The Mid-Season Crunch

October 22, 2002

I have always been grateful that I have never sustained any serious injuries while playing sports. Like most athletes, I have had minor cuts, scrapes, bruises and sprains. I have also fractured my ankle (during a rebound in basketball) and my wrist (snowboarding). Other than that my track record for injuries has been kept pretty clean. Considering I have been playing some type of organized spirt for twenty years now I feel very fortunate. Half way through the season now, I look over our team and can breathe a sign of relief in noticing that we have not lost anyone to a serious, even career ending injury. We have had a fractured bone or two, a twisted knee, a sprained ankle, a pulled groin, etc., but nothing that can not be recovered from.

Head injuries are always a major concern in sports, especially football. There is no telling what the outcome of a helmet to helmet collision might be. There have been several players in the NFL that have sustained severe injuries and have even been paralyzed after either a helmet to helmet hit or by landing on their head during a play. Concussions are almost common place among quarterbacks in the NFL these days.

On Saturday, October 12th, we had our second match-up this season against the Santa Rosa Scorchers. In the second half of the game I was running up the left sideline when a Scorcher grabbed me, swung me around and threw me to the ground. There was nothing wrong with the tackle from a legal standpoint. Unfortunately, I landed in a bad position, hitting the back of my head hard against the ground. Immediately things began to spin. Being the stubborn person that I am, I did not want to lie there (it was the Scorcher sideline) so I quickly got to my feet. I then realized that standing was not a very good idea; I was dizzy and disoriented. I stumbled my way across the field to our sideline and after getting out of bounds immediately fell back to the ground. The Scorchers trainer and several of our coaches surrounded me and began to ask questions. I was able to sit up although initially standing was out of the question. I was asked if I knew my name, where I was, what day it was. The trainer shined a light into my eyes and asked me to follow it from left to right, to look over her shoulder, etc. She also asked me to count backwards from 100 and forwards in multiples of seven. Coach Gray, being the constant comedian, chimed in with a few jokes to break the tension. He commented to me later that he was glad I was told to stop at 35 becasue he couldn't remember what multiple of seven came next.

Finally I was told to stand up. By this time I was feeling much better, the spinning was gone and I was able to focus. The trainer asked me to shut my eyes and stand on one leg. This to me has always been a ridiculous test of coherence. It is the same test that police officers give to drivers to test for DUI's, and yet even when I'm feeling perfectly fine I can not do it. The prognosis was that I had a mild concussion, although it was probabkly not necessary to go to the hospital. It was suggested, however, that I do not return to playing in the game. I glanced up at the scoreboard and noticed that it was about half way through the 4th quarter. At that time I would have sworn on my life that I left the game about half way through the 3rd, and was surprised how fast time had flown by while I was being looked over.

Our defense was playing strong and the Scorchers were about to punt. Being the punt returner I ran onto the field. The coaches began to yell at me to get back over to the sideline, but I calmly waved them off, telling them I was fine. They, however, were not fine with me being out there and called a time out to get me off the field. Obviously I saw their point of view; we had the game won and there was no reason for me to risk further injury. In my own mind however, I felt if I did not get back into that game for a play I would have let the other team get the best of me.

At some point you need to be able to trust the coaches and know they have your best interests in mind rather than be stubborn and thick-headed. The Sirens organization is incredibly lucky to have the group of coaches we do. There is a broad range of personalities and yet a common understanding and goal for the team. Although I wanted to finish out the game I knew they were looking out for me and therefore needed to accept their decision. Later in the week after watching game film I realized that my injury had in fact happened in the forth quarter rather than mid-way through the third. With this in mind I was once again faced with the realization that although I felt fine during the game, obviously I was not all together there. Luckily the coaches know better than I do and prefer to use common sense when rationalizing their decisions. Safe and sound, I can now put this incident in the past and look forward to the next game.