Since the advent of cybernetic prostheses, sports had become dramatically more brutal. The first place to show this trend was the Paralympic Games:
When cyberware first appeared, ordinary people had scoffed at the idea of cutting off a hand and replacing it with a prosthesis. Plenty of people still thought that way today. After all, cheap prostheses really were less reliable than a body kept strong through years of training, and could even be weaker.
For people with disabilities, however, this was an opportunity: a chance to change the world's perception of them, and a chance to push their physical abilities to the peak.
After that, athletes who were outstanding even compared to able-bodied people, and even among the world's best, began appearing among people with disabilities. Some prosthetic athletes even used unstable prostheses for this opportunity, leaving themselves completely deranged.
[Fiona: You wanted an opportunity, and now it's right here. You did great in the first half. Those two idiots are already out. I guess they'll put in two more defensive players.]
As Mait listened, he digested the first half of the match and the change in his outlook:
In football, you scored by kicking the ball into the other team's goal, sure, but in modern football, nobody would pay to watch unless the intensity reached a certain level-
[Fiona: You did great. Looks like Street Journey gives your mental attributes quite a boost. Your counterattack was spot-on, and clean and decisive. One hit, one kill. Remember that feeling. You did great on your first lesson. I'll give you an A+.]
Sending someone off the field was the best way to make a statement. He had just destroyed two players' dreams of playing football, and one of them might already be partially or completely paralyzed.
The Classical Guitar crowd