Hello, World Blog, January 20, 2013
The Third Half
Bruised, Broken, and Bloody
The Coin Flip
I am a hooker, and a darn good one at that. I've swiped more balls than I can count, enjoy getting down and dirty, relish the feel of hands in my pants, and don't mind getting wedged in between people so long as they're not too rough.
I'm talking about rugby, just to be clear. I've noticed I have a tendency to lead people in the wrong direction.
Ah, rugby. It's that sport that no one really knows, and if they do they think it's some form of football or eccentric European sport that doesn't make sense here in 'Murica. Well, it is my pleasure to introduce to you, valued viewer, what rugby is through my own chronicles as a rugger. Rugby is a fast-paced sport played in two 40-minute halves with either 7 or 15 members on each side (in this case 15). It is a high-contact sport, which makes it similar to football in this manner, but also demands the endurance and stamina found in soccer. Basically, it's a really tiring game and if you don't know what you're doing, you risk getting real hurt, real bad. Now, I know that escalated very quickly but the realities of this game are grave and it only took one instance with a team member being driven away in an ambulance that showed me how dangerous this sport is, and with recent news of professional athletes committing suicide, such as Junior Seau, or suffering another ailment as a result of their athletic career, how dangerous other sports can be as well.
Every practice and every game, I risk serious injury or even death. If it's not a broken bone, then it's a torn ACL or paralysis. But it's rugby season now, and there's about 10 games I'm scheduled to play in, and I intend to play in every one. In fact, with football season coming to a close, I'm even more anxious to play despite seeing players like Dannell Ellerbe play with two broken thumbs or Jahvid Best remain on the PUP list for the second year due to a concussion. Just like these players, I bear witness to fellow team members playing with injuries, not caring about them so long as they get to play, and serious ramifications as a result of playing rugby such as ineligibility to compete in the Olympic Trials. However, I still lace up my boots and take to the pitch, almost in denial of these possibilities and in approval of my team doing the same.
As my season sets to begin, my blog aims to entertain you with my accounts of playing rugby and its culture, but also determine why it is that players risk their bodies and their lives in not only rugby, but any sport, especially in regards to high-contact professional sports, such as football and boxing. Why do athletes play in spite of injury, why do athletes play knowing well of the risks, and why do athletes feel compelled to continue playing? All of these of which begs the question, why does society continue to allow athletes to risk their lives in a game at the expense of their own entertainment?
Bruised, Broken, and Bloody
The Coin Flip
I am a hooker, and a darn good one at that. I've swiped more balls than I can count, enjoy getting down and dirty, relish the feel of hands in my pants, and don't mind getting wedged in between people so long as they're not too rough.
I'm talking about rugby, just to be clear. I've noticed I have a tendency to lead people in the wrong direction.
Ah, rugby. It's that sport that no one really knows, and if they do they think it's some form of football or eccentric European sport that doesn't make sense here in 'Murica. Well, it is my pleasure to introduce to you, valued viewer, what rugby is through my own chronicles as a rugger. Rugby is a fast-paced sport played in two 40-minute halves with either 7 or 15 members on each side (in this case 15). It is a high-contact sport, which makes it similar to football in this manner, but also demands the endurance and stamina found in soccer. Basically, it's a really tiring game and if you don't know what you're doing, you risk getting real hurt, real bad. Now, I know that escalated very quickly but the realities of this game are grave and it only took one instance with a team member being driven away in an ambulance that showed me how dangerous this sport is, and with recent news of professional athletes committing suicide, such as Junior Seau, or suffering another ailment as a result of their athletic career, how dangerous other sports can be as well.
Every practice and every game, I risk serious injury or even death. If it's not a broken bone, then it's a torn ACL or paralysis. But it's rugby season now, and there's about 10 games I'm scheduled to play in, and I intend to play in every one. In fact, with football season coming to a close, I'm even more anxious to play despite seeing players like Dannell Ellerbe play with two broken thumbs or Jahvid Best remain on the PUP list for the second year due to a concussion. Just like these players, I bear witness to fellow team members playing with injuries, not caring about them so long as they get to play, and serious ramifications as a result of playing rugby such as ineligibility to compete in the Olympic Trials. However, I still lace up my boots and take to the pitch, almost in denial of these possibilities and in approval of my team doing the same.
As my season sets to begin, my blog aims to entertain you with my accounts of playing rugby and its culture, but also determine why it is that players risk their bodies and their lives in not only rugby, but any sport, especially in regards to high-contact professional sports, such as football and boxing. Why do athletes play in spite of injury, why do athletes play knowing well of the risks, and why do athletes feel compelled to continue playing? All of these of which begs the question, why does society continue to allow athletes to risk their lives in a game at the expense of their own entertainment?
Blog Post II, January 27, 2013
Strained.
In an experiment led by Dr. Donald Kirkendall, it was found that a generic warm-up regime prior to engaging in football decreased the risk of injury 75% and urged coaches and players alike to take initiative in taking proper precautions to protect themselves against injury. Sadly, even after reading this article, yesterday I left my rugby game early with two strained calf muscles. I STILL can't walk right, and no amount of beer or alcohol has yet to assuage me from the pain.
I know exactly when it happened. First, it was just a painful pull in the right calf. OK, ignore, it'll probably go away, I'm about to engage in a scrum. Then, moments later after a tackle is where it all went downhill. Both legs this time. Damn. After a short injury timeout in which I refused to go out of the game (in rugby once you leave the game, you can't go back in no matter what) my calves still bothered me, but I thought I could play through it. Finally, a collapsed scrum and a knee right into my calf a few minutes later left me being carried off to the sideline with two ice packs on my legs and me regretting almost instantaneously my decision to leave the game. OK, so I couldn't walk for, like, 2 hours but there is nothing worse to an athlete than watching your team lose from the sideline and not being able to do anything about it. You look up and see the action on the field and realize all you can do now is just watch. Everything in your heart and soul tells you to get up to make a tackle yourself, run the ball, support your team, or anything that will contribute to the game. Your heart and soul scream, "I JUST WANNA PLAY!" and then your body reminds you to sit down, shut up, and take an ibuprofen cause in your non-walking state you're just as useful as a shark out of water. This was my first injury in a game, so this decision of staying in the game or nursing a injury is new to me. And yet though I initially thought this would take considerable thought, it is almost a given that I will continue to play so long as my heart still wants it and my body allows me. Another game awaits next Saturday, and if my friend who just recovered from a broken ankle will play, so will I.
Unlike other sports, rugby is still a growing sport in the U.S. so decisions such as these are often left to players rather than coaches or medical staff. This is usually never a good idea. I'll say it: athletes are stubborn and dumb. They'll play until their body falls apart, and when it comes to the professional league, this rings especially true where a leave due to injury can cost a person their entire career. Often you'll see players going all out to keep their starting position ( and thus their job and salary) or playing with injury so that another person doesn't take their spot. Remember Alex Smith of the 49ers? He took a week off due to a concussion and now he's just the has-been quarterback that was hiding Colin Kaepernick this whole time. This is a fear that dominates the NFL, and today Bernard Pollard of the Baltimore Ravens came out and said this commitment to being the best player, making the hardest hits may someday lead to a "guy dying on the field." He states that the demand for stronger, faster players every year mean players will inevitably get hurt in this pursuit, despite the NFL imposing stricter rules on where players can hit. Yes, players are now restricted as to where they can hit, but they hit just as hard in every other area. Pollard states that "Football is a violent sport, and sometimes bad things happen. Some people don't like it. But at the end of the day, I've got to feed my family, and this is how I do it." For him, it is clear that football is his means of survival for himself and his family so holding back is not an option even if it means injury. "We understand what we signed up for, and it sucks," Pollard says, perhaps admitting that as an athlete, though there are benefits, sometimes the consequences are too much to bear.
You can find this article at: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutdown-corner/bernard-pollard-way-nfl-heading-someone-going-die-153615116--nfl.html
In an experiment led by Dr. Donald Kirkendall, it was found that a generic warm-up regime prior to engaging in football decreased the risk of injury 75% and urged coaches and players alike to take initiative in taking proper precautions to protect themselves against injury. Sadly, even after reading this article, yesterday I left my rugby game early with two strained calf muscles. I STILL can't walk right, and no amount of beer or alcohol has yet to assuage me from the pain.
I know exactly when it happened. First, it was just a painful pull in the right calf. OK, ignore, it'll probably go away, I'm about to engage in a scrum. Then, moments later after a tackle is where it all went downhill. Both legs this time. Damn. After a short injury timeout in which I refused to go out of the game (in rugby once you leave the game, you can't go back in no matter what) my calves still bothered me, but I thought I could play through it. Finally, a collapsed scrum and a knee right into my calf a few minutes later left me being carried off to the sideline with two ice packs on my legs and me regretting almost instantaneously my decision to leave the game. OK, so I couldn't walk for, like, 2 hours but there is nothing worse to an athlete than watching your team lose from the sideline and not being able to do anything about it. You look up and see the action on the field and realize all you can do now is just watch. Everything in your heart and soul tells you to get up to make a tackle yourself, run the ball, support your team, or anything that will contribute to the game. Your heart and soul scream, "I JUST WANNA PLAY!" and then your body reminds you to sit down, shut up, and take an ibuprofen cause in your non-walking state you're just as useful as a shark out of water. This was my first injury in a game, so this decision of staying in the game or nursing a injury is new to me. And yet though I initially thought this would take considerable thought, it is almost a given that I will continue to play so long as my heart still wants it and my body allows me. Another game awaits next Saturday, and if my friend who just recovered from a broken ankle will play, so will I.
Unlike other sports, rugby is still a growing sport in the U.S. so decisions such as these are often left to players rather than coaches or medical staff. This is usually never a good idea. I'll say it: athletes are stubborn and dumb. They'll play until their body falls apart, and when it comes to the professional league, this rings especially true where a leave due to injury can cost a person their entire career. Often you'll see players going all out to keep their starting position ( and thus their job and salary) or playing with injury so that another person doesn't take their spot. Remember Alex Smith of the 49ers? He took a week off due to a concussion and now he's just the has-been quarterback that was hiding Colin Kaepernick this whole time. This is a fear that dominates the NFL, and today Bernard Pollard of the Baltimore Ravens came out and said this commitment to being the best player, making the hardest hits may someday lead to a "guy dying on the field." He states that the demand for stronger, faster players every year mean players will inevitably get hurt in this pursuit, despite the NFL imposing stricter rules on where players can hit. Yes, players are now restricted as to where they can hit, but they hit just as hard in every other area. Pollard states that "Football is a violent sport, and sometimes bad things happen. Some people don't like it. But at the end of the day, I've got to feed my family, and this is how I do it." For him, it is clear that football is his means of survival for himself and his family so holding back is not an option even if it means injury. "We understand what we signed up for, and it sucks," Pollard says, perhaps admitting that as an athlete, though there are benefits, sometimes the consequences are too much to bear.
You can find this article at: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutdown-corner/bernard-pollard-way-nfl-heading-someone-going-die-153615116--nfl.html
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