In terms of permanent injury yeah. You can sorta block yourself and get hit in your arm and back and protect major parts of your body.
The thread starter is referring to beanballs though, i.e., intentionally throwing at the head. Most guys who get hit in the dome at least suffer concussions.
Ancient Romans loved watching men being torn apart by lions in the amphitheatre. People may have become more civilised throughout the years but deep down they still enjoy watching fights or anything close to it, such as the physicality of a modern NBA game.
How long do you get to decide what to do. If a ball is coming towards your face at 90, you might not get out of the way in time.
It's a lot easier to hit someone's head with an elbow in basketball than to hit someone's head with a pitch in baseball.
.... It does happen though. Sometimes, even pitchers get hit in the face by a ball coming off the bat. It actually happens quite a few times a season. An artest-like elbow doesn't happen too often either.
So what's worse? I think the baseball to the head is worse. I play both sports and pitches that come near me scare me a LOT more than hard fouls in basketball.
A well hit ball coming back at the pitcher can exceed the speed of the pitch so that's justifiable. And a hard foul in a pickup game wouldn't be the same as an unexpected elbow with momentum.
Just my opinion but I'd rather get "elbowed with momentum" than have a ball hit my face hard. It would be nice if we didn't have to go through either :grin:
