Injuries and How They Impact Sports

(Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

First of all, I would like to apologize for the long absence and explain what I've been doing.

I am still a kid, and I have the privilege to play junior football.  No matter what I say or do on this web site, I still like playing backyard football and watching the Hawks on the tube.  A few weeks back one play changed my entire season.

We were just coming out of halftime.  I was back to receive the kickoff.  The opponents did an onside that the first line completely ignored.  I fielded it at the 35 yard-line and realized that their was a huge gap.  I ran through it and all of a sudden I was in open field.

One man to beat! I laid a move on him and kept on running.  At the 30, the 20, the 10, it looks like he is going to take it to the house! And then suddenly, CRASH! 

I fell hard on the ground at the two-yard line; I was tackled from my toes, and I fell down defenseless against the ground. 

A jolt of pain went up and down my neck and collarbone.  I knew something wasn't right so the coach pulled me from the game.  All the players were congratulating me as I took a knee on the sideline.  I finally walked up to the coach and told him that my collarbone area was burning.

They took a look at it and told me to take off my pads and jersey.  They taped me up and I went to the ER (emergency room).  After an hour of waiting, they finally got to me. Some service!  They took X-rays and revealed that I had broken my clavicle.

In football talk: I busted a bone.

I was shocked and horrified.  I felt like I was going to cry when they told me I would be out for the season.

Then I realized how much pain professional athletes endure throughout their lives.  I used to call them "wimps" and "cry babies," but I have a new found respect for their strength. In the course of their careers, athletes break bones, heal them, and sometimes break them again.

Most professional athletes have long term issues that affect them for the rest of their careers and lives.

A day after my injury (it happened on a Saturday), I decided to watch the Hawks' game against the San Francisco 49ers.  It was looking OK until disaster struck,  Matt Hasselbeck went with the QB keeper and put his body on the line to score.

Unfortunately, Patrick Willis thought otherwise and busted Hasselbeck's rib. My knee jerk response was to say, "C'mon Matt! That's like the third time in two years!"  But I paused, looked at my collarbone, and kept my mouth shut.

I decided to do some research on broken collarbones among professional athletes.  I realized that Adrian Peterson broke his collarbone in college and that it stopped other teams from wanting to draft him. Where others saw weakness, I now saw strength. He toughened up and kept on playing.

I wondered what it was like for Adrian Peterson to watch from the sidelines.  When I watched players on the sidelines that are injured during NFL games I say, "What a bunch of fakers, these guys are getting paid millions for nothing."

So next time you see an NFL athlete go down with an injury, think about that time you broke a bone. 

These guys are giving every ounce of energy to help the team, and bad things can happen. Nobody is injury-prone; injuries just happen. It's as simple as mistakes happening.

Nobody can stop them from happening, they can happen to anybody.  An injury that you see on TV or the computer may be just mean a six week absence of your quarterback to you; but to them, it's six weeks of living in pain and wanting to play. 

Now, I too have experienced that first hand. 

Thanks for reading. 

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