From the sidelines
Basketball is a great sport because you can play anytime. All you need is a ball, a hoop, and a pair of hands.
Growing up, baseball was my favorite sport. Mainly because I excelled in it, unlike most other sports. Because basketball is fun, great exercise, and able to be played at anytime, it's the sport I continue to play.
Not anymore; at least for a while.
As I was attempting to block former Marion High School basketball player Tyler Stubenhofer Jan. 9 during an open gym pickup game, I landed awkwardly, twisting my knee and listened to a ripping sound as I slammed to the ground.
Two things.
What possessed me to think I could actually block his shot during the fast break? And as I fouled him on the play (he still made the layup to end the game) I was hoping I didn't end up hurting him.
Funny how that worked out.
My knee was too swollen for the doctors to know anything two days after it happened, and I am heading to El Dorado this morning to see if they can figure out what is wrong.
Since I've already torn the meniscus and ACL in my right knee, (yes, playing basketball) my intuition tells me it might be the same thing again, this time in my left.
For at least the next few weeks I'll be hobbling around on crutches, thinking of every little incident that happened leading up the injury.
If I just hadn't have done this, or I just hadn't have done that, I'd be able to actually walk from my bed to the living room to make a sandwich.
I know Tyler feels bad for me, although he really had nothing to do with it other than being the guy I fouled right before I injured myself. But that's the chance you take when you play sports.
For all of the great opportunities sports offer, they are often overshadowed by injuries.
I wrestled, played football, baseball, basketball, and soccer, competitively from age five to 18. The only injury I ever remember is a bruised foot after getting hit with a baseball.
In five years of playing rec sports I've now done damage to both my knees.
The point? I'm getting old.
No not really. It's that injuries can happen anytime. When an athlete is lucky enough to hide from the injury bug for a while, he or she tends to think it can't happen to them.
And then it does.
The insignificant daily acts of standing in line without crutches or walking from the couch to the door in less than five minutes, seem more exciting than playing any sport.
I'm not saying don't play sports. But the time in someone's life when they can play sports without having to ice their whole body the next day, should not be taken for granted.
An injury can cause a young person's playing days to be over before the ice packs have to come out.
Take it from someone who knows: Enjoy the time on the court, you never know when you might tear apart your knee trying to block someone on a fast break.
