Death & Sports

The primitive lure of dying to compete and competing to live is a never ending Cree of athletes across the globe.

About 250 years B.C, the Romans started gladiator matches. Approximately one or two out of 10 bouts were fought to the death for thousand of Roman spectators. These savage gladiator fights went on for about 650 years. The vast majority of combatants were slaves, but the lure of ultimate competition also drew in volunteers to fight in these deadly battles. Many freelance warriors were ex-soldiers skilled in fighting, upper-class patricians, knights and even senators. http://www.history.com/news/history-lists/10-things-you-may-not-know-about-roman-gladiators

More than 2000 years later, the potential for being killed in competition continues, and it's more then OK with those directly involved.

In January 2013, free style snowmobile bronze medalist, Caleb Moore died when he was 25-year-old while competing in ESPN's Winter X Games. Moore was attempting a backflip in the freestyle event in Aspen when the skis on his 450-pound snowmobile caught the lip of the landing area, sending him flying over the handlebars. Moore landed face first into the snow with his snowmobile rolling over him. http://xgames.espn.go.com/xgames/article/8901435/caleb-moore-died-snowmobile-accident-x-games-aspen

Colten Moore, Caleb's younger brother, a three time gold medalist in the same sport hasn't competed since 2014, but he plans to get back to the X Games. Colten's autobiography detailing his sporting adventures with his brother Caleb was released on January 19, "Catching The Sky." If Colten wins another gold medal, he will once again dedicate it to his deceased brother Caleb like he did with his last gold medal he said. http://xgames.espn.go.com/xgames/athletes/3015324/colten-moore

Colten said on ESPN's "Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel," he plans to keep pushing the limits, and Colten has already landed the same backflip in competition which killed his brother in 2013.

In January of 2012, Canadian X Games, star Sarah Burke was killed practicing when she hit her head during a fall. At 29-years-old, Burke paid the ultimate price doing what she loved. Burke was a four-time Winter X Games gold medalist, and won the world championship in the halfpipe in 2005.

Spectators are not free from the price of death in Nascar events. Since 1990, at least 47 spectators have died while attending live races. http://www.charlotteobserver.com/sports/nascar-auto-racing/thatsracin/article9152399.html

On February 18, 2001 iconic racing sensation Dale Earnhardt was killed while racing at the Daytona 500. http://www.autopsyfiles.org/dearnhardt.htm

Over 100 cyclists have died during races in the past 120 years. The most recent competitor to perish in a major race was 36-year old Wouter Weylandt during the 2011 Giro d’Italia. Over 100 cyclists have died during races in the past 120 years. http://www.thesportster.com/entertainment/top-20-athletes-who-died-in-action/?view=a This same web site also states that on average, two jockeys a year lose their lives during horse races.

Light weight boxing  champion in the 80s, Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini on November, 13, 1982 literally beat Duk Koo Kim to death. Kim died from brain injuries he endured during the fight.  http://www.sportsonearth.com/article/39150762/ray-boom-boom-mancini-tells-his-story-in-new-book-the-good-son

Cheer leading has accounted for approximately 66 percent of all catastrophic injuries in high school girl athletes over the past 25 years. Catastrophic injuries are severe injuries to the spine, spinal cord or brain and can include skull or spinal fractures.

In 2011, there were almost 37,000 emergency room visits for cheer leading injuries among girls aged 6 to 22, according to data from the Consumer Product Safety Commission. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/pediatricians-want-cheerleading-called-a-sport-over-injury-risk/

The risks of being killed in the heat of competition is always prevalent. The lure of live sports entertainment and those directly involved in the games can't seem to get enough and are perpetually pushing the envelope of extreme gaming.

In a high school essay, Caleb Moore wrote, “One of the things I found most memorable was Walden, by Henry David Thoreau. My favorite quote is when he says, ‘I wanted to live deep and suck out all of the marrow of life,’ I agree with him. We only get one shot in this life, so go for it,” Caleb said. http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/olympics/2016/01/18/colten-moore-carries-on-caleb-moore-x-games-legacy/78972090/ 

"The Cellar" Delves Into the Realms of The Dark Arts and Sends its Readers into A Journey of Sorrow, Hatred and Revenge.

Orphaned, then adopted into a sadistic family at 8-years-old, Muna's entire childhood is spent in the abyss of awful, completely void of love and laughter.

"The Cellar" is a very twisted thematic R rated version of Cinderella. The focal character, Muna is taken out of an orphanage somewhere in England when she is just a child, and from the start, she is abused both physically and sexually before she reaches her 9th birthday.

African immigrants, the Songolis are a married couple with two spoiled boys of their own who hornswoggle an adoption agency to seize the rights to young Muna. Mrs. Songolis, Yetunde, is the true definition of ugly, both physically and spiritually. She beats Muna when her 13-year-old son Olubayo tries to rape her, accusing Muna of being too sexy, which makes it her fault Olubayo wants to ravage her.

Muna is forced to sleep on the concrete floor of the cellar and is frequently raped by Mr. Songolis, Ebuka, in the middle of the night while his family sleeps.

For six years Muna's life is a living hell, and then when she is 14-years-old, it still is, but the tides begin to turn her favor when the Songolis youngest son Abiola turns up missing and the police become regular visitors at the Songolis dwelling for various questioning and investigating. With regular visits by the authorities, Muna is allowed to stay in Abiola's room to give the police a facade of living with a loving and caring family.  

As the story progresses, Muna is convinced the Devil himself lives in the cellar and she claims to communicate with the Dark Lord who aides her in her revenge against the Songolis. Without giving too much of the story away, some of the revenge is indeed sweet to me.

Muna pushes Mr. Songolis down the cellar stairs and he ends up paralyzed and confined to a wheel chair, thus unable to ever rape her again. Muna  tortures Mrs. Songolis to death, a slow painful death which she more then deserves. I relished in my reading as Muna continually buried a heavy hammer into Mrs. Songolis's knee caps until the bones of her knees where broken and exposed from the skin.
Muna claims to have gotten her courage to fight back against the horrid Songolis family via the Devil. Until the very end of the book, it's not clearly known if Muna was indeed in touch with Lucifer.

Best selling novelist Minette Walters enticed my imagination to its very heights. Without directly stating it, the Devil may be a better being then God Himself, after all, the Devil never does anything wrong in the Bible, the Bible rants of the Devils temptations, but Lucifer Himself never commits evil like God does.

From the Bible; The first book of Samuel;

I Samuel; 15; 2-3: 'Thus saith the Lord (God) ...spare them not, slay both man and woman, infant and suckling...' (Exodus; 20; 13, 'Thou shall not kill.') The definition of contradiction.

"The Cellar" is a three and half star read with a fabulous tale of terror, violence and rage which makes a legitimate case that Lucifer may indeed be superior to God.

Local library's are a great source for books as well as movies. "The Cellar" was first published in January of last year.

Tangible Paradise

To descend upon Paradise Falls, she and I had to crawl through a natural tunnel less than three feet high laced with poison oak and thick thorny bushes.

The hard dirt full of jagged rocks begging to pierce the skin was engulfed in darkness which dominated the center of this tiny cave, even on the sunniest days.

Her, a woman delicious complete with an alluring smile residing on unblemished skin was gracious enough to accept my offer, and accompany me to Paradise Falls. After she and I trudged through the unpleasant terrain, we finally came to the trail leading down to Valhalla on Earth.

The light at the end of the tunnel was so blinding, one couldn’t see the steep cliff warning hikers to stop. Knowing this from previous hikes, I stopped a few feet from the light and crawled backwards toward it. Emerging from the dark, we slowly and carefully made a sharp right onto the thin track over looking the far heights of inner space.

Certain spots on this mud tainted and often slippery steep path announce certain death. One false move, act of carelessness, or stupidity would mean plunging hundreds of feet down into the depths of despair. For both her and me, this was more exciting rather than terrifying. We often halted our walk to stop, take pictures and sip water.

The radiant red and yellow sun cast brilliant shadows across the mountaintops which highlighted the fall foliage of the mid October trees and plants bursting with brilliant colors of yellow, green, and brown.

The last hundred or so yards leading to the falls was marvelous. The slope was steep, yet safe and the sound of the raging waterfall announced the pleasant dusk to come.

The air was pleasantly damp and crisp. The flowing water was crystal clear. Moist dark green mint leaves penetrate the nostrils. A soft zephyr whistled through the tree branches while many innocuous creatures scurried about the forest. Chirping birds, water free falling against the rocks and boulders, and into the lagoon were the only sounds we could hear.

We marveled at the sight of  lush green nature and towering trees surrounding the lagoon among us. The mountain range soon swallowed the setting sun. The reddish sky dimmed into black and soon the sky was a sea of stars.

She and I laid down on soft sand and gazed at moonbeams bouncing off the tall trees. Her head rested on my chest as the star dominated sky above and the flowing stream from the waterfall induced lascivious love making.

The trek to Paradise Falls is often savage, but if I live to be a thousand years-old, I will never visit this place as often as I would like to, especially with her  by my side. Engulfed in the center of this most wonderful place, Paradise Falls, a glimpse a nature is transformed into a stare while emerged in her embrace.

Super Bowl 50 Reflection

The Carolina Panthers mustered up only ten points against the stingy Denver Bronco defense, which was reminiscent of the 1977 Orange Crush defense which took Denver to its first Super Bowl against the Dallas Cowboys in Super Bowl XII. Dallas struck midnight on Denver's 1977-78' Cinderella season with a 27-10 victory over the Bronco's.

Peyton Manning missed six games due to injury in this years regular NFL season.  Back-up quarterback Brock Osweiler was 5-1 with the aide of the pulverizing Denver defense. Manning acquired his second Super Bowl ring on the 7th. He was the MVP of Super Bowl XLI (41) when his then team, the Indianapolis Colts defeated the Chicago Bears 29-17.

Fifty Super Bowls are now in the achieves of American history. A few things have changed since the first Super Bowl was played in January of 1967. In 67,' The Beatles were saturating teenage ears with their master piece "Sgt. Peppers Lonely Heart Club Band"  and heavy weight great Muhammad Ali was stripped of his title for refusing to go to war. http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/1967.html 

Ali was the original rapper without the synthetic noise some have the gull to call music.

"If he starts talkn' jive, I'll get him in five", / "You wanna lose your money, bet on Sonny  (Sonny Liston) / "You wanna go to heaven, I'll get him in seven, / "I'll get him in eight because I'm great."

Indeed Ali an iconic boxer back in the day who backed his words with his float like a butterfly and sting like a bee fighting prowess.

When the Green Bay Packers, lead by Bart Starr, crushed the Kansas City Chiefs 35-10 in Super Bowl I, (67') the average price of a house was under $25,000, a brand new car could be purchased for $2,750 and gas was .40 cents a gallon. http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/remembering-what-a-buck-could-buy-in-the-1960s.html 

Fifty years of championship NFL football and George Carlin's words about America ring true.

"America is divided into three groups of people, the rich who do none of the work and pay none of the taxes, the middle class who does all the work and pays all the taxes, and the poor (homeless) who are there just to scare the s*** out of the middle class, keep them showing up at those jobs," Carlin said.  

"Breathless," A Wonderful & Weird Tale of Love

"Breathless" spawned a cocktail of reality and fantasy into a goblet of delicious deceits, complete with crime and passion. (Above picture; 19-year-old Frech actress, Valerie Kaprisky as Monica) 

The emotional feelings of love may be as old as time itself, and 1983s "Breathless" starring Richard Gere and Valerie Kaprisky is a weird fantasy of infatuation. 

"It's like blasting on the high way at 90 or a 100 mph, and all of a sudden there's a dip in the road that sucks your guts out, your breath is gone. That's me around you sugar,  breathless." Jesse (Gere) said to Monica. (Kaprisky)

The Sky Rider of the space ways, the Silver Surfer is Jesse Lujack's, (Gere's) fictional idol. Lujack is a car thief whose heart is seized by love after spending a few nights in Las Vegas with Monica, portrayed by Valerie Kaprisky, a naturally beautiful French lady who ignites delicious desires.

While Monica is attending college in Los Angeles, Lujack steals a Porsche in Las Vegas and speeds west on Interstate 15 to pursue his wanton wants for Monica.

While on his way to LA, Lujack accidentally kills a cop. He soon becomes a fugitive with his picture in the newspapers. Instead of fleeing to Mexico on his own, he simply refuses to live his life without Monica.

Lujack is a hustler with many enemies in Los Angeles, yet his heart's one desire, Monica also dwells in the city of angels.

Both Gere and Kaprisky have full frontal nude scenes in this R rated flick, so be forewarned if you're a first-time watcher of this movie.  

Monica faces the reality of graduating college and harnessing a career as an architect or blindly following her heart to Mexico with Lujack. The very ending of this movie leaves some mystery as to whether or not Lujack is killed, arrested or indeed makes it to Mexico to live with the woman he loves.

Upon the release of "Breathless," the movie was panned hard by the critics. They defensed their criticism by saying Kaprisky was a bad casting choice as Monica. Let's review this ludicrous defense. Screenwriters, L.M. Kit Carson and Jim Mcbride needed a woman with the ability to capture a man's heart, and he's eager to run to her cage. I applaud the casting crew for choosing the French actress kaprisky.     

The above picture is Gere and Kaprisky reading a Silver Surfer comic book, and the words of love are marvelously written in this book. "I have seen the death of stars, and the birth of planets, galaxies crumble and new suns aborning, and yet in every star and in every sun, I see, her face, the Silver Surfer said of his one true love, Shalla-Bal.  

Two solid thumbs up for "Breathless."

Mark Izzy Schurr