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If It Can Happen to a Super Bowl-Winning Quarterback It Can Happen To You
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Tuesday, June 13, 2006
9:09:00 AM EDT
Hearing Won't Give In -- The Finn Brothers
Normall, here in Ohio where I live, something horrible happening to the QB of the Pittburgh Steelers would be a moment of true schadenfreude (that's German for "joy at the suffering of others") for the state's football fans, because if there's anything Ohio football fans hate, it's the Steelers. But when Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger got into a serious motorcycle accident yesterday, Ohio felt the pain -- Ben's from here, and was a high school and college football hero in the state. What made the accident worse was that the guy wasn't wearing a helmet -- Pennsylvania state law doesn't require one, so he doesn't wear one.
Roethlisberger got lucky, to the extent that one can get lucky having a motorcycle accident without a helmet, in that his injuries (which include a broken jaw and shattered teeth), while serious, were not life-threatening, and that apparently aside from his face (which met a windshield) the rest of his body was not injured. It could have been much worse. But if he had been wearing a helmet, there's a probability it wouldn't have been as bad either.
I personally won't get on a motorcycle, not because I think I would be unsafe on one, but because I have a deep and abiding belief that everyone's IQ drops 50 points when they get behind a wheel, and therefore they are unsafe, and I don't want to be on a motorcycle when the road is jammed with morons. Having said that, I don't think people who do ride motorcycles are crazy for doing so -- they simply should ride with the assumption that everyone else on the road intends to kill them. By this formulation, wearing a motorcycle helmet isn't an admission you're dangerous on the road, it's a recognition that everyone else is.
Roethlisberger is already getting flak from sportswriters about not wearing a helmet (AOL's Sportbloggers Live are talking about it too) -- and they're right to do it. I imagine that, presuming the accident doesn't take Ben out of the ball game for some indefinite period of time, the Steelers organization is going to make it very clear to him that they pay him too much money to allow him to offer himself up as a sacrifice to little old ladies driving big American cars. They'd be right to do that too, I think.
In the meantime, folks: Motorcycle helmets. They keep your teeth out of other people's windshields. Think about it.
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9:09:00 AM EDT
Hearing Won't Give In -- The Finn Brothers
If It Can Happen to a Super Bowl-Winning Quarterback It Can Happen To You
Normall, here in Ohio where I live, something horrible happening to the QB of the Pittburgh Steelers would be a moment of true schadenfreude (that's German for "joy at the suffering of others") for the state's football fans, because if there's anything Ohio football fans hate, it's the Steelers. But when Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger got into a serious motorcycle accident yesterday, Ohio felt the pain -- Ben's from here, and was a high school and college football hero in the state. What made the accident worse was that the guy wasn't wearing a helmet -- Pennsylvania state law doesn't require one, so he doesn't wear one.
Roethlisberger got lucky, to the extent that one can get lucky having a motorcycle accident without a helmet, in that his injuries (which include a broken jaw and shattered teeth), while serious, were not life-threatening, and that apparently aside from his face (which met a windshield) the rest of his body was not injured. It could have been much worse. But if he had been wearing a helmet, there's a probability it wouldn't have been as bad either.
I personally won't get on a motorcycle, not because I think I would be unsafe on one, but because I have a deep and abiding belief that everyone's IQ drops 50 points when they get behind a wheel, and therefore they are unsafe, and I don't want to be on a motorcycle when the road is jammed with morons. Having said that, I don't think people who do ride motorcycles are crazy for doing so -- they simply should ride with the assumption that everyone else on the road intends to kill them. By this formulation, wearing a motorcycle helmet isn't an admission you're dangerous on the road, it's a recognition that everyone else is.
Roethlisberger is already getting flak from sportswriters about not wearing a helmet (AOL's Sportbloggers Live are talking about it too) -- and they're right to do it. I imagine that, presuming the accident doesn't take Ben out of the ball game for some indefinite period of time, the Steelers organization is going to make it very clear to him that they pay him too much money to allow him to offer himself up as a sacrifice to little old ladies driving big American cars. They'd be right to do that too, I think.
In the meantime, folks: Motorcycle helmets. They keep your teeth out of other people's windshields. Think about it.
Written by johnmscalzi Blog about this entry |
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This entry has 8 comments: (Add your own)
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This comes up a lot when sports are discussed with European relatives. Rugby is a tough sport, yes... but, even with pads, football is far more physical and dangerous.
At any given moment on the football field, there is a guy who can catch anyone on Earth, and a guy who can crush a Chevrolet.
Your average rugger can run circles around 375# Leonard Davis, but if Leonard hits one of them, they go flying backwards. When they hit Leonard, they still go flying backwards.
There was a famous story about a rugger who was like "Americans are sissies... they wear PADS." A Texas newspaper caught onto this quote, and paid the guy to attend a Dallas training camp.
They started him on the offensive line... but a 170# Aussie is simply no match for a 300 pound lineman. Aussie was repeatedly driven back and stomped on.
They moved him to linebacker. While still undersized, he did partake in a few tackles after someone else had gotten hold of the runner. Then, a runner slipped through the line, and hit the Aussie head-on, full speed. When he felt better, they let him play QB. You know that the blockers let a LB run straight through the line and clobber him. This ended that day of practice for the Aussie.
Finally, they let him kick. While the field goal was not in his skill set (although it's not unusual to see an ex-soccer player place-kicking in the NFL), he turned out to be a fine punter- as long as he didn't have to tackle anyone. When he did, he got run over... cleat wounds to the chest. He went home the next day.
Rugby has guys who can run fast, and guys who are strong. Neither of them are the same guy. A guy like Reggie Bush could simply take the rugby ball and run around the field all day with it. No one would be able to catch him, and if someone did catch him, they wouldn't be able to tackle him.
Fortunately, football pays a lot better than soccer does.... so the fans can still enjoy themselves until Europe's economy impr -
Here's what I don't get. He refuses to wear a helmet when he rides his motorcyle. When put on the spot about why, he states, "It's not against Pennsylvania law. I don't have to. I don't want to. I feel much free." (slight paraphrase). Basically, from what I understood, he's saying that a motorcycle helmet is too constraing and he would rather enjoy the road open, free and unconstrained.
YET! And this is a big YET! He PLAYS FOOTBALL!
A sport where he is required to wear a HELMET!!!!!
He plays a sport that requires protective gear for going against fellow human beings (albeit...giant ones), yet he can't grasp the concept that going one on one with the road might be slightly more dangerous.
Seriously. If he wanted to live his life that much on the edge without any protective gear to prove how much of a man he was, I have two words for him....
Play Rugby!
http://myspace.com/jeffcomedy -
I never ride without my helmet on not even down the driveway! Anybody that does is stupid! Motorcyclists MUST look out for other traffic. They should be defenseive drivers at all times.
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"...a sacrifice to little old ladies driving big American cars..." Gee, if it wasn't for all those little old ladies, accidents would never happen to careless motorcyclists weaving through traffic. Heck with the helmets. Just get rid of those old gals.
12/5/06 4:50 PM