James Harrison has broken orbital bone

[laythewood28]

Well, let's see-- in the course of the 12-15 years that I played basketball on a daily basis (when healthy), I "only":

Broke my right ankle three times, in the exact same place... the last time ended my basketball days...

Broke a bone in my right foot (my first serious injury, I was 16)...

Sprained ankles or tore ligaments in my ankles a half dozen times...

Hyperextended my left knee 37 times (no, I'm not kidding), and my right knee 16 times... as a result, in my old age I can stand up straight and my legs actually bow backwards, slightly... it's pretty weird...

Cracked two ribs...

Bruised a kidney (peed blood for 3 days, ouch)...

Got knocked unconscious, mild concussion... had a headache for about a week...

Broke my nose...

As already noted, I've broken both of my occipital orbits, at different times...

Won't even try to count the number of fingers I've either broken or sprained... let's just say that I can't flip anybody a decent bird, because both of my middle fingers kind of go off on an angle...

The truth of the matter is, I never got hurt as bad in a fight as I have on a dozen occasions on the basketball floor... and anybody who says that basketball is not "abusive" demonstrates with that opinion that he's never played the game (at least, not at a very high level of play)...

And as I mentioned before, it was worse for me because I was so short... no matter who I guarded, they were likely to have 5 or 6 inches on me, and of course when they saw that, their first thought was to go down low and post me up... so I spent an unusual amount of time down under the basket for a little guy, the jungle where elbows are thrown like spears...

I honestly believe that every little ache and pain that bothers me as I get older traces its origins to excesses in my athletic youth, in particular on the basketball court... but I'll live with that, I wouldn't have missed all the fun, and yeah, even all the pain, for the world...

Something tells me you weren't very good.

 

[silverbear]

You are always on the IR?

Did you read my earlier post?? Yeah, I was always beat up...

And every ache I have today can be traced directly to that abuse...

 

[silverbear]

Something tells me you weren't very good.

Actually, I was... quite good, in fact... just about as good as a 5-9 inch player could be anyway...

It gets worse, too-- I couldn't jump particularly well, and I wasn't fast... quick, yes; fast, no...

But I could see the court, and if one of my teammates was open in a spot he liked, I could get the ball to him... and if the opponents tried to go to a zone, I could shoot them out of it... but what endeared me to coaches was that I lived to play defense... undersized or not, I'd go chest to chest with anybody, all day long (which was, of course, I got beat to hell the way I did)... and I had a nice instinct for anticipating passes, I got a lot of steals that way...

For a time one year, I was actually my team's go-to scoring offense (no, that was not a good team), and I found I could get my shot any time I wanted it, using screens and moving without the ball relentlessly... I had a lot of fun that year, I was never really called on to be a scorer before...

But my strongest suit was quite useful, I was a deadly free throw shooter... never did shoot under 83 per cent in any league I played in, and in a couple-three of those leagues, it was over 90 per cent...

Never minded being fouled, those were easy points... let's just say that on every organized team I ever played for, if a technical foul was called on the opponent while I was on the floor, I was headed to the line...

I'll bet you're sorry you commented, aren't you?? Man, I hate bye weekend...