Working Out: Can Stretching Really be Funny?

Since this is a blog about sports, it is necessary to investigate the preparation required of serious athletes to perform at their full potential. Along with eating and drinking healthily, stretching their muscles properly before and after a workout is crucial. The athlete stretches with the hope of quick muscle recovery and prevention of injuries. Here is a picture of Shaquille O'Neal, having his hamstring and lower back stretched out by a rather petite athletic trainer.

Why are you laughing? Could it be because Shaq’s leg is as tall as the man, and his thigh is as thick as the waist of the trainer? One might describe this picture as comical, if not ridiculous. The juxtaposition of tall and short, and large and small makes one laugh because of the extreme differences. Shaq, the great basketball star of 7’1,” weighing around 325 pounds, has a trainer who is at most 5’4” and 130 pounds. This anomaly often occurs in sports, when the professional player is incredibly stronger, larger, or taller than the trainer or assistant. One might also note that Shaq’s shoe is dramatically larger (and probably weighs more) than the trainer’s head.

Americans find comical anything that seems out of place. In this picture, the small trainer does not seem to fit in with the basketball court with the characteristically large basketball players. The strain and concentration the trainer is putting into just holding up Shaq’s leg is hilarious. It is not the fact that the trainer is trying so hard to keep the leg upright, but rather the idea that he must exert so much force just to keep the leg upright. Americans are not laughing with the small man, but are laughing at him. Why such cruelty? Americans appreciate and admire those people who possess unusual talents or physical abilities (such as being tall and good at basketball), and pass by those with normal abilities and physical characteristics, simply because the majority of people are that way. Americans enjoy the contrast between the exceptionally gifted or talented, and the normal, or seemingly inferior person.