“The good Lord would never disrupt the best game of my life.”
These are among the famous last words of the “Bishop” in Caddyshack before he’s struck by lightning, destroying his chances to set the Bushwood course record and sending him on an epic, un-Godly bender. Even after being warned to go inside until the storm passes over, he’s willing to make himself a human lightning rod in order to cement himself in fictional golf lore.
It turns out he’s not alone.
Men are being killed by lightning at an alarmingly high rate compared to women. In a recent survey conducted by the National Weather Service, between the years of 2006 and 2016, men accounted for 80 percent of all lightning-related deaths, and much like our stubborn Bishop, 90 percent of those deaths involved the great outdoors and sports. (What might come as a shocker, however, is that of the 352 fatalities, only 9 of them occurred on the golf course.)
The study concludes that men are much more likely to die from lightning because — wait for it — men “are unwilling to be inconvenienced by the threat of lightning.” The majority of women, on the other hand, understand that when you hear thunder and lightning, you should immediately go inside until the storm passes.
So like licking a 9-volt battery or testing your dog’s shock collar, men would rather be electrocuted than prematurely finish a pick-up game of soccer. Or in the Bishop’s case, a round of golf.
LONG LIVE MAN!
Sam Dworkin
Senior Designer- Digital Artist, Reno NV
