What We Ask of Our Sports Heroes
Simone Biles brave actions ought to give us pause on the level of sacrifice that we demand from our sports heroes, extending beyond the Olympics and into professional sport.
In the wake of Simone Biles brave choice to step aside from the individual all-around gymnastics competition because her mental health wasn’t in the right spot, I've seen it suggested on various social media platforms that she quit, that athletes ought to push themselves to a physical and emotional breaking point, that this is what they are paid to do. A notable example of this at work is the fact that Tom Brady, the greatest quarterback of all time (though I’m a ‘hater,’ he is the GOAT), played last season on a torn MCL ligament in his left knee. He led his team to win the SuperBowl at 44 years old. The team did not disclose the injury to the NFL at the beginning of the season, despite a rule that says serious injuries must be reported. Tom Brady won a SuperBowl with one of the two major ligaments in his knee torn. While that's an insane feat, it shouldn't be celebrated. It's hard not to celebrate it, but we shouldn’t be.
Giannis Antetokounmpo, the reigning NBA Finals MVP, badly hyper-extended his knee in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals. He was out for two games, and then started the first game of the NBA Finals, after the team reported that there was no structural damage to his knee. In Game 6 he led his Milwaukee Bucks to an NBA Championship scoring 50 points, after leading his team back from an 0-2 series hole. Now I’m not a doctor, but I'm sure that there was a lot more than just 'no structural damage' going on with his knee. He may be gifted with the body of a beast, but knees generally don’t like it when they’re pulled outward like that. What will the implications of this injury be for him down the road? Was it worth it?
In another basketball example, Ben Simmons cost his team the chance to compete in the Eastern Conference Finals because his confidence was shot. For whatever reason, he was unable to hit free throws, and, in the dying minutes of Game 7, passed up an open dunk for a pass that didn’t work, costing the Philadelphia 76ers a chance to advance to the finals. It's clear that he was mentally rattled. Now he's in his way out of Philadelphia, considered a disgrace to the city that once considered him a franchise cornerstone.
Why do we ask our heroes to do that? Yes, they get paid big bucks, but is it right that we ask them to perform for us when they are mentally and physically ill or injured? Not only that, but we specifically fault them when they don't push their bodies to the absolute breaking point. So many former NFL players are living with the effects of having their head bashed in, every day for 25 or 30 years, their brains turned to mush, a danger to themselves and their families. We now know this is happening: former New England Patriots player, convicted murderer and suicide victim Aaron Hernandez's brain showed us CTE in all its sinister glory. I feel guilty for loving the NFL with all its attendant brutality, because I know the havoc it wrecks on families. Not every football player will go out and kill their brother-in-law, but every former player will suffer in their own way.
Maybe Simone Biles brave actions at the Olympics will help us start that conversation - athletes do amazing, extraordinary things with their bodies, many times in conjunction with a public performance. That's a lot to ask of an athlete already. But is it a good idea to ask our athletic heroes, let alone demand our athletic heroes, to perform to the point of breaking their bodies and minds?
I’m pretty sure it’s not.
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