In other words, if the contest doesn't stare death in the face, then you're better off playing croquet or watching synchronized swimming. Until recent history, all sports have been sports fought to the death. Whether it was the Colosseum of ancient Rome or jousting in the Middle Ages, the winners lived and the losers died. The winners won in order to fight again another day. For this to work, death was supposed to happen to someone else.
Denial is a powerful force, but the only thing more powerful than denial is death.
Gladiators aren't supposed to die, but they do. He died fighting an internal struggle between two basic instincts. The first was aggression, for which he was famous. He channeled his aggression to defend. Any father worthy of a Hallmark Card the third Sunday in June would do the same.