by Cary McNeal
310
FACT : The severity of sports-related injury increases with age. The severity of a lot of things increases with age.
“Sports Injury Statistics,” Children’s Hospital Boston, www.childrenshospital.org.
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311
FACT : Before puberty, girls and boys suffer the same risk of sports injuries, but during puberty, boys suffer more injuries, and more severe injuries, than girls. Probably because during puberty, boys are trying harder than ever to impress those girls.
“Sports Injury Statistics,” Children’s Hospital Boston, www.childrenshospital.org.
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312
FACT : Baseball has the highest fatality rate among sports for children ages five to fourteen, with three to four deaths each year. From what, boredom?
“Sports Injury Statistics,” Children’s Hospital Boston, www.childrenshospital.org.
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313
FACT : Many rugby song lyrics and the particular plays within the game (presumably jokingly) glorify raping other men’s girlfriends and mothers. I’ve known a few rugby players. They weren’t joking.
Sara L. Crawley, Lara J. Foley, and Constance L. Shehan, Gendering Bodies (Rowman & Littlefield, 2007), 187.
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314
FACT : NFL players in prestigious and popular roles as scorers—running backs, quarterbacks, wide receivers—appear to be overrepresented in domestic violence and sexual assaults committed against women. Overrepresented legally, that is, like O.J. in his first trial, when he had about seventeen lawyers.
Sara L. Crawley, Lara J. Foley, and Constance L. Shehan, Gendering Bodies (Rowman & Littlefield, 2007), 187.
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315
FACT : A Washington, D.C.-based study on the correlation between admissions to emergency rooms and outcomes for Washington Redskins’ football games showed that admissions of female victims of stabbings, gunshots, assaults, and other violence actually increases when the team wins. Which, luckily, doesn’t happen very often.
Sara L. Crawley, Lara J. Foley, and Constance L. Shehan, Gendering Bodies (Rowman &Littlefield, 2007), 187.
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316
FACT : Boxers and participants in violent team sports often suffer very high incidence of permanent injuries, disabilities, alcoholism, drug abuse, obesity, and heart problems. Really? Because Muhammad Ali seems just fine to me.
Sara L. Crawley, Lara J. Foley, and Constance L. Shehan, Gendering Bodies (Rowman & Littlefield, 2007), 187.
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317
FACT : In Ancient Greece, boxing was a more brutal sport than it is today. Fighters wore leather straps to protect their fists, and the contest did not end until one of the fighters was unconscious or, in some cases, dead. Yes, that sounds totally different from modern boxing. Wait. No, it doesn’t.
“The Most Brutal,” Ancient Sports, www.Ancientsports.net. Waldo E. Sweet and Erich Segal, Sport and Recreation in Ancient Greece: A Sourcebook with Translations (Oxford University Press, 1987).
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318
FACT : In boxing, a “knockout” is synonymous with cerebral concussion, which can lead to short- or even long-term amnesia and confusion. Another concern is that the neurological damage is cumulative and makes the boxer increasingly vulnerable to future injury and permanent neurological trauma. Amnesia might not be a bad thing, in this case. Who wants to remember getting his ass kicked?
Julian E. Bailes and Arthur L. Day, Neurological Sports Medicine: A Guide for Physicians and Athletic Trainers (Thieme, 2001).
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319
FACT : Another popular violent sport in ancient Greece was pankration, a hybrid of wrestling and boxing with no protective gear and no rules, save a ban on gouging of eyes and biting. We still have this.
It’s called the Ultimate Fighting Championship. But I think they allow biting and eye-gouging now. And wedgies.
“The Most Brutal,” Ancient Sports, www.ancientsports.net.
Waldo E. Sweet, Erich Segal, Sport and Recreation in Ancient Greece: A Sourcebook with Translations (Oxford University Press, 1987).
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320
FACT : Ancient Egyptian sports and games were brutal. In Fishermen’s Jousting, teams of fishermen would knock their opponents out of their boats. Since many fishermen were unable to swim, drownings often resulted. Because the best sport for guys who can’t swim is one where they try to knock each other off paper boats into the water.
“The Most Brutal,” Ancient Sports, www.ancientsports.net.
Steve Craig, Sports and Games of the Ancients (Greenwood Publishing Group, 2002), 6.
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321
FACT : Chariot racing in ancient Rome was brutal. Drivers wrapped the reins of the chariot around their arms and could not let go if they crashed, allowing them to be dragged behind their horses unless they could free themselves. Many charioteers carried small knives for this purpose. Then they realized a better solution: find a new hobby. One that doesn’t involve chariots.
“The Most Brutal,” Ancient Sports, www.ancientsports.net.
Eckart Köhne, Cornelia Ewigleben, and Ralph Jackson, Gladiators and Caesars: The Power of Spectacle in Ancient Rome (University of California Press, 2000).
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322
FACT : Spanish-style bullfights are a gruesome tradition. Picadors (lance-yielding men on blindfolded horses) and banderilleros (men on foot who wield sticks with harpoon points) stab a bull in the back and neck. When the bull is weakened, the matador forces a few charges from the bull for show, then kills it with a sword and cuts off the ears or tail as trophies. Well that sounds like fun. I have to take the kids.
“What is wrong with bullfighting?” League Against Cruel Sports, www.league.org.uk.
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323
FACT : Six people died in bullfights in 2004. What a shame. That there weren’t more.
“What is wrong with bullfighting?” League Against Cruel Sports, www.league.org.uk.
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324
FACT : Since 1924, thirteen people have been killed in Pamplona, Spain’s annual “Running of the Bulls” at the San Fermin festival. Injuries have persisted in recent years despite the government’s attempts to make the event safer by coating the streets with a special anti-slip paint. One year, instead of anti-slip paint, they covered the street with butter and banana peels just for fun. The number of injuries increased a bit.
Damien Simonis, Susan For-syth, and John Noble, Spain, 6th ed. (Lonely Planet, 2007).
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325
FACT : If you ascend too quickly while scuba diving, you risk lung over-expansion, a condition that occurs when air is inhaled underwater and not exhaled while rising to the surface. The air in the lungs expands as the diver ascends, and can result in potentially lethal air bubbles in the blood. That doesn’t sound painful.
“Decompression Symptoms: The Bends,” eMedicineHealth, www.emedicinehealth.com.
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326
FACT : Scuba divers who ascend too quickly also risk decompression sickness, or “the bends,” which occurs when nitrogen that builds in tissues during the dive is forced back into the blood stream too quickly, resulting in nitrogen bubbles in the blood. The condition is extremely painful and potentially fatal. Like any of this will matter the next time you’re diving and a fifteen-foot shark starts circling. You’ll ascend so fast you’ll look like Shamu coming out of the water.
“Decompression Symptoms: The Bends,” eMedicineHealth, www.emedicinehealth.com.
Bruce Iliff, “The Bends In Scuba Diving,” suite101.com, www.suite101.com.
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327
FACT : Research by the National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center shows that 18 percent of spinal cord injuries are sports-related, with close to 8,000 injuries each year. This is likely a gross underestimate, however, as
an additional 20 patients per million die before reaching the hospital. People without medical coverage will do anything to avoid a high hospital bill.
Randolph W. Evans, Neurology and Trauma, 2nd ed. (Oxford University Press, 2006).
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328
FACT : One study showed that over half of sports-related catastrophic spinal cord injuries resulted from diving accidents, most of them during unsupervised or unsponsored activities in which alcohol was a factor. “Hey y’all, watch this!”
Randolph W. Evans, Neurology and Trauma 2nd ed. (Oxford University Press, 2006).
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329
FACT : From 1982 to 1997, cheerleading accounted for 57 percent of the catastrophic injuries and fatalities among young female athletes. When did cheerleaders become “athletes”?
Jean O’Reilly and Susan K. Cahn, Women and Sports in the United States: A Documentary Reader (UPNE, 2007).
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330
FACT : Stingers are injuries to the nerves in the neck and shoulder that cause painful electric sensations to radiate through one of the arms. If not properly diagnosed and treated, stingers, which are usually sports-related, can lead to persistent pain and permanent nerve damage. They might want to rethink that name. Talk about an understatement.
“The Stinger,” North American Spine Society Public Education Series, North American Spine Society, 2006, www.spine.org.
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331
FACT : From 1973 to 1975, there were eighty-one known fatalities from hang-gliding, usually involving massive head, neck, and chest trauma that included shattered skulls and ruptured aortas, heart lacerations, and pulmonary collapse. The majority of injured hang-gliders arrived at the hospital deceased. Of thirty-seven fatal injuries, 20 percent involved alcohol. Alcohol and hang-gliding—great idea!
Julian E. Bailes and Arthur L. Day, Neurological Sports Medicine: A Guide for Physicians and Athletic Trainers (Thieme, 2001).
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332
FACT : Rowing is a taxing sport with a significant incidence of injury among participants, ranging from spondylolysis, a stress fracture to one of the vertebrae, to disc disease, chronic pain from a damaged disc. Both conditions can lead to other injuries and degeneration in the spine. Row, row, row your boat, Paddles in a line, Push ‘em up, pull ‘em back, Snap your goddamn spine.
Julian E. Bailes and Arthur L. Day, Neurological Sports Medicine: A Guide for Physicians and Athletic Trainers (Thieme, 2001).
“Spondylolysis and Spondylo-listhesis,” American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, www.orthoinfo.aaos.org.
“Degenerative Disc Disease,” Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, www.csmc.edu.
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333
FACT : Sports shooters, especially those who use indoor small-bore rifle ranges, risk lead absorption and intoxication, known to cause symptomatic neuropathy, which can be damaging to the brain, nerves, and more. Neuropathy is a nervous disorder—not really something you want in a guy walking around with a loaded gun.
Julian E. Bailes and Arthur L. Day, Neurological Sports Medicine: A Guide for Physicians and Athletic Trainers (Thieme, 2001).
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334
FACT : Skiing carries a high risk of injury to the nervous system that can result in quadriplegia and death. Recreational skiers can easily reach speeds of up to 40 mph when traveling downhill, which can lead to injuries similar to those seen in car accidents. If you don’t believe it, ask Sonny Bono. Oh, wait, never mind. He’s dead.
Julian E. Bailes and Arthur L. Day, Neurological Sports Medicine: A Guide for Physicians and Athletic Trainers (Thieme, 2001).
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335
FACT : The use of trampolines carries a great risk for catastrophic injury. In one study, thirty-two out of fifty instances of spinal cord injury in gymnastics involved trampolines. Still, they’re a lot safer now than when I was a kid. We didn’t have safety nets or spring covers, and the trampolines were made of asbestos, covered in lead paint, and often surrounded by a ring of fire or piranha-filled water or land mines. I saw a lot of good kids go down.
Julian E. Bailes and Arthur L. Day, Neurological Sports Medicine: A Guide for Physicians and Athletic Trainers (Thieme, 2001).
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336
FACT : Golf may be considered a benign sport, but it carries risk of injury and death, most often from lightning, power lines, heart attack, and heat stroke. Other deaths have occurred from freak injuries. In one instance, an angry golfer killed his caddie by swinging a club at him after missing a shot, and another player broke his club on a tree, only to have it rebound and impale him. No one who has played golf considers it a benign sport.
Julian E. Bailes and Arthur L. Day, Neurological Sports Medicine: A Guide for Physicians and Athletic Trainers (Thieme, 2001).
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337
FACT : In the United States, at least seven fatalities and numerous severe injuries have been reported among bungee jumpers using a hot air balloon as a platform. In two instances, no one noticed that the balloon lost altitude, making the jump cord too long, and the jumpers hit the ground. Oops. I hope they got a refund.
Julian E. Bailes and Arthur L. Day, Neurological Sports Medicine: A Guide for Physicians and Athletic Trainers (Thieme, 2001).
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338
FACT : Bow-hunter’s stroke is caused by the narrowing or obstruction of main arteries supplying blood to the brain stem or cerebellum. This can be caused by forcibly turning your head to one side, commonly on a head rotation of 90 degrees or more to the left, as an archer does when aiming. The most common cause of death during archery remains the same as always: letting someone try to shoot an apple off the top of your head.
Julian E. Bailes and Arthur L. Day, Neurological Sports Medicine: A Guide for Physicians and Athletic Trainers (Thieme, 2001).
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339
FACT : No one would consider lawn darts dangerous—unless he knew that the sport has been associated with skull-penetrating injuries, half of which cause permanent neurological impairment. In fact, the head is the most common body part to sustain injury, usually in children. Of course it is. Head shots are worth fifty points, plus an extra ten if you hit them in the face.
Randolph W. Evans, Neurology and Trauma, 2nd ed. (Oxford University Press, 2006).
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340
FACT : Injuries in equestrian sports are almost twenty times more common than injuries in motorcycling. Except when you’re thrown from a horse, you don’t bounce off the windshield of a car or skid 200 yards down the asphalt on your face.
Randolph W. Evans, Neurology and Trauma,2nd ed. (Oxford University Press, 2006).
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341
FACT : Noodling is a dangerous type of bare-hand fishing used to catch large—and powerful—catfish in underwater holes. Noodlers have been drowned, suffered broken bones, and been severely bitten by turtles, beavers, snakes, and muskrats. Noodling is illegal in thirty-seven states. Even more dangerous is canoodling. Catfish aren’t affectionate, and unwanted advances will earn you a bite or a barb.
“How Noodling Works,” HowStuffWorks.com, www.howstuffworks.com.
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342
FACT : Children spend greater time watching TV than all other activities, except sleep. Do you know what babysitters charge these days?
Huston and Wright, “Television and Socialization of Young Children,” in Tuning In to Young Viewers, ed. T. MacBeth (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1996), 37–60.
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343
FACT : In 2007, forty-five people were struck and killed by lightning in the United States, a quarter of them in or near water. Better to be struck and killed than struck and not killed, don’t you agree? If you live through that, you’re probably going to be really skittish for a while. Your hair will never be right again either, I bet.