JOE THEISMANN, ALEX SMITH AND DAK PRESCOTT…NOT TO MENTION PAUL GEORGE, GORDON HAYWARD AND COUNTLESS OTHERS
No injury is good.
Anytime you’re injured, guess what?
It really fuckin’ hurts!
Sometimes the pain and discomfort go right away…
Other times it doesn’t work like that…
And, if and when you’re finally back to “normal,” well, sorry.
You’re never 100%.
That is, 100% of what you were.
It’s anatomically impossible.
Each mishap, depending on the severity of it, chips away a little bit at both your physical and mental health and well-being.
It’s simply the way it is.
Factor in the inevitable ageing process and your fitness quotient, and the eight-ball can get bigger by the second.
But with time, the strength of will, and some good fortune you can get out from behind it and come (almost all the way) back.
Ask Clint Malarchuk.
The Buffalo Sabres were playing the St. Louis Blues on March 22, 1989 when Sabres goaltender Malarchuk caught a skate blade in the neck, cutting his jugular vein and cascading blood, like an angry, erupting volcano, all over the ice.
He lost one-third of his blood and needed 300 stitches to close the gaping wound. Had he been sliced a little higher on the neck, he would have died before receiving medical attention.
Amazingly, Malarchuk was back in net for the Sabres 11 days later and went on to play another three seasons.
WHEW!!!
How about Akil Mitchell?
A journeyman professional playing primarily European, Development and Summer League basketball, the 6’9” power forward out of the University of Virginia suited up for the New Zealand Breakers on January 26, 2017. As he battled for a rebound, Mitchell appeared to get poked in the face before falling to the floor.
In fact, he was poked in the eye which became dislodged from its socket.
That’s right, his eye popped out!
Astonishingly, he regained his vision about a month later and was cleared to rejoin his team. He now wears protective goggles when playing.
Then there was Kevin Ware of Louisville.
While trying to block a three-point shot attempt March 31, 2013 against Duke in an NCAA Tournament Elite Eight contest, Ware landed awkwardly and suffered a horrific injury to his right leg.
He had endured an open compound fracture of the tibia at the knee; the bone was plainly visible, bursting through the skin as it protruded several inches out of his shin.
In a two-hour operation, surgeons inserted a rod into his tibia and after a long and painful rehabilitation, Ware was able to once again play the game he loved, making his comeback at Georgia State.
He has played professionally in Finland, Czechoslovakia, Greece, Canada and England.
It should be duly noted that when Louisville won the 2013 NCAA Championship — a title since vacated — Ware was there to help cut down the net. On crutches and unable to climb a ladder to reach the net, the entire basket was lowered to accommodate him.
Some stories don’t have such happy endings.
When Raiders running back Napoleon McCallum was tackled by 49ers linebacker Ken Norton Jr. on September 5, 1994 during a Monday Night Football contest and the opening game of the season, his left cleat stuck in the ground forcing his knee into a horrible dislocation.
He had suffered a complete hyperextension of his left knee, almost to a right angle. He ruptured an artery, tore three ligaments, literally ripped the calf and hamstring away from the bone and experienced nerve damage in the knee.
He never played another down of professional football.
And what football fan doesn’t know about QB Joe Theismann’s leg?
On November 18, 1985 in a Redskins-Giants MNF tilt, linebackers Harry Carson and Lawrence Taylor converged on Theismann resulting in a sack credited to Taylor. The quarterback’s right leg snapped between the knee and the ankle, a gruesome sight and a ghastly break.
That was it for Joe; he never played another game.
Of more recent vintage were the Paul George and Gordon Hayward incidents, chronicled by me in detail on this platform.
(See “Paul George and Gordon Hayward,” June 18).
On August 1, 2014 George, then with the Pacers, was participating in a Team USA scrimmage in Las Vegas when he landed awkwardly after a shot-block attempt.
He suffered a serious compound fracture that sidelined him for most of the next season.
Hayward, five minutes into his first regular-season game as a Celtic in Cleveland on October 17, 2017, went up for an alley-oop pass and collided with LeBron James in mid-air. When he landed on the floor, his left leg was twisted underneath him and his left foot was pointing outward.
He had dislocated his left ankle and fractured his left tibia, yet another horrifying sight and of course, most serious injury.
He was out for a full year — almost to the day — making his return at home in the Celtics’ season-opener against Philly on October 16, 2018.
Both George and Hayward are nearly the same players they were.
The miracle is that they’re playing at all.
Same with Alex Smith.
In spades.
During a game against the Houston Texans on November 18, 2018 Smith, the quarterback for the then-Redskins, suffered a spiral and compound fracture to the tibia and fibula in his right leg when he was sacked by Kareem Jackson and J.J. Watt.
The injury drew eerie parallels to the aforementioned pain and suffering experienced by Redskins QB Theismann 33 years to the day prior in 1985 which forced him into retirement.
Following the initial surgery, Smith developed life-threatening necrotizing fasciitis — also known as flesh-eating disease, an infection that results in the death of parts of the body’s soft tissue — which produced sepsis.
Seventeen (17) surgeries ensued including eight debridements (the medical removal of dead, damaged or infected tissue to improve the healing potential of the remaining healthy tissue) across four separate hospital stays over a period of nine months.
Doctors had suggested that an amputation above the knee might be Smith’s only option before performing skin grafts and an operation transferring muscle from his left quadriceps to save the leg.
As part of his recovery process, Smith wore an external fixation device (a surgical treatment wherein rods are screwed into bone and exit the body to be attached to a stabilizing structure on the outside of the body at a distance from the operative or injury focus) for nearly a year.
Although he missed the entire 2019 season, in early 2020 he affirmed his intent to return.
He was cleared by his doctors to resume football activities in July 2020.
He did just that during the second quarter of a 2020 Week 5 game against the Los Angeles Rams, coming off the bench to replace Kyle Allen who exited with an arm injury.
He completed 9 of 17 passes for 37 yards and was sacked 6 times in a 30–10 loss.
It was Smith’s first time on a football field since November 18, 2018 (or in 693 days).
He fought his way back through 18 surgeries and arduous, torturous rehab to defy all odds and expectations.
Hours later on that very same day, the Cowboys’ Dak Prescott took the field in a key division matchup against the New York Giants.
He completed 14 passes for 166 yards and an interception, plus had a receiving touchdown when he attempted to scramble into the red zone late in the third quarter.
Prescott’s right ankle got caught between the AT&T Stadium turf and defensive back Logan Ryan.
It was revealed that he had suffered a compound fracture and dislocation of his right ankle and he underwent surgery the same night, ending his 2020 season.
A 4–6 month recovery is projected for Prescott who vows to “be back stronger and better.”
Pain, pain tolerance, will, and attitude are life’s great equalizers.
And throw in a little good luck and a nod from God for posterity.
[This piece was written by Mr. Kaplan in October 2020.]
