[Demko]

According to this article on WWE.com, Randy Orton re-broke his collarbone while riding a motorcycle recently. Now... while this could have happened to anyone, I noted these things during the article:

Orton, who has only been riding motorcycles for a month, said he was riding around a sharp curve on a steep hill...

"Without a helmet, I would be dead," said Orton. "Now that I have a newborn daughter, so much was going through my head."

If you were Randy Orton, who had injured himself, AND you had a newborn daughter... WHY ON EARTH would you take up a risky activity like riding motorcycles AT THIS POINT in your life? Maybe I'm just being overly critical, but it just seems like a pretty stupid choice to me.

Orton will apparently be out for an additional 3 months.

[National Champion Chris Cole]

I think you may be too critical. As long as he is wearing a helmet then riding a motorcyle shouldn't be that dangerous. Of course I know many people who have been riding them for years and never get into accidents but all these athletes always seem to. I'm thinking that they drive like idiots which is never smart to do in a motorcycle or a car.

[Batman]

Two wheels bad, four wheels good!

[BTR]

Aug 12, 2008 7:58:12 GMT -5 National Champion Chris Cole said:

I think you may be too critical. As long as he is wearing a helmet then riding a motorcyle shouldn't be that dangerous. Of course I know many people who have been riding them for years and never get into accidents but all these athletes always seem to. I'm thinking that they drive like idiots which is never smart to do in a motorcycle or a car.

Except that statistically, riding a motorcycle is much more dangerous than driving a car.

www.iii.org/media/hottopics/insurance/motorcycle/

Some of that has to do with drinking. Some of that has to do with the reckless driving of people in cars. But the fact is that you are more likely to be injured or killed in a motorcycle, even if you are not at fault. I think that's reason enough not to take it up after just having a kid, even if a helmet stops you from "starting what you've finished" by dying.

[National Champion Chris Cole]

All I'm saying is that I know plenty of people who have never gotten into an accident on a motorcyle. Just getting on one doesn't make you reckless. Driving like a moron on one or without a helmet on one does.

[Batman]

That's what we call "anecdotal evidence."

"My grandma smoked three packs a day and she lived to be a hundred and three!"

I think it's also worth noting that inexperience greatly increases your risk in anything like this. Which is a big part of what's making people say "Really? You're JUST NOW taking up this hobby?"

[BTR]

I know plenty of people who drive drunk and never get pulled over or get into an accident. Doesn't mean it's not risky behavior.

I don't equate riding a motorcycle with being a reckless individual. It sounds like Orton did everything right but still is lucky to be alive. I also acknowledge that a lot of motorcycle accidents happen because of automobile drivers. But I'll agree with Demko: being a BEGINNING motorcyle rider when you have a newborn is probably not the best way to ensure your well-being for your daughter's sake. While yeah, anything could happen in a car, the stats are against you, relatively speaking, when on two wheels.

[bdbdbd]

Aug 12, 2008 8:17:36 GMT -5 Batman said:

Two wheels bad, four wheels good!

Literary exalt.

[National Champion Chris Cole]

You all may be right but I'm just trying to give the other side of the coin since most people just like to pile onto the stupidity that is Orton.

He probably was driving like an idiot because the guy is an idiot. But I stand firm that simply driving a motorcyle is not considered reckless.

[BTR]

Well, next time you go to the store, strap lil' Metallikid on your back, hop on a motorcycle, and go pick up some diapers.

[National Champion Chris Cole]

I wouldn't strap a newborn on on me and use the bike but I'd jump on a bike to go get some diapers without a problem. Especially with the way gas prices are right now.

[Batman]

Aug 12, 2008 9:34:05 GMT -5 bdbdbd said:

Aug 12, 2008 8:17:36 GMT -5 Batman said:

Two wheels bad, four wheels good!

Literary exalt.

Thank you. Thank you.

[Attitude Adjuster]

HA HA!

[Fire-Babe]

I'm glad Orton is okay, and not more seriously injured.

I'm also glad his time off my tv has been extended.

[Lucky]

Driving a motorcycle IS reckless. One need only look at the stats to see it. Even with gas prices factored in (which seems like an iffy argument when we're talking about athletes making 6 and 7 figures) you're basically choosing to save money at the much greater risk of your health and life. I say that as someone who has wanted a motorcycle for a long time but has resisted the urge because I know how dangerous it is, how stupid I can sometimes be, and how I don't have to be stupid. All you need to do is hit a patch of ice, a discarded bottle, hiccup. The margin of error on a bike is SO slim its just a reckless venture.

It only makes Orton as reckless as all those other guys. And yeah, it seems like a really questionable thing to take up with a newborn child and rehabbing an injury. But I'm sure any number of guys have decided to get that bike in response to the birth of a child that made them feel old. Or made them trade in their flashy car for an SUV. I can come up with a lot of reasons why I could empathize with Orton, but I'd be being reckless if I made the same decision.

I don't pile on Orton. I think Orton is unfairly singled out by wrestling fans a LOT for doing shit that they all seem to do. But since fans don't like Orton to begin with its worse. CM Punk is almost universally regarded as a prick. HBK admits he was a lying prick for a long time. Angle's batshit insane. Benoit used to do all the lockerroom hazing and crap that we mock others for. Orton simply never earned the "being a douchebag credit" that others did. I also think much of Orton's behavioral problems can be knocked up to him being like many young men and just doing whatever they let him get away with. WWE lets him get away with murder, why not do it?

[Attitude Adjuster]

Next headline: Orton murders wife and newborn daughter. Decides life is still worth living; doesn't kill self. WWE gives Orton 60 days without pay but stays on TV.

[The Jewish Cunthead]

Orton is the kind of bastard who wouldn't show compassion if his wife left $200 in an unlocked vehicle.

[Lucky]

Now, now, Solly. That was like a week ago. AA doesn't remember it.

[Mr. Dashbee]

I'd be shocked it the WWE doesn't add a clause about "activities that can cause harm & impede one's ability to perform" or something like that. I know many NFL contracts have it. This is just stupid.

[bdbdbd]

Aug 12, 2008 18:00:54 GMT -5 Mr. Dashbee said:

"activities that can cause harm & impede one's ability to perform" or something like that.

Like wrestling?

[Mr. Dashbee]

Aug 12, 2008 18:15:10 GMT -5 bdbdbd said:

Aug 12, 2008 18:00:54 GMT -5 Mr. Dashbee said:

"activities that can cause harm & impede one's ability to perform" or something like that.

Like wrestling?

You could say the same thing about football, but NFL contracts have that same type of clause.

[bdbdbd]

If you're going to drag logic into it I'm just going to have to stop making stupid jokes. Nobody wants that.

[Riot Act]

Aug 12, 2008 13:11:35 GMT -5 Lucky said:

CM Punk is almost universally regarded as a prick.

Benoit used to do all the lockerroom hazing and crap that we mock others for.

These are somewhat news to me.

I know complaints about Punk are fairly rampant, but I always assumed it was similar to HBK's issue: always complaints from other wrestlers, never from fans, which to me seperates a "prick" from someone who is just a real pain in the ass the work with.

As for Benoit, I figured he was just the old-school "leader" type that made you do squats if you disrespected someone. I mean, yeah, he killed his family, but it's not like he ever soap raped someone...right?

[Attitude Adjuster]

Aug 12, 2008 15:23:31 GMT -5 The Jewish Cunthead said:

Orton is the kind of bastard who wouldn't show compassion if his wife left $200 in an unlocked vehicle.

Aug 12, 2008 15:30:35 GMT -5 Lucky said:

Now, now, Solly. That was like a week ago. AA doesn't remember it.

My wife did what? Damn, I guess I might have been pretty pissed about that. But how'd you guys know? Did I get drunk and bitch about her on the baords? Oh, she's gonna be pisssed...

On the upside, she got hired yesterday for the upcoming school year. Life with tenure is a bitch, especially in CA's crumbling third-world economy. Now I can steal money from her purse and gamble with it.

Oh, and Randy Orton is still the dumbest bastard I've ever heard of. Right up there with Jeff Kent, who broke his arm just before baseball season "washing his SUV."

[Byrntrigan]

Aug 13, 2008 10:38:51 GMT -5 Attitude Adjuster said:

Aug 12, 2008 15:23:31 GMT -5 The Jewish Cunthead said:

Orton is the kind of bastard who wouldn't show compassion if his wife left $200 in an unlocked vehicle.

Aug 12, 2008 15:30:35 GMT -5 Lucky said:

Now, now, Solly. That was like a week ago. AA doesn't remember it.

My wife did what? Damn, I guess I might have been pretty pissed about that. But how'd you guys know? Did I get drunk and bitch about her on the baords? Oh, she's gonna be pisssed...

On the upside, she got hired yesterday for the upcoming school year. Life with tenure is a bitch, especially in CA's crumbling third-world economy. Now I can steal money from her purse and gamble with it.

Oh, and Randy Orton is still the dumbest bastard I've ever heard of. Right up there with Jeff Kent, who broke his arm just before baseball season "washing his SUV."

Dice games for AA!