Wednesday, July 27, 2005

on the job hazards



there are few things quite as sickening as watching an athlete get injured right before your eyes, thanks to the high tech camera equipment piping these large-as-life images right into your home, so close up you feel like you're right there on the field of play. whether it's a hockey stick across knuckles. or a football player with a dislocated shoulder leaving his arm dangling limply or his leg broken & twisted at a disturbing angle. or as was the case in last night's Red Sox game against the Devil Rays, when the Sox star pitcher Matt Clement took a line drive right in the side of the head. knocked right flat to the ground. made my stomach clench up & my eyes water to see him grab near his ear & crumple to the picther's mound dirt. to see him laying there so still & the medical team moving frantically & team mates gathered round in concern. i realize that these injuries are an understood hazard of the job these men have but i hate to see any athlete take a serious, potentially career-ending blow. it doesn't matter if he's the best pitcher on my favorite baseball team...an obscure player i've never heard of before...or one of my least favorite professional athletes from a team i loathe. when you get past the uniform & the sports equipment, we're all still people--flesh & blood & muscle & bone. the pain is still the same, regardless of how much money we make or what job we hold. my thoughts are with Matt Clement & those who care about him & the doctors who are tending to him. and i hope that he has not sustained an injury, both mentally as well as physically, that will end his still young career.

3 with their own thoughts:

marianne Wednesday, July 27, 2005 4:44:00 PM  

Oh gosh yes! I was watching the game the day Joe Theisman's career ended with that broken leg... truly gut-wrenching to watch. The only thing worse is hearing it... I heard a guy's leg break when he slid into third base while we were playing softball. Most sickening sound ever.

Mike Thursday, July 28, 2005 5:03:00 PM  

Ladies,

I have something to say that puts things into perspective. I'm a soldier in the US Army as you know and not to put a damper on your prespective but these people are getting paid very well along with the fame of being a professional athlete. Being a soldier, you get to see much more heroism and much less frvolity. These athletes get paid to do soemthing that is somewhat irrelavant. Now I understand this person is a human being and accounting for his well being is great but I'm a bit angered by people who make such a big deal. I also understand you support the troops but there war vets with no legs and some of them are piss poor. I'm probably being an asshole right now but I felt I needed to step in and say what was on my chest.

By the way, ever see and hear a person fight for his life because a piece of shrapnal entered his cheek and ended up in the back of his head, destroying everything on the way. Think about that one...

~**Dawn**~ Thursday, July 28, 2005 8:38:00 PM  

i don't think he's a hero for taking a ball in the side of the head. it was just awful to see another human being get hurt like that regardless of the venue in which they were injured. this was compassion expressed for another human being that national television brought into my living room...not about the fact that he was a professional athlete. i wouldn't have liked see a fan get hit in the head either...or anyone else get hurt for that matter.

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