I know that this isn't exactly a reaction to W.A.L.L., but I just wanted to throw this reaction down while it's fresh.
As far as I am concerned, the fans of the Kansas City football team are the most disgusting human beings on the planet right now. If you didn't hear what they did, let me share. Their quarterback got hit so hard on a play that he literally passed out. And the fans cheered. They cheered for any physical injury he might have sustained, they cheered for what could be the end of his career, they cheered for the practically unavoidable brain damage that could not only completely end his career but also potentially his life as he knows it, and most of all, they cheered for the sole reason that the team hasn't been winning while he's in charge.
Is that what our culture has come to? Are we so obsessed with winning that we will literally wish brain damage on someone just because they are performing slightly worse than the best in the world? As much as I try to forgive the sports culture, the culture that pays people millions of dollars for a physical talent, the culture that has infected colleges to the point that a college football player isn't a student-athlete, he's an athlete who happens to be a student, the culture that sometimes seems to worship physical prowess as the be-all and end-all of everything, sometimes I just can't.
Well for starters, RGIII plays for the Washington Redskins not The Kansas City Chiefs. Secondly, if Washington fans were cheering for the hit, it was probably about how epic the hit was, or the fact that he was able to walk off the field (a common practice in football and considered good manners and good sportsmanship). To my knowledge (I am not an expert in all things RGIII since he is not on my fantasy roster) RGII has been performing well and would not have given his fans a reason to cheer for injury. Lastly, is Tom Brady's salary ridiculous? Of course it is, but what you need to remember is that these football players risk their health to play one of the most physically intensive sports in the world. Would you not want to be well compensated?
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure who RGIII is, but according to the article I read, he was out cold when he hit the ground.
DeleteI'll double check it cause I might be wrong, but it seemed like it was saying that he was actually knocked out and thus probably did not walk off the field.
And my problem is less with the actual compensation as with the message it sends. Some of these highly paid athletes are not in any way shape or form role models, and yet they're treated as such.
Their wages have nothing to do with "compensation" for physical endangerment, etc. Their wages are based on the free market, and the market drives their worth. Unfortunately for NFL players, their market value is curbed by a salary cap imposed on them by league officials and owners. Even more unfortunate is that their salries are not guaranteed, meaning that if a player is hurt, he can be released without the franchise having to fulfill his contract.
ReplyDeleteThe culture of sports can be defined as sad or incredibly uplifting depending on the lens from which they experience them, their own life experiences, and personal bias.
While on the topic of the free market, what's really sad, and relevant to sports culture, is that FBS football players in BCS conferences do not receive a wage. They are in no way "amateur." ESPN and every other media outlet that exploits their talents for monetary gain stripped major collegiate athletes from "amateur" status a loooong time ago.