are changes coming among virtually all sports once the CTE test in living people is developed.
Tackle football will go away and will either become 7 on 7 with foam helmets like rugby and/or flag football.
Soccer will eliminate headers.
Hockey will eliminate checks and penalize things like high sticks more severely.
Mainstream boxing, I think, may go away.
MMA will focus more on wrestling, less on strikes, GnP and knockouts. It will transition more to tapping to submissions and pure grappling and wrestling.
Baseball will remove head first sliding and change some of the rules about how catchers can defend home. Hitters beaned in the head will automatically be removed from the game. Players in collisions running bases or sliding will be auto eval'd for concussions. Not sure what they will do with foul tips for catchers as that is rather unavoidable.
Cheerleading isnt designated as a sport, so there probably will be no changes. Gymnastics and synchronized swimming will have more frequent and rigorous concussion checks. Same with water polo and jockeys.
PBR may not change much, hard to say. The lower circuit rodeos are completely unregulated and those are the men (best of the best) competing in PBR. Not sure how much NASCAR will change either as every crash and slam into the wall is a concussion. Same with Formula 1, tons of concussions, not sure how much they will change.
There is a definite reckoning coming to the younger lower levels of these sports as schools, gyms and training facilities will be unable to get insured once it is discovered, depending on the sport, that ~20% to even 90%+ of the participants have CTE.
So, thats why I cant stop watching wrestling, for football to be honest, its because of Joe Burrow. I wont pretend its deeper because it isnt.
I want to see his journey, I want to see him, I want to give him his literal flowers in person, I want to cheer him on. The Joe Burrow Quotes Note on my phone with all his quotes that inspire me says it all.
Buffalo cleared Damar Hamlin.
I still want to meet Joe Burrow.
Joe said he wanted flowerS and hes only gotten more than 1 flower from his team and not a fan. Thats not right. I want to give him the orange bouquet. They also never die so for someone like Joe who loves flowers, how cool is that. Plus the roses are Bengals orange.
Joe is risking his mind, CTE, incurring permanent brain damage and further physical and structural damage to his body to put himself on the line for the fans. He admitted to Colin Cowherd there are tons of games he doesnt even remember, he was hit so hard. He already has amnesia from the hits and concussions! And noone can get the man more than a lousy flower at practice? Fuck that shit.
Im giving him the bouquet after a game. Bengals vs Ravens in Baltimore.
No union in any of the wrestling companies. They're all freelancers, no benefits. WWE, covers injuries that happen in-ring. If a stinger hits you later after you've been released, then thats your ass.
Does AEW cover medical expenses for injuries that occur in-ring? I am not sure of the policy. Doubt it or Danhausen wouldnt have needed the gofundme for his broken leg and subsequent surgery. Right?
Wrestlers can be released at any time. No pension. The pre-existing conditions from wrestling will not be covered by any future employers medical coverage plans. Same as NFL players who dont get to 5 years and dont vest.
So, whats the plan as a wrestler, other than trying to get rich as a main eventer? The percentage who achieve that vs those relegated to AEW Dark, a few matches here and there, sporadic appearances on Elevation then release?
Same with WWE. Mid carder, jobber, moved down to NXT, used as an extra on Raw a few times, disappear off TV for months, announced as released after Mania.
Then who pays for all the injuries accumulated in the ring? Neck, back, spine? Broken bones? Herniated discs? Surgeries? Physical therapy? Who pays?
What if you never got over to the point where a gofundme gets you anything close to paying all those bills out of pocket?
Trained for a year, debuted at an indy show, made some rounds at MLW, some appearances at PWG, show or two at GCW, used as fodder on AEW Dark or on NXT, used as a jobber, in a few matches on Rampage a few months apart, and the fans only know you as the "black girl not Red Velvet or Kiera".
So, then what happens to that wrestler who has knee, back, neck, spine issues, that whatever job they have, whatever medical coverage, it wont cover injuries sustained during their wrestling career because theyre pre-existing conditions?
What happens when youre not Brandi Rhodes, you dont make $10k in 2 hours, you dont get a signing at Wrestlemania, the fans dont remember you or are indifferent at best, your gofundme gets a few retweets, you sell some used gear to a few male fans, what about the $50k to $100k+ (easily $500k to $1m+) in medical bills all out of pocket that you have to pay because no employer sponsored medical plan will cover pre-existing conditions that occur in a wrestling ring or, for that matter, on a football field?
What happens to the Damar Hamlins of the world who dont die?
They just get taken to the back. We are told by Buck and Aikman that hes the cornerback for the Buffalo Bills, played at Pitt, standout corner, this was his first primetime game. Folks, our thoughts and prayers are with him as we head back to the field. Bengals have the ball on the 25.
Only, there is no update on the broadcast. If youre a Bills fan, maybe you find out that he was forced to retire due to a rare heart condition because he couldnt get medically cleared.
No fanfare. Gameday Morning doesnt mention him. Hes not a star, like Stefon Diggs or Josh Allen. In our zeal for how great the match up was with the Bengals, we have forgotten the injured, now retired at 24, cornerback. He quietly fades into obscurity, without being vested, without a pension, without benefits.
In fact, there are many Damar Hamlins. They dont die dramatically on the field then get resuscitated later.
They retire early into obscurity, depression, bankruptcy, endless debt, broken bodies, broken minds and broken dreams.
And no one thinks about them. Outside of a very few like me. I googled all this after Damars injury. I wanted to know, what about guys like Damar, rookie season or a few years into the league, catastrophic injury, no vesting since they played less than 5 years.
You didnt die on MNF, so no fanfare, no drama, no mainstream media coverage, no 2 million dollars to your toy fund in 24 hours.
They are forgotten and tossed and brushed aside.
They are the price of playing in the NFL.
High risk, high reward. You can make millions or leave penniless. Thats the risk these men take, but its also the reward that they can get. They choose to roll the dice. They are grown men. That is their choice.
But what happens to them?
