I mean, if we're truly going for "cruelest" I'd put boxing farther up on the list. That fish is going to be dead in a few minutes, but some poor kid with TBI is going to suffer for decades.
Football has gotta be way up there for those reasons. Far more young kids grind their bodies and their brains to dust trying to find their ticket out a bad situation. Less incentive for that in boxing/other martial arts as it's less popular and makes you less money. Still though, as someone who has competed extensively in combat sports, it's super fucked up to have children taking part in something like boxing that can genuinely cripple your mind for the rest of your life. The number of helicopter parents trying to force their crying kid back onto wrestling mats I've seen has really soured my experience with these sports
On an individual basis, boxing/MMA is arguably worse. Football's horrible for the sheer volume of it. Literally hundreds of thousands of young people getting chewed up and spit out, so we can confidentially tell ourselves Tom Brady is empirically the best ball-throwing guy in the country.
The number of helicopter parents trying to force their crying kid back onto wrestling mats I’ve seen has really soured my experience with these sports
I did a few Tae-Kwon-Do tournaments growing up, and the nicest thing my mother every did was tell me "I'm not signing you up for that again." Didn't suffer anything worse than getting run off the mat, and I was horribly ashamed of myself, but she didn't bat an eye or give a shit. Just insisted its not worth my health and pointed me towards soccer instead.
I mean, if we're truly going for "cruelest" I'd put boxing farther up on the list. That fish is going to be dead in a few minutes, but some poor kid with TBI is going to suffer for decades.
Football has gotta be way up there for those reasons. Far more young kids grind their bodies and their brains to dust trying to find their ticket out a bad situation. Less incentive for that in boxing/other martial arts as it's less popular and makes you less money. Still though, as someone who has competed extensively in combat sports, it's super fucked up to have children taking part in something like boxing that can genuinely cripple your mind for the rest of your life. The number of helicopter parents trying to force their crying kid back onto wrestling mats I've seen has really soured my experience with these sports
On an individual basis, boxing/MMA is arguably worse. Football's horrible for the sheer volume of it. Literally hundreds of thousands of young people getting chewed up and spit out, so we can confidentially tell ourselves Tom Brady is empirically the best ball-throwing guy in the country.
I did a few Tae-Kwon-Do tournaments growing up, and the nicest thing my mother every did was tell me "I'm not signing you up for that again." Didn't suffer anything worse than getting run off the mat, and I was horribly ashamed of myself, but she didn't bat an eye or give a shit. Just insisted its not worth my health and pointed me towards soccer instead.
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Children can't consent.