Response to Jessica's McCoy:Lion of Lamb

Jessica, you are right that I was shocked after I watched that video and know that he was sent back into the game. If I were his mother, I would have definitely been upset with the coaching team as well as the medical staff. He was clearly hit very hard, directly to his head. What I don’t understand about sports today is why there is so much violence when there are so many studies and technologies that tell us just how bad these hits are for people to suffer.

That hit was directly to his head, which snapped back and he fell to the ground. It is ridiculous the amount of pressure that is put on athletes to lead their team to a win. As you said, his only concern was that he felt as though he let his team down, and surely he was let back onto the field in part because he told the staff that he was fine to play. It is very unfortunate that some sports place a higher emphasis on the score than on the health of the individuals.

However, as a fan of many sports, and as was discussed in previous blogs as well as in class, it is the fans of these teams that create superstars of their favorite players and it is the fans that want to see them get back up. Sure, no fan wants to see their favorite teammate suffer in the long run, but everyone loves to see the phoenix reborn from the ashes. When a player falls and gets back up to play, there is often a huge uproar from the fans, yes because they are happy that the player is fine, but I also think that there is some hope that they will return to the game.

This is an unfortunate aspect because in the heat of the moment people often lose sight of the bigger picture, being the athlete’s health, and just want to see their team succeed. I for one find it more exciting when my team begins a game by losing and then somehow finds power and strength to recover to lead to an overtaking of the opponent and a win. Perhaps getting up from an injury and continuing the game is the same idea for individual players, but in no way to I believe that it is with the same importance that these be viewed. Winning a game after starting out losing is one thing, getting up and playing after a concussion is a whole other ballgame which should definitely not be encouraged.