07.01.08 5:00 AM CDT
• Sports
• Playboy Staff
Dave Golokhov, host of Hardcore Sports (Sirius 186) After watching Euro 2008, otherwise known as the biggest international soccer tournament not called the World Cup, I got to thinking about injuries in sports.
It's obvious that soccer players are cut from a different type of cloth than North American athletes. Soccer players dive, fake and act in attempts to earn possession and free kicks, which is the opposite of good sportsmanship, but we'll leave that discussion for a rainy day.
Thinking back through the North American sports calendar over the past year, I've noticed that athletes are either getting significantly tougher or they have found a new type of drug that increases their pain threshold.
Three times in the last several months, an athlete being able to play through a significant injury that usually renders them disabled for six months. San Diego Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers played – and played well – in the AFC Championship against the New England Patriots without an ACL in his right knee after tearing it the previous week. Boston Celtics superstar guard Paul Pierce "heard a pop" in his right knee, which normally signals an ACL injury and season-ending surgery. He couldn't even walk off the court under his own power but returned in the same game and played the entire series with no ill-effects. Most recently, Tiger Woods not only played in the U.S. Open with a double-fracture and torn knee ligaments in his left leg but still managed to win the tournament.
Soccer players may know nothing of playing through pain like this but quite frankly, neither do I. I've never heard or seen it before.
Sometimes an athlete is injured mid-game but can continue playing based on sheer adrenaline. Sometimes athletes have courageous outings while playing through pain, but at the very least their performances are hindered. Rivers, Pierce and Woods were not only able to function, they operated above and beyond their regular level of play.
On some levels, it makes sense. Maybe these recoveries are an indication of technology advances. Pitchers return from Tommy John surgery at a higher success rate than ever before and career-ending knee injuries are now limited to only month- or season-ending.
Is there a new underground tranquilizer or anesthetics that we are not privy to? Or have Gatorade ads encouraged our sports stars to become that much tougher?
Whatever the explanation, the modern day athlete – save the soccer player – has a higher threshold for pain.
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Comments on this entry:
Hey mate,
Joe average seeks to stand out by complaining about his suffering, his pain, his mediocrity.
People like Joe Average, remain mediocre and take drugs because they focus on their pain and suffering, they literally TALK on the inside too much.
People like Tiger Woods on the other hand, they don't talk much at all, they are too busy thinking in Images, creating the vision they desire out of their lives.
Just like the women you see in playboy, they SEE themselves as beautiful, long before they show up in the magazine.
Enjoy the day,
Mr. Twenty Twenty
Ex Hostage - Professional Visionary
http://www.exhostage.com