What do you think about wearing masks?

#1
Isn't it kinda cheating? It looks the same as using enhancing performance drugs to me. Because without the masks the players wouldn't be such productive.
 

Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
#2
zip95843 said:
Isn't it kinda cheating? It looks the same as using enhancing performance drugs to me. Because without the masks the players wouldn't be such productive.
Eh...I assume you are referring to LeBron? 99% of the time they are just to protect an injury. Hard to call that cheating. Only guy I know who wears one full time is Rip Hamilton. GUESS you could call that cheating, but then if it is so is anything people do to feel more secure -- ankle braces after your ankle heels, elbow pads or knee pads etc.

Unlike a drug, a facemask doesn't make you better at anything. Not a better shooter, rebounder, assistman, anything. The only possible thing would be it making you a little braver. So maybe its more like getting drunk before a game than shooting up steroids. ;)
 

HndsmCelt

Hall of Famer
#3
I remember Lambier wore his mask long after the broken bones heald, said he got used to it. Like Bricksaidjust makes guys a little braver at best. Crazy guys who lac the coon sense that you and Iexperience as sensable fear also havesome advantage, but I'd hate to NBA ban Ron Artest.
 
#4
Making bravier. Hmm... Another words, he would make moves that he would not without mask? ;) Isn't it cheating? I think if you injured - that's sport and other player must have an advantage of such event. But when you deny them the advantage - using mask or drugs or better schedule or always playing at home - that's I call cheating.
 
#5
Hmm, good point...If the player is injured, he should not force himself to play, other than if its an important game like Isiah Thomas did, but they should not wear something to help his injury secure...Just play, hurt or not, no strings attached, or in this case, no facemask attached...;)
 

Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
#6
zip95843 said:
Making bravier. Hmm... Another words, he would make moves that he would not without mask? ;) Isn't it cheating? I think if you injured - that's sport and other player must have an advantage of such event. But when you deny them the advantage - using mask or drugs or better schedule or always playing at home - that's I call cheating.
So then all players in all sports should have to play without any protective gear for their various injuries at all? That's not reasonable. Especially since the players on the other side can not be categorically trusted not to go after those injuries in order to gain an advantage. And guys get braver for all sorts of reasons. Maybe they do drink, maybe they listen to inspirational music before the game, maybe they pop a few Advil to dull the pain, maybe the home crowd pumps them up, or their girlfriend who they want to impress is in the stands.

In any case, I'm not even sure injuries really area part of sport. They are inevitably going to happen, but aren't they themselves perversions? If one guy's hurt then the best man doesn't always win. Just a lucky break for the healthy guy that has nothing to do with talent, desire etc. That only has marginally more to do with sport than if the other guy just got caught in traffic.

There are limits of course. Giving Shaq shoulder pads might just be acknowledging the obvious in his case, but also would be going too far and would actually give him an advantage (you can use shoulder pads aggressively to hurt others without hurting yourself). But a protective mask for the face? Doubt you see many people assaulting others with their face regardless of the mask. Look at it this way, nobody is SUSPOSED to be hitting you in the face in the NBA anyway -- that's generally a foul. So in order for the mask to matter, the other guy is probably already cheating.
 
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#7
Only if they look like this. That way my wife could get her opera fix and I could enjoy the game at the same time!
 

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#8
G_M said:
Only if they look like this. That way my wife could get her opera fix and I could enjoy the game at the same time!
Just for educational purposes:

In Russia, wearing something with horns is a very "disturbing" thing to do for a man. It means your wife is cheating on you. And more branches you have - more unfaithful she is. :D Also, having horns on your walls from the hunting looks kinda funny because of that.
 
#9
zip95843 said:
Just for educational purposes:

In Russia, wearing something with horns is a very "disturbing" thing to do for a man. It means your wife is cheating on you. And more branches you have - more unfaithful she is. :D Also, having horns on your walls from the hunting looks kinda funny because of that.
Oh, well. Let's knock back another vodka.
 
#11
I've seen some players in the WNBA that should wear a mask but then I've been accused of needing one myself so I shouldn't talk I guess. I recall a conversation along these lines when Danny Ainge was a commentator and he stuck a nerve here in Sac when Hedo was on our team discussing his need for a mask or nose job. I think it was the following year that Hedo got a nose job although ostensibly it was to repair a previous injury and remove scar tissue.