As the role of the media has expanded to encompass each and every avenue of our lives, this has led to an increase of the virality of the darker parts of human nature. This expansion of these darker sides in the media, has seemingly led to a rise in morbid curiosity. This advanced technology allows for close-ups and slow-motion replays and a continuous cycle of reviewing injury occurring events. In Dr. Julia Banwell’s essay The Broken Body as Spectacle: Looking at Death and Injury in Sport, she believes that “death and serious injury in sport destabilizes the notion of the excellence and toughness of the sporting body and exposes it as breakable and vulnerable” (142). Death and injury in sports is not a new phenomenon and thus injuries that become normalized in sports. We can watch first hand thanks to track cameras as athletes are either stretchered off the pitch or acquire first aid to the side. This perpetuates …show more content…
the normalizing effect as it makes the injury and its treatment visible to the audience to be further examined by the commentators through replays.
Banwell proposes that our view of injuries within sports depends on several factors, such as: its seriousness, the impact on the athletes’ future career, and the sporting context of the incident.
Why then would viewers wish to see such vulnerability on repeat? Vicki Goldberg in her discussion surrounding the repetition viewing of images containing scenes of death, argues “that any that is neutralized by the spectator’s control over how and when to view such images: “knowing when the violence and death will turn up allows a certain monitoring of one’s own emotions’” (147). To continue down this stream of thought, viewers may be rapidly viewing videos of athletes getting injured to apply control over uncontrollable events. This
ritualistic viewing could work as a coping method, allowing the viewer to become desensitized to such a disturbing event in an effort to feel less threatened about our own vulnerability. Banwell argues this act of ritualizing viewing may act as a form of mediations as it allows the viewer to attempt to understand the chaos and separate from its ability to act as a destabilizing agent. As viewing no longer occurs solely from the stands, but instead becomes physically involved due the accompanied track-/pitch- side cameras giving immersive views of the event. This may allow the spectator to be further engaged leaving them vulnerable to “potential physiological trauma through their receptiveness and reactivity” (150). The unpredictability of live sports is what brings so many people together as spectators. As we view our athletes as mortal super heroes, seeing their death or injury ridden actively refutes and destabilizes the notion of invincibility among the athletic elite. This forced the spectators to question the idea of the athletic elite as an aspirational fantasy and the human embodiment of physical eminence. Their death or disfigurement leads the spectators to question their own “fragility and morality, and the inescapable materiality of our own bodies” (151).
Over the past years, many will say that football has become America’s new pastime, taking over our weekends for almost half of the year. Fans travel from all over the country to see their favorite college or professional teams play, and once the football season is over, the countdown clock for the first game of fall begins. There are many positive aspects to the sport, and the fans and players love it, but in John McMurtry’s “Kill ‘em, Crush ‘em, Eat ‘em Raw”, the reader is introduced to a side of football that some have not seen, and many choose to ignore. McMurtry believes that the game of football has become one of people just wanting to hurt other people and too many injuries are occurring to justify the fun
There can be no question that sport and athletes seem to be considered less than worthy subjects for writers of serious fiction, an odd fact considering how deeply ingrained in North American culture sport is, and how obviously and passionately North Americans care about it as participants and spectators. In this society of diverse peoples of greatly varying interests, tastes, and beliefs, no experience is as universal as playing or watching sports, and so it is simply perplexing how little adult fiction is written on the subject, not to mention how lightly regarded that little which is written seems to be. It should all be quite to the contrary; that our fascination and familiarity with sport makes it a most advantageous subject for the skilled writer of fiction is amply demonstrated by Mark Harris.
Playing football comes with great costs, including physical and mental health deterioration, plus the amount of time spent prepping before game day. Which can pose several questions, “Why suffer for a game, is it worth the money? Is it worth the fame? How great is the cost?” I believe that football, should have stricter regulations for the treatment of injuries, along with informing players of just how devastating a concussion can be, along with the other major injuries that commonly occur while playing football.
Stereotypes are dangerous in today’s society as they force individuals to compromise safety in order to meet society’s want for entertainment. In “It’s Time to Think About Visors,” Ken Dryden explores the idea that society has pressured athletes to sacrifice safety for performance. Furthermore, he uses first hand experience to warn the public of the consequences that can occur when safety is neglected. Dryden’s experiences show a stunning fact that is people will focus on pleasing others stereotypes of risk in entertainment and inevitably reduce the barriers that separate the individual from danger. Ultimately, resulting in an increased rate of preventable injuries due to the influence of the world around them. In the essay
R, Elvik, and Kim k. "Accident Analysis & Prevention." Body-contact sports: Catharsis or reinforcement?. 6.1 (1974): 85-91. Print
Injuries are common in most sports that have a contact component attached. Whether it’s at a professional level, or a school level, injuries are always bound to occur in contact sport. This analysis will look into the role headgear could, should and would play, and debates whether it should be made mandatory. Olympic sports such as Ice Hockey, Bicycle Riding and Baseball are just some examples that currently require athletes to wear a form of headgear. However, Australian contact sports such as AFL and Rugby give the option for players to wear headgear for protection. In 2011, 14 year old Ben Robinson was hospitalised after being treated 3 times in a game for head blows in a rugby game . In 1994, professional boxer Bradley Stone died from head injuries whilst boxing against Richie Wenton . Examples like these show the brutality of contact sports. Because of this, my paper will look at the issue of headgear in contact sport and will particularly look at this issue at junior sports level.
The documentary focuses on the athletes of the quad rugby US team who took part in the 2004 Paralympics. Murderball focuses on the athletes from the day they start the training till they make their appearance in the event. The reasons for their disabilities are varied, but they are united by the passion for the sport..
Cherry, E., Sealey, D., & Mangialardi, L. (1991). Understanding the risks. Journal of Sport Management, 5(2), 198.
One of the biggest controversial topics going on today is should children still be aloud to play football, knowing what we know about serious injuries? The article that I chose ( “Don’t Let Kids play football”) is about the consequences that could occur playing such a contact sport. The debate is that some people believe that football teaches important life lessons and others believe that it can cause serious life changing injuries.
Contact sports in America, like football and boxing, carry a rich history of the spirit of the game, and the feeling of victory. These games bring us together as we cry out and cheer for our team or fighter as they deliver the winning touchdown, or the knockout that brings them the undisputed champion belt. However, these players are facing injuries that can destroy their career and affect their brain for the rest of their lives. We shouldn’t outlaw contact sports, but we should force safety to become more important. If we want to keep our players safe and continue the tradition of the contact sports we enjoy as a country, then we must evolve our safety in sports, and change the way we view contact sports as a country.
Recently, they have made a movie of major injuries it is called concussion. In this movie they show former football players who have had concussions and what it is like after having one. In ‘Concussion,’ forensic pathologist Dr. Bennet Omalu discovers a neurological deterioration, something that is very similar to Alzheimer’s disease in the brain of former NFL football player, Mike Webster. Later in time, Omalu named this disorder chronic traumatic encephalopathy. Many other athletes face this same problem with the same disease in the brain. Doctors are still trying to raise public awareness about the dangers of football-related head trauma. This movie has been a big part in changing the rules of football and how it is played. Researcher for CNN, Dr. Julian Bailes has said that, “We are taking out unnecessary head contact out of the sport, out of practice. We're enforcing rule changes," Not only has the movie ‘Concussion’ made an impact on how they feel about getting rid of the game of football overall but it also has many people in agreement, such as well-known doctors, that the game is a dangerous sport. Football players know that the game is a hard contact sport; they have to take every hit, hard or soft. These athletes that have been injured know what the game is about and all of the rules that go along with it. Therefore, the injuries that happen to them are on them if they sign up to play football, not because of the
An important part of every sport is the physical toll it takes on it’s participants and the
Due to the nature of sport, athletes will always be faced with the possibility of becoming injured. Empirical research has demonstrated that injury has a psychological impact on athletes (Quinn & Fallon, 1999). Indeed, sports practitioners often witness negative psychological impacts such as depression and in extreme cases suicidal tendencies in the injured athlete (Jevon & Johnston, 2003). Injuries have a dramatic impact upon an athlete’s life (Deutsch, 1985), Crossman (1997) interviewed athletic trainers and established that 47% of respondents believed that every injured athlete suffered psychological trauma. Walker, Thatcher and Lavallee (2007), explain there is a need to advance current knowledge of the way injured athletes psychologically respond, with deeper understanding it would be possible to aid rehabilitation professionals and help the athlete cope better psychologically. Psychological issues have an important role in the athletes ability to recover from injury (Arvinen-Barrow, Penny, Hemmings, & Corr, 2010), understanding how an athlete responds will have multiple practical implications. Ford and Gordon (1997) suggest that if an athlete experiences negative emotions then it will lead to non-complinace of the rehabilitation process. In order to understand athletes psychological responses to injury several frameworks have been suggested. These include the: integrated model of response to sports injury and rehabilitation (Wiese-Bjornstal, Smith, Shaffer, & Morrey, 1998), the Bio-Psychosocial model of sport injury rehabilitation (Brewer, Andersen, & Van Raalte, 2002), the staged-based grief response models (Kubler-Ross, 1969) and the stage model of the return to sport (Taylor & Taylor, 1997).
Injuries are part of an athlete’s life from the time they decide to train. An athlete is aware of the risks in order to be perform and be the best at what they; however, they cannot afford to think they will be injured. They must adopt a mindset that they are untouchable and the best in order to perform and train and peak efficiency. When an injury is sustained however, the effects are disastrous to an athlete not only physically but mentally. An athlete’s mind is the most important thing to them arguably, because without the will power and determination channeled from their mind they would be unable to perform. Injuries in athletes can change their mentality, increase depression, and shake confidence (Clemtent, 2015). Injuries may affect the physical body but many researchers and doctors tend to think the mind is even more affected then the body. Injuries are only physical but mental and affect the psyche of athletes in every sport. This paper will discuss the psychological effects and impact of injuries that can lead to depression, lack of confidence, and change in realistic expectations and the limited
Playing a sport whether its basketball, soccer, football or any other of your interest can be thrilling, and exciting. Not only can it be fun, yet physical exercise is good for the mind, body, and spirit. Therefore, as an athlete, one must keep in mind that playing any sport, injury is part of life and inevitable. Research has proven from time to time that severe injuries in sports can trigger psychological mental health issues, affecting their athletic performance. Recovering from an injury can indeed be a difficult process and athletes must wait for however long before being able to play the sport again.