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Photo by: Cliffords Photography
"Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion."
Muhammad Ali
A couple days ago, I posted the above inspirational quote on our Facebook page....
As expected, it got a variety of "likes". I mean, who wouldn't like such a quote coming from such a man?
But in preparing the post I found a picture of the champ posing with his former nemisis, Joe Frazier. It was a recent photo, both of them pictured in their boxing robes. The photographer described how these two former enemies were able to ham it up for the camera - and he ended his description of the experience by calling them "two battered warriors who'd left their lives in the ring."
Photo by: Cliffords Photography
As I studied the picture, I began to wonder if the photographer said more than he knew....
Joe Frazier now suffers from diabetes; Muhammad Ali from Parkinson's. I don't know about Frazier, but there are more than a few who believe there's a credible link between Ali's former boxing career and his current suffering. For them, the cause may not be the sport of boxing, but more particularly, the fact that Ali boxed "way past his prime."
Did Muhammad Ali stay in too long? Did he take an unnecessary beating at the end of his career? Consequently, did he lose the best part of his life in the ring?
I know, we could argue about it all day - and it seems to stab at the very heart of our "life-as-a-champion" culture.
But, we've got parents getting their kids into sports at an increasingly earlier age. They're encouraged to choose a sport and stick with it year round - lest they fall behind. Consequently, we're seeing more and more young athletes sporting knee and ankle braces from repetitive overuse. Michael Boyle reminds us that these kids don't need to see a doctor as much as their parents need to see a shrink!
The majority of football deaths in the NCAA over the last 10 years did not occur during the game - they occurred during conditioning. Iowa football just sent thirteen players to the hospital with rhabdomyolisis. But, if you're a professional quarterback and suffer a sprained MCL in a big game, you better suck-it-up because this is the "game of your life."
Well, is it, really?
We all know that champions pay the price - but are we putting that price too high?