Why would anyone want to be a professional athlete?

Sure on one hand I can understand the money and the fame and the thousands of fans and all that...but then you have all the injuries and reconstructive surgeries and permanent back problems and steroids and the fact that a lot of these guys ain't living too long. Just about every day this week there's been mention of some player from some team coming up dead at ages like 21, 30, etc. and very rarely when one dies is it near or after 50, 36 or 38 maybe at the latest. So looking at that side of it, I can't see the appeal in it, and also looking at the side as to how it affects them when they start out as teenagers on teams: eating disorders, binge drinking, shoplifting, depression, anger issues, etc., I really can't see the appeal in it. How about everyone else?

Nah, I wouldn't want to be a professional athlete. All the training a person has to do and practicing would be just about enough for me. I couldn't stand working out so much, not to mention a personal trainer who would scream at me like a drill sergeant

Supernova wrote:Sure on one hand I can understand the money and the fame and the thousands of fans and all that...but then you have all the injuries and reconstructive surgeries and permanent back problems and steroids and the fact that a lot of these guys ain't living too long. Just about every day this week there's been mention of some player from some team coming up dead at ages like 21, 30, etc. and very rarely when one dies is it near or after 50, 36 or 38 maybe at the latest. So looking at that side of it, I can't see the appeal in it, and also looking at the side as to how it affects them when they start out as teenagers on teams: eating disorders, binge drinking, shoplifting, depression, anger issues, etc., I really can't see the appeal in it. How about everyone else?

Because besides fame and fortune, the dream of a pro sports career usually starts when you're very young and you think you're invincible and will live forever. Why do teenagers start to smoke? Besides, the risks you list are atypical. Do you have a dream? What would you risk to make it come true?

There's definitely a higher incidence of injury in sports but not all athletes problems stem from that alone. If they're good they're paid a LOT of money. With the the money & the fame come some poor decisions sometimes. A partying lifestyle with drugs & alcohol are the downfall of many of them. A businessman sitting in an office all day would have a shorter lifespan if he's drinking & doing drugs on a regular basis. The sitting isn't doing him any favors either. So a good bit of it has as much to do with lifestyle choices as the injuries. Too much money can make some people do stupid things.

CeCe wrote:There's definitely a higher incidence of injury in sports but not all athletes problems stem from that alone. If they're good they're paid a LOT of money. With the the money & the fame come some poor decisions sometimes. A partying lifestyle with drugs & alcohol are the downfall of many of them. A businessman sitting in an office all day would have a shorter lifespan if he's drinking & doing drugs on a regular basis. The sitting isn't doing him any favors either. So a good bit of it has as much to do with lifestyle choices as the injuries. Too much money can make some people do stupid things.

Yeah but the injuries aren't limited to professional sports alone. My mother has a friend in California whose son is my age and he already has permanent back trouble from when he played football in high school, it's just as much kill kill kill, win win win, kill win kill win in high school as it is in the big times, the school sports aren't fun anymore, so I don't even get why anybody would start their kids in that either.

Supernova wrote:

CeCe wrote:There's definitely a higher incidence of injury in sports but not all athletes problems stem from that alone. If they're good they're paid a LOT of money. With the the money & the fame come some poor decisions sometimes. A partying lifestyle with drugs & alcohol are the downfall of many of them. A businessman sitting in an office all day would have a shorter lifespan if he's drinking & doing drugs on a regular basis. The sitting isn't doing him any favors either. So a good bit of it has as much to do with lifestyle choices as the injuries. Too much money can make some people do stupid things.

Yeah but the injuries aren't limited to professional sports alone. My mother has a friend in California whose son is my age and he already has permanent back trouble from when he played football in high school, it's just as much kill kill kill, win win win, kill win kill win in high school as it is in the big times, the school sports aren't fun anymore, so I don't even get why anybody would start their kids in that either.

Part of the problem comes from idiot parents who want to live vicariously through their kids. They want whatever glory there is to be had for themselves. Some of these kids don't just get into sports, they're pushed.

CeCe wrote:


Part of the problem comes from idiot parents who want to live vicariously through their kids. They want whatever glory there is to be had for themselves. Some of these kids don't just get into sports, they're pushed.

This is certainly true. And I have never really been able to get this one, kids spend what, on average, 6-7 hours a day in school? Then the ones on all these teams, they have to spend time after school practicing, and then the games...Friday nights and Saturday afternoons around here are when everybody's out at the school watching the games...okay, WHEN exactly are the kids and their parents supposed to be able to be together?

That's a debate my mother and I have had for a long time, no time for that on Friday nights, got to go to the track meets and football games, no time Saturdays either because then it's baseball or football or basketball or whatever, so that's a large part of the available weekend time for anything eaten up right there leaving Saturday evening and Sunday morning to afternoon to if you're like us, early Sunday evening...now, at the risk of sounding like a paranoid conspiracy theorist nut...it does make you wonder just how much there was to what Ray Bradbury wrote in Fahrenheit 451 combining the line of schools turning out more jumpers and runners instead of thinkers, and how they get the kids into school so early to minimize the effects of the home environment.

If people are passionate about something and really love it, the risks are worth it to them. My friend's cousin is a professional hockey player, or was until he retired last year. He grew up playing hockey and was lucky enough to realize his dreams of playing in both the NHL and the Olympics. I doubt he regrets his choice, even with all of the risks. Many of them use their fame and money for really good causes. If that's what they want, it's their choice and I applaud them for having the courage to make their dreams come true and work so hard for something.

If they're the best at it and they can make a lot of money doing something that they love, then why not? And what you're describing does not happen often. A professional athlete is nine times out of ten healthier than you.

IMO, anyone who has an exceptional talent, skill, and love for something (in this case, a type of sport), they'd be fools to not pursue an opportunity to make a career out of it. That's the ultimate American Dream; making a profession out of something you love to do.

TSJFan4Ever wrote:If people are passionate about something and really love it, the risks are worth it to them. My friend's cousin is a professional hockey player, or was until he retired last year. He grew up playing hockey and was lucky enough to realize his dreams of playing in both the NHL and the Olympics. I doubt he regrets his choice, even with all of the risks. Many of them use their fame and money for really good causes. If that's what they want, it's their choice and I applaud them for having the courage to make their dreams come true and work so hard for something.

I could not agree with that more.

Some people have a passion for something they are good at, so they go for it. My son is so passionate about his sport, and that is all him.