PicoSync

Happy new year!

So, friends: I had all intention of starting 2023 on a softer, easeful note. Alas, for the first full week of the year, I’ve been consumed with thinking about violence, extreme sports and what it means to risk body and limb for the sake of competitive glory. (As an Aries rising, I can’t help it — testing limits is in my astrological DNA.)

Earlier this week, the world was reminded of the deadly perils of America’s favorite gladiator sport. During the Monday-night football game between the Buffalo Bills and the Cincinnati Bengals, Damar Hamlin, a safety for the Bills, collapsed after tackling another player. He’d gone into cardiac arrest. Medics rushed onto the field and performed CPR for an agonizing nine minutes, managing to revive his heartbeat before rushing him to the hospital. As of this writing, Hamlin was off his ventilator and speaking with teammates; doctors at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center said he was showing signs of a “remarkable” recovery.

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That Hamlin is alive and improving is a miracle. And even though the play that led to his fall was not an especially brutal one, it was a stark reminder of football’s brutality. Players are becoming bigger, stronger and faster, leading to increased risks from contact. The National Football League for years tried to undermine and bury research on concussions and long-term damage from chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, a degenerative disease that affects a shocking number of players. And studies have shown that football players live shorter lives.

Considering that nearly 70 percent of the NFL’s players are Black, the Hamlin episode is a reminder that almost every weekend, Americans tune in to watch mostly Black men bash into one another for the profit of White team owners. This is also a league that once denied financial support to retired Black players suffering from play-related cognitive deficits — by claiming that Black players had lower mental capabilities to begin with. The NFL had to be sued to change its ways.

After the #DamarHamlin incident, the conversation around CPR training and AED access is important.

But we can't sidestep some hard truths.

America is addicted to this violent and brutal game. And the @NFL has repeatedly shown that does not care about Black players' health.

When I wrote on social media about this, I was told, by mostly White commenters, “not to bring race” into a discussion about the NFL — that what Hamlin needed was “thoughts and prayers” and “unity.”

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I disagree. It doesn’t do Hamlin or any other NFL player any good to ignore the dark side of this sport. This is a league in which scouts have admitted to targeting recruits from disadvantaged backgrounds. (“He’s a Ph.D,” one scout said to an ESPN reporter about a draft pick: “poor, hungry and desperate.”) In fact, not talking about race and the racial dynamics in the NFL only placates the consciences of the large White conservative fan base, people who simply want to enjoy their Sunday nachos while watching players risk brain damage.

Can football be reformed to make it safer? Solutions have been floated — such as reducing the number of players on the field, making fields smaller, using softer helmets, instituting no-contact practices, and eliminating the three-point stance. As long as the NFL delays making serious changes, players’ lives — especially Black players’ lives — will continue to be cut short, in service to a multibillion-dollar industry. Sounds familiar, huh?

Home Front: Ultimate fighting in the cage — and Cabo

This week made me think about another violent sport that is rising in popularity: mixed martial arts. Anyone who has followed me for a while knows that I train in boxing and Muay Thai, and have competed at the amateur level. Eric Farnsworth asked me this question on Twitter:

Karen, with respect but also some confusion for your take…you yourself are literally a competitive fighter in the ring, and often tweet about it…you choose to do this. I would not. Nor did I play football. But comments condemning football are ironic coming from a pugilist, no?

Yes, the risks of injury in combat sports are high. I’ve had fractures and seen knockouts and all manner of other injuries. But the vast majority of practitioners never set foot into a ring or a cage or even spar, but rather learn the techniques and hit pads. In addition, many fighters in this country, including professionals, don’t fight very often. A Muay Thai bout can last anywhere from just 6 to 12 minutes. Contrast that with football games, which run for over an hour and are played every week.

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Fighting matches put competitors of the same weight class together — whereas in football, 200- and 300-pound guys run at full speed into one another. Studies have shown that the helmets and gear encourage football players to hit and tackle even harder.

I suppose I look at sports the same way some people look at spirituality versus organized religion. Love for a game or an art is one thing. I love the art of Muay Thai — I find that at the highest levels, the fighters move like dancers and manage to combine force with a certain playfulness and with respect for their opponent. But when professional competition, institutional organizations and money enter the scene, the situation becomes ripe for exploitation, violence and inequality.

Take the Ultimate Fighting Championship, or UFC. Many UFC competitors struggle to make ends meet, as they’re treated like independent contractors. The UFC has resisted fighters’ efforts to unionize. Female fighters make a fraction of what their male counterparts make. And professional fighters run the risk of health problems from CTE, dangerous weight cuts and the accumulation of injuries.

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Just as I’ve called out the NFL plenty of times for how it treats Black players and has (or hasn’t) dealt with domestic violence, I have no problem holding a league like the UFC accountable for how it fails its athletes — and lets powerful men within its ranks get away with wrongdoing.

Just this past weekend, video surfaced of UFC President Dana White assaulting his wife during an argument at a nightclub in Cabo San Lucas. White (who once condemned other male athletes for assaulting women) has apologized. He and his wife have both claimed some responsibility, and the UFC has remained silent — though it did delay the TV debut of White’s new “Power Slap League”(!), the first episode of which is now set to air Jan. 18 on TBS.

At the very least, White should be disciplined by the league for his behavior. He himself said, there is “no excuse.”

Long story short, I believe it’s possible to love a sport but to hate all that comes with the institutional bodies governing it, and that too often fail to support the health and safety of athletes. (But what do y’all think?)

For the Culture: The broken world of bodybuilding

To round out this Week in Dangerous Sports, we turn to bodybuilding. I highly recommend the Post investigative series “Built and Broken,” which looks at the dark side of a bodybuilding industry rife with steroids, dangerous diets, sexual exploitation and nepotistic corruption. Men and women are putting their health and longevity on the line to chase a winning physique. The Post’s reporting on this is fascinating — and heartbreaking.

Do you have questions, comments, tips, recipes, poems, praise or critiques for me? Submit them here. I do read every submission and may include yours in a future version of the newsletter.

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