NFL Players, Porn Stars and the Body of Christ

A couple of months ago I watched the movie The Wrestler starring Mickey Rourke. The movie is the story of an aging professional wrestler who, knowing nothing else, pushes his body to the breaking point for the entertainment of others. Along the way he befriends Marisa Tomei who is an exotic dancer. In what I saw as a kind of parallelism, the wrestler is the Freudian twin of the exotic dancer. Where one body is used for a sexual outlet the other body is used for an aggressive outlet. Two bodies--wrestler and dancer--used up and consumed for our entertainment and gratification.

I was reminded of that movie today reading Greg Easterbrook's weekly Tuesday Morning Quarterback column for ESPN. Easterbrook opens this week's column will a disturbing analysis of how the long term neurological health of American football players--high school, college, and NFL--is being jeopardized by the quest for the win. From Easterbrook's article:

The core problem is that football coaches at the high school, college and professional levels are rewarded for winning games but not penalized for allowing their players to be harmed. A coach who sits a player down out of concern for the player's health may pay a price, if a game is lost. A coach who sends a concussed player onto the field may never be penalized in any way if that player suffers another concussion. Human beings respond to incentives, and right now the coaches' incentive is to be irresponsible with players' health.

Yes, the culture of football macho contributes to the problem: Many players ask to return to action when battling injury, including neurological harm. But coaches are the ones who make the decisions. They're the adults in charge. And their incentive structure is all wrong.

Coaches receive money and accolades if they mistreat players and win; they are not disciplined, or seemingly even criticized, if players are harmed. Same for the front office in the NFL, the athletic department in college and the athletic director in high school. If the team loses, the fans and boosters are furious. If players suffer harm, there are no consequences whatsoever for the people making the decisions. And at the high school level, legally they are caring for children!

So kudos to the Cowboys this week for keeping Jason Witten on the sidelines this Sunday. It was a rare display of courage, keeping a star player on the sideline, over that player's protests, to protect his long term health.

But what is driving all this? Us! As in the movie The Wrestler, the voracious appetite of fans, represented in the billion dollar sports and entertainment complex, is the gas for this fire. The thirst for wins--at the high school, college and professional levels--is the force driving this phenomenon. Bodies are being sacrificed for our entertainment and titillation.

In this, the bodies of NFL players are like the bodies of porn stars. Used and misused for our entertainment and gratification. Easterbrook's article made me think of this interview with porn researcher Gail Dines:

[Interviewer:] You describe Gonzo porn as “body-punishing sex.” Why is it body-punishing, why is it prevalent today, and what do people need to know about it?

[Dines:] It’s body-punishing because the male performers pound away at a woman’s body...A woman’s body has limits.

Aren't the bodies of porn stars similar to the bodies of NFL players, and even the bodies of high school football players?

That might sound extreme, but I'm throwing it out there for reflection. How are bodies sacrificed for our entertainment? And do we even care as long as we get our orgasm or that state championship?

Two thousand years ago humans brutalized the body of God. And one wonders, has anything changed?