Reply to Andreia D's post "Spartacus, Gladiators and Gods"

“Even the lowest man can rise above the heavens.” What a powerful quote. I am glad Andreia decided to use this quote in her article in which she suggests that athletes see themselves as the 'lowest man' and it is their goal to 'rise above the heavens' or win in sports terms. I agree with her application of the quote and I can understand her viewpoint in terms of athletes risking a lot when they enter into a game. However, I disagree with the notion that these athletes or the sports in general should be scrutinized.

Andreia only focuses on primarily the combative aspect of sports. Meaning those sports in which players act out violently towards one another with the intention to injure. While no one should ever condone the injuring of others, and that is not at all what I am going to be doing here, no one should ever judge these athletes which partake in sport due to their willingness to risk life and limb to bring their team a championship.

When I first read the quote Andreia chose to use from Spartacus, I was not immediately thinking of athletes fighting each other and injuring each other. Instead I was thinking of the notion that athletes will do whatever it takes to win. This may seem like a foreign concept to many, but for a professional athlete the sport they play is often their life. It is what they live for, it is how they make their living. They know that they are risking injury, but they also know that their bodies can be pushed further than any other human being on the planet. They are willing to take some short term pain in return for the long-term elation from winning. For example: Curt Schilling, a pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, tore a tendon in his foot prior to the 2004 World Series Playoffs. He refused to miss the playoffs, so he had an experimental procedure done where the tendon was stitched in place. During one performance, the stitches tore open causing his sock to become bloody. He pitched through the pain and ended up being an integral piece to the first World Series win for the Boston Red Sox in 80 years.

There are many ways in which an athlete can get injured, and they often are as the result of strenuous activity not from bodily contact. Athletes will push their bodies to limits that non-athletes simply would not think of. There are many athletes who will play through an injury because they know that they can handle the minor pain. Watch any sports talk show after a sports playoffs end and you will likely see them talking about the list of players who played through various injuries, some of which who will be requiring surgery. You can argue that the majority of them did not come out victorious, but the fact is they gave it their all to at least try and win. Any athlete will tell you that they would rather know that they gave it their all and lost over not having tried at all.

This concept of playing through injury was showcased in Season 11 Episode 11 of The Simpsons in the episode entitled "Faith Off". There is a scene in this episode where Homer runs over Springfield University's star kicker at the football homecoming game. To solve the issue Homer gets Bart (who is a Faith Healer in this episode) to heal the kickers leg (Bart really just wraps the kickers leg in tape). The kicker goes on to kick the game winning field goal, but while kicking his lower leg detaches from the rest of his body and is seen flying through the air and kicking the football a second time as it starts to dip. The field goal is good and Springfield University wins. While this is a satirical take on the concept of athletes doing whatever it takes to win, including playing through injury, it is still an effective example of what my point was above.

Blog Post I am replying to: http://smc305ohmyblog.blogspot.ca/2012/03/spartacus-gladiators-and-gods.html