In light of the events of the first Carolina Panthers game of the season, I've been thinking a lot about sports and safety lately. Cam Newton, the Carolina Panthers starting quarterback took a few hard hits by the opposing team, the Denver Broncos. There were no flags called on these hits, and the National Football League (NFL) has recently fined the Broncos players that performed the hits. My question in all of this -- is the sport really more important? I can't find any plausible reasons why. Football games will end someday, but the game of life continues on. One's health will outweigh sports every time -- will it be good health or bad?
I am equally disappointed in the Carolina Panthers, as well as the NFL, for not taking more action following these hits. In fact, I believe that if the first one would have been handled correctly, then the others would have never happened. Likewise, the players that did hit Newton should have been ejected from the game. Instead, they were not and to me that suggests that the entire NFL -- teams, officials, managers, whoever -- is valuing a game over health and safety.
I used to think that sports were more important. Now, I'm finding myself more of an advocate for sports safety than ever before. It's been four years since I had my third back surgery, and I can tell you just as good as anyone that the sport is never more important. Four years ago, I sat in a doctor's office, processing my reality: If I don't stop playing sports, every day will be an uphill battle for me and childbirth could be really painful and debilitating on my hips. I was only 16, but this quickly became my reality. Because of my sports injuries and back pain, I made the decision then that sports are not more important than one's quality of life.
Since when did toughness, at the cost of health, become a heroic character trait? Why do we glorify getting back up when someone knocks us down, especially if it means we are sacrificing our well-being? If we continue to push athletes through their pain and injury, then we have lost the game already. Not just any game, but the game of life. At some point, even for professional athletes or those that make a career out of their sports, the games, practices, workouts, wins, and losses will all be things of the past. What will matter most when all of that is over, however, is the things you are left with. Those things, such as your health and well-being, will be yours forever. If you fail to take care of them, then you will live a very long and painful life.
I hope that for the rest of the season, the NFL begins to really crack down on the safety of its players. I look to the league in hopes that it will begin to do the right thing rather than the more popular thing. Athletes are not made of steel and they are not invincible. An injury is serious, and so is getting hit hard multiple times in one game, without a break or medical evaluation. In life, your health will win every time because you are stuck with it. Forever. I am hoping that for the rest of the season, the NFL begins to relay its understanding of that as it values safety and health first. Not popularity, not winning, and not toughness. If it does not, I don't know that I will continue watching.
