The Boxer

Originally Posted by Rockin Robbins

We do it all the time. We sneer at the Japanese sumo wrestlers killing themselves by mutating their bodies in unhealthy ways.

Meanwhile, the nasty secret is that the average lifespan of your garden variety NFL lineman is about 45 years! Five years of glory--15 years of physical misery from the accumulated injuries and death at half a lifespan. That's just great! I daresay sumo wrestlers do better than that...

Yet, how much glory do we heap on these suicide warriors? How many healthy, physically capable kids are devoting all their dreams, thoughts and energies to attaining a position of death today?

Hell! We won't permit people to smoke because it MIGHT subtract five years from their lives, but we make heroes of people willingly sacrificing 30 to 45 years! Yay us!!!!

Need we talk about rock musicians?

Good points, didn't know that about the NFL linesmen. There is a saying here, "An athlete/sportsman never sees a day when he/she is healthy", meaning that they suffer throughout their careers and often forever after it.

However, there is this philosophical thought by Nietchze, "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger". If fear of sports makes people not do sports then they will destroy their healths through things like obesity, heart and coronary disease etc. which could be said to be even more damaging.

I've never boxed but I did play some football (soccer for americans) ice hockey and something called bandy in the juniors and with friends and in school. I remember one time when I went to the boards and was on the ice and saw these skates moving about an inch from my face and started thinking how smart it is.