A story that surfaced in August keeps on piquing my interest, and has spurred on this post.
Around mid August, New York Mets player, David Wright was hit in the head by a 94 mpr fastball. He sustained a concussion. He was fitted with one of the special new batting helmets called an S100, due to its alleged ability to withstand the impact of a 100 mpr fastball. Wright wore his helmet for two days and declared that it was too big and far too cumbersome. Other players have indicated that the new helmets are simply too unattractive and they won’t wear them. Right fielder Jeff Francoeur was quoted as refusing to wear the S100, developed by Rawlings. He said, “We’re going to look like a bunch of clowns out there.” David Waldstein of the New York Times said in an article, “Although the new helmet has been shown to be safer than previous models, some major league players have expressed concerns over its bulkiness and fear it could be uncomfortable or look awkward.”
I have been trying to analyze why this particular situation is of such interest to me. I am definitely not a sports fan. What I know about sports you can fit in the palm of a baseball glove, or in a the helmet of the tiniest player in your local small town midget football league. Brooklyn, New York was mostly my home territory till I was 18 years old, so my loyalty is reserved for the Brooklyn Bums (Dodgers) despite the fact that they don’t exist, and I am often ridiculed for verbalizing this devotion. Otherwise baseball bores me, which was a sacrilegious thing to say in the family in which I grew up, because my sister and father were baseball fanatics. I don’t even remotely enjoy (or understand) football, though I kind of I root for the S.F. 49’ers no matter how awful a season they might be having, because I lived in San Francisco for years and was dragged to games at Kezar Stadium (in those days) by my first husband. The 49ers are tied up with incredible memories of living in S. F. in the sixties. Most of those memories have nothing to do with football. Nowadays, my daughters are sports enthusiasts and my husband loves football and especially the Buffalo Bills and the Eagles. I, however, rarely watch games for more than a few minutes, and it is mostly sheer torment to me. Recently a little interest has been sparked only because my hometown is now Bloomfield, CT, and the Bloomfield High Warhawks, produced three players everyone tells me are worth keeping a close eye on. There is Dwight Freeney, who my husband says may now be one of the best in the NFL, (and went to school with one of my kids) Korey Sheets, who was a school mate of my youngest daughter, and Matt Lawrence, all former students distinguishing themselves in this sport. This connection gives me something to pay attention to for at least a few minutes before I abandon ship in favor of a good book or a catch-up phone call with a friend. Anyway, you get the point that sports is not my thing and never really has been.
So what’s the deal with my focus on the S100 and on major league players’ refusal to wear the helmet? Let’s face it. Some people are just married to the past (Says the person who still likes the Brooklyn Bums). They don’t believe in divorcing themselves from old habits, no matter how much they are being harmed by them or held back from becoming better, safer, happier or more successful. They hold on to stale, outmoded ways and choose to be unsafe in this case, because old ways are more familiar, or because they have always followed the path of the known. They survive by the creed of “what has always been done”, what they learned by rote, what they think is expected of them by others, or what looks good. They choose to live in a limited, but familiar fashion, instead of having to deal with possible unknowns, as exciting and interesting as these unknowns might prove to be, or when new advances are clearly in the best interests of their own well-being. They keep on doing the same things, stumbling over the same obstacle rocks, hitting the same brick walls. They lock themselves up in the same dark rooms, afraid to emerge and navigate new terrain out of fear of failure, or of how they might appear to others. They resist what they don’t understand, or what is new and what they can’t yet see, though their good sense and instincts might be sending them strong messages that change is the right thing.
What do you imagine makes some people resist to this degree? What makes some feel uncomfortable when faced with possible change, even when it seems rational and of potential benefit to them? What causes some of us to hang on to the status quo so tightly that our fingers and souls are close to bleeding? Why do we hang on for dear life to things that no longer serve us in any positive way? Why do we see only risks and negative points, instead of exciting opportunities and potential benefits? Why do we oppose transformation, or even just variation that will add value and safety to our world?
I think it’s time for major league players and other sports figures who are so visible to the public and especially to young people, to start paying attention to what they model. We know some of them have difficulty getting this and thus, there are often headlines declaring some sort of abuse, misuse or incident involving a sports personality. Safety, self-respect, and self-care are certainly among the things sports stars ought to be modeling for young people. Instead they resist change, worry about their appearances and refuse to move forward and embrace something new and beneficial. What’s up with this?
Ruth Deming says
change is vital for survival and advancement of the species but not all of it is good. sounds like the new helmets are ludicrously ill-fitting so the old ones would be preferable. the american public is similarly in a panic about what they believe to be poorly-designed new healthcare reforms not realizing they can fall back on their old vastly impaired insurance plans. it’s tough for me to sit back & wait for THEM to come up w/insurance reform- or better helmets for that matter – but i’m kee[ping my fingers crossed. and, yes, team loyalty is indeed tied up with a plethora of happy memories, says this former cleveland indians fan who at 14 never missed a game on the radio.
Iris Arenson-Fuller says
Thanks for your comment, as always. I think the jury is still out about the helmet’s efficacy, but I have read that it is indeed effective. I still know people who refuse to wear their seatbelts because it is “uncomfortable” and who object to laws telling them they have to.
Yes we all are keeping our fingers crossed and letting our voices be heard on the health care reform.