Tag Archives: football

Some Statistics on Football-related Injuries and Deaths

15 Replies

IMG_7702

The article discusses, “Why high school players lead the way in football fatalities.

https://www.commercialappeal.com/story/news/2018/08/27/high-school-football-injuries-safety/1113674002/

This November, 2018 article states: “A week of football injuries, from youth to the pros, shows the damage the sport can inflict.”https://www.statnews.com/2018/11/21/football-injuries-death-youth/

Although the below article on football-related injuries and deaths points out that the percentage of deaths due to football are are not high given the number of participants, the number of direct deaths due to football injuries has gone up since 2000, and “Although there are risks involved in any sport and any type of exertion, the physical and contact-heavy nature of football means players are particularly at risk for brain and spinal cord injury.”
https://edition.cnn.com/2018/09/21/health/football-deaths-season-injuries-high-school-college-trnd/index.html

The above links are given related to my earlier poem about football published this morning.  If you haven’t seen it, you can see it HERE.

 

 

 

Modern Day Gladiators

16 Replies

scan098 2

 “The Colosseum was used for entertainment for 390 years. During this time, more than 400,000 people died inside its amphitheater. It’s also estimated that about 1,000,000 animals died in the Colosseum as well.

Modern Day Gladiators

Violence is integral in our enjoyment
of  various genres of sportive employment.
Boxing and football are tops of their ilk,
wherein bloodshed and violence are mother’s milk.
It doesn’t take hindsight. Who couldn’t guess
that among all that brutal and terrible mess
of scrimmage and tackling and hitting and pounding
there wouldn’t be bone-breaking injuries abounding?

What is it in us that loves and enjoys
for mothers to sacrifice beautiful boys
for the vicarious pleasure of stove-up old men
who bask in the light of what they might have been?
Dressed up with cheerleaders, bands and  cold beer,
hot dogs and ice cream and the wild cheer,
we’re convinced it is festive, patriotic and fun,
then shake our heads sadly when injury is done.

Today college bigwigs and corporate scions
don’t fill colosseums with Christians and lions,
yet they send players to slaughter for our amusement,
and the logic of this is a source of bemusement
to rational humans who see the results
of blood sport on players—kids or adults
assigned to give glory to parents, team, country.
Their brutal sacrifice seems an effrontery.

Here is another post I did on statistics regarding  football-related injuries and deaths: https://judydykstrabrown.com/2019/02/03/some-statistics-on-football-related-injuries-and-deaths/

The prompt words today are gridiron, integral. tricky and hindsight.

https://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com/2019/02/03/rdp-sunday-gridiron/
https://wordofthedaychallenge.wordpress.com/2019/02/02/integral/
https://onedailyprompt.wordpress.com/2019/02/03/your-daily-word-prompt-tricky-february-3-2019/
https://fivedotoh.com/2019/02/03/fowc-with-fandango-hindsight/

Jock Balk

7 Replies

Jock Balk

I’ve never climbed a mountain.
I don’t dive in the sea.
Sports are simply pastimes
that don’t agree with me.

I cannot bat or pitch or catch.
A baseball skill I lack;
and when I tried at tetherball,
it hit me in the back.

I flinched and ducked, then stood back up,
tried once more for the ball;
but when I missed, got hit again
and took another fall.

I ski a lot upon my back
and when I swim I sink.
The water I can handle well
is in my kitchen sink.

In grade school when we played those games
involving run and chase,
I was the last one chosen;
for I never won a race.

I did not shine at tennis,
nor at volleyball.
When it comes to doing sport,
I find I’ve flunked them all.

Bowling, golf and badminton,
croquet and racquetballing
are talents I just don’t possess.
They simply aren’t my calling.

I fear I lack the focus
to hit balls with stick or hand.
To me, it’s hocus-pocus.
I’d rather join the band.

In games that take sports prowess,
my teammates rave and rant
that I do not play kick-the-can,
but rather, kick-I-can’t.

Some people lacking talent,
coordination, speed—
simply choose spectator sports
to fill their sportly need.

But I don’t like watching football,
your soccer or your hockey;
and when it comes to horse racing,
I neither bet nor jockey.

I admit, at sports I am
the worst you’ve ever seen.
So stop expecting more of me.
I simply lack the gene!!

 The Prompt: Team USA is playing today in the soccer World Cup in Brazil. Do you have any funny/harrowing/interesting memories from a sporting event you attended, participated in, or watched?