Enjoyment from watching others get hurt, and sociopathy

[LadyForCamus]

I wonder if several centuries into the future violent type sports are going to be seen as immoral.

I think we are seeing it happen in real time with professional football.  If there is no way for the game to be played safely and remain 'profitable' it will be consigned to 'the trash heap of history'.

Here is what CTE looks like:

That is horrific.

[vorlon13]

Indeed.

[vorlon13]

Hence my change of opinion on Arron Hernandez. I'd really like to see his criminal conviction(s) over turned.

[Edwardo Piet]

I wonder if several centuries into the future violent type sports are going to be seen as immoral.

Must, Resist, Asking, Obvious, follow up  Question.

So obvious!


..... wait what? What's obvious?

[Catholic_Lady]

Must, Resist, Asking, Obvious, follow up  Question.

So obvious!


..... wait what? What's obvious?

Just succubus acting weird and trying to be all edgy again. Par for the course.

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I wonder if several centuries into the future violent type sports are going to be seen as immoral.

Must, Resist, Asking, Obvious, follow up Question.

Aww you are just so cute!

[Ravenshire]

I can't speak for everyone, or even to all the sports mentioned in the OP, but big hits in football are typically indicative of a good play. I don't stand up and cheer when a receiver is clobbered after a 30-yard gain. I do, however, cheer when the oposing quarterback or running back is crushed for a loss. It's not the hit, it's the result.

So, in other words, would it be fair to say that it's not just what you're cheering but why you are cheering it, that's important?

Abso-fucking-lutely.

The big hits are great, but I still wince for some of them and I never cheer an injury to the other team. Not even when it's the Raiders.






Well.... Maybe the Raiders.












No, not really, but I do hate that team!

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I cringe every time someone falls or gets injured. I remember from America's Funniest Videos, how often the "funny" part was someone falling or otherwise getting an injury, wtf people?

I would agree with this as well. I never did understand why it was so hilarious to watch someone fall.

It kinda depends on the situation. If it's one of those "Here, hold my beer and check this out" moments, I'm laughing at the irony even if I'm wincing at the fall/crash/face plant/whatever.

[The Grand Nudger]

If people want to stand at two ends of a ten foot piece of artificial turf and throw hammers at each others heads I'll watch it, and lay bets on which one dies first.  I assume they'll both die..eventually, consequences of being hit on the head with hammers.

It's not as if anyone gets out of this life alive...and if a person would rather burn brightly for an instant than smolder for what can seem like an eternity - then gl to them...and don't disappoint me. Daddy needs money for christmas presents!

[Minimalist]

Hence my change of opinion on Arron Hernandez.  I'd really like to see his criminal conviction(s) over turned.

They were but not because of CTE.

There’s always going to be risk in sports. One way or another, they can get hurt. They know what they’re signing up for. For me it’s all about choice. If they want it, why can’t they?

I'm not making myself clear, dear.  First of all, I agree with you.  An adult who understands the risks and elects to play anyway knows what he is signing up for.  However, that was the whole point of the NFLPA's lawsuit.  The NFL was suppressing the information on head injuries and pretending that everything was hunky dory.  It wasn't.  But forget all that.  That case was settled and the NFL has set aside a pile of money for players suffering injuries.

But what about high school and college players?  Many are minors who need parental permission to play.  The rest are treated as serfs by the colleges which claim they are "students" in spite of college football being a multi-billion/year industry?  Few make the pros.  They and/or their parents are simply risking their heads for nothing.

What will happen is that eventually a school district will be sued by some kid who has suffered injury.  They will lose because there is simply too much scientific evidence out there.
When that happens the insurance companies will either stop providing liability insurance for scholastic sports or they will jack the premiums up to the point where the schools cannot afford it.  In either case, pro football's unpaid minor league system will begin to dry up.

[Rev. Rye]

Hence my change of opinion on Arron Hernandez.  I'd really like to see his criminal conviction(s) over turned.

What would be the point? Guy's already dead and if he had been found not guilty because of his CTE, I strongly suspect that the time he'd spend in a mental hospital (which I would suspect to be the sentence if it happened that way, especially given that he was apparently being investigated for two other murders  and an attempted homicide around the same time as his big trial, even if they weren't actually his work) wouldn't be too different from the time he spent in prison, just with doctors instead of wardens.

Also, why the fuck did it take this long for people to figure out that footballers were dealing with the same punch-drunkenness as (and from very similar causes to) boxers? Honestly, I didn't know about it until I saw a trailer for that Will Smith movie about Bennett Omalu and being bewildered that people were surprised that a sport that involves lots of blows to the head could cause brain damage. I don't know, maybe football attracts people who are so stupid that one couldn't tell if they had brain damage. At least that's what it was like in my high school.

[Minimalist]

There is no point.  It is just an archaic law from Massachusetts that if someone dies before the appeals process is completed their convictions are vacated.