Earlier today we reported Peyton Manning was ruled out for the Indianapolis Colts’ home opener. Just hours later, WNDE sports radio host Jay Query says he may be out for the season. Via podcast, Query is claiming to have a reliable yet unnamed source who said he had another back surgery Sunday or Monday and will not be able to play in the 2011-12 season. Nothing much to hear before 3:25.
More to come on this, no doubt.
Twitter chatter picked up yesterday about the status of Pittsburgh Penguins forward Sidney Crosby, pointedly absent and silent during the off-season, as teams prepare to go to training camp.
The word “retired” appeared at least once as I scrolled past.
“No way,” I said aloud, to no one. “No. Way.” I may have gotten a little chill, I admit it.
I don’t like Sidney Crosby, as I am contractually required not to as a card-carrying member of the Washington Capitals Irrational Penguins Hate Club. I hate his commercials where he hits pucks into garbage cans or whatever in his mom’s basement. I don’t care for his attitude, about which I know nothing, really. Small detail. I don’t call him names (I really don’t) because that’s just not my bag, but I dislike him in the way one can only irrationally dislike a star player on a rival team. This is America, man. I don’t need a reason.
However, I’m not interested in any guy going out of his game at the age of 24 due to brain injury, or even having a brain injury. Yes, I’ve watched the hits over and over that got him in this situation. No, I don’t think the Winter Classic hit from Dave Steckel was dirty. Yes, I think Victor Hedman should have gotten more than two minutes for checking in the hit a few days later in Tampa Bay, which I believe in my uneducated, unscientific brain is really what got him into this mess in the first place. It really makes no nevermind to me what caused it, at this point. I just know that a career-ending injury would be devastating for him, the city of Pittsburgh (where I have friends with whom I like to keep my rivalries friendly) and, really, the NHL. The league and the fans benefit from having gifted players on the ice, and that’s the kind of hockey I like to watch.
Also, Canada. I like some Canadians, and he won them that medal that I didn’t begrudge them in the slightest. And although I fully plan to celebrate a Washington Capitals’ Stanley Cup win when it happens, I don’t want to hear that it happened because Sid wasn’t on the ice.
I have a lot of feelings about this, apparently.
So when I finally caught up with the Sidney Crosby news tonight, it appeared that there was no news. This didn’t stop the Sid alarms from going off all over the hockey web, but mostly it was defensive press release-y kinds of stuff. I could find no more mentions of the r-word, just a lot of “We can’t speculate” and “He’ll come back when he’s healthy” and “Hey, chump, last time I checked training camp hadn’t started. He’s working out. Go away.”
His manager Pat Brisson said Monday:
Sidney hasn’t been shut down by anyone, He has simply adjusted his summer program according to the different needs for the appropriate recovery.
Alrighty. He’s done the different things for the things for the appropriateness of the stuff and the program and the things. Quotes like this make me wish these guys would just recite the lyrics to Yankee Doodle Dandy while the reporters stare back slack-jawed, because that would at least be newsworthy, and slightly more interesting.
Anyway, Brisson gave more vague details about Crosby’s recovery, and said pretty much nothing, insinuating therefore that there was, quite simply, nothing to say. He would return when he was ready, and so far he isn’t. His primary symptoms have been headaches, but he expected him to be back on the ice when he was healthy and to play for many years.
Pens coach Dan Bylsma said Crosby has been working out, so stick that puck where you can fit it:
Sidney’s progressed nicely this summer, he’s had a long summer, he’s worked out in June and July. We’re hoping for Sidney to come back in and be ready to go for training camp. I know he’s worked out more now than he has probably the last three summers.
I’m now envisioning Sid the Kid rolling up to training camp like a beefed-up boss, with solid gold shoulder pads maybe, just for the entrance.
Concussions are serious business, and the truth is that erring on the side of caution seems better than throwing a guy out there who isn’t ready for whatever reason. And if I were a Pens fan I’d be banking on two things at this point. One, the hope that Sid gets better soon, because they love the crap out of him up there, and let’s face it, last season didn’t look so great over the long haul. And two? Play some golf, Sid. Get some spa treatments. Heal, and pop up just in time for the playoffs.
Stranger things, my hockey friends. Stranger, craftier things.
Source: NHL.com
Photo: Getty, Jamie Squire
Among all the other evidence that I took leave of my senses between the ages of 18 and 22, I played rugby in college. Fall and Spring. Six seasons, and a host of injuries that included three concussions. Since this was “the olden days,” I sat out of practice a week and that was it. No CT scans, or even much follow-up from the medical staff at my school. Other than my first trip to the concussion rodeo, I only ever saw a doc once.
This is a perfect example of “now that we know better, we do better.” Concussion awareness programs are everywhere today, from the NFL to elementary school (to The Onion). And now Dick’s Sporting Goods has created PACE, Protecting Athletes through Concussion Education.
Through PACE, Dick’s Sporting Goods will supply up to one million young athletes across more than 3,300 middle and high schools nationwide with ImPACT software, a scientifically-validated computerized concussion evaluation system. It is a computerized, neurocognitive assessment tool that is used by medical doctors, psychologists, athletic trainers, and other licensed healthcare professionals to assist them in determining an athlete’s ability to return to play after suffering a concussion. Compared to my experience, WHAT A CONCEPT!!!
Here’s an article about Schaumburg, Illinois schools’ experience with ImPACT.
Schools need to apply in order to get the software. To apply for your school, visit http://www.mydickssportinggoods.com/pace/ and click “Submit Your School” on the left-hand side.
Former Pittsburgh Steelers running back Jerome Bettis tries out the ImPACT baseline concussion software at the PACE event at Dick's Sporting Goods in White Plains, NY.
This is it.
After 9 months, hundreds of games, four postseason series, several season-ending injuries, questionable refereeing and bad blood, it’s all down to one game.
And oh, what a game it will be. Bruins vs Canucks. USA vs Canada. Thomas vs Luongo.
And it is Roberto Luongo, and only Roberto Luongo, who will tell the tale, at least in the minds of Canucks fans. It doesn’t matter that Vancouver’s defense has been laughably absent in Boston, their gusto apparently anal-cavity-searched at the border. It doesn’t matter that while Vancouver’s Aaron Rome took off Nathan Horton’s head and was slapped with a four game suspension, Johnny Boychuk was apparently able to snap Mason Raymond’s back in half and not even get a penalty. (Although, WTF?) It doesn’t matter that while Raymond lay immobile on the ice, Bruins fans were cheering. (Ugh.) It doesn’t matter that the Sedin twins have barely shown up the entire final round except to pratfall in front of the refs.
No, it all falls on Bobby Lou’s shoulders. Unfairly, it has to be said. He may have had a couple of spectacular meltdowns in this cup round, but a goaltender does not carry a team alone. On at least two of Luongo’s three epic netsaving failures last night, his own defense was caught flatfooted – when they weren’t completely absent. Add on the dismal fact that on four separate occasions in Game 6, the Canucks whiffed on an empty net behind Tim Thomas. These opportunities, if seized, would have led to them lifting the cup Monday night.
It’s utterly unfair, then, to hang Luongo out to dry, as if he alone bears the responsibility of carrying the entire Vancouver organization to Cup Glory. But somehow, perhaps, I wonder if hanging him out to dry is exactly what he needs. When he was pulled in Game 4, Vancouver fans cheered – and he came out with a flawless effort in Game 5, just as he did in games 1 and 2. Boston does not agree with Luongo – but Vancouver apparently does. Tim Thomas unfortunately has no geographical requirement to kick ass in this round, but he’s not infallible. He let two in last night, and it was only the Canucks’ bad luck that he didn’t let in more.
What will we see in Game 7? Look for Vancouver to try to get back to their fast, skilled game. Look for the Bruins to continue chipping, chipping, chipping constantly, particularly on the Sedin twins. Look for the refs to back completely off; they don’t want to take the blame in a game with so much on the line. Look for Luongo to have the game of his life – or to get pulled in the first. He only has two personas: on, or horribly off. We will find out shortly which one will show up for Game 7.
Roll on, Cup Final.
PS: Don’t call Canada Wednesday night. Let’s just say we’ll all be busy.
With all the hysteria in Pittsburgh today, you’d think Steelers receiver Hines Ward had just hoisted this trophy once again:
Nope. The trophy behind the hoopla is this one. And Ward won it for dancing.
That’s Ward and his dancing partner, Kym Johnson, on Tuesday night, as they won the coveted (ahem) Mirror Ball Trophy as the best dancers on this season’s Dancing With The Stars. And Pittsburgh is as excited about this win as it would have been for winning a Super Bowl ring for the other, uh, other thumb.
I’m normally not too crazy about all the extracurricular stuff that goes with living in Stiller* Country, but I have to give Hines credit. I watched nearly every episode — a problem I brought upon myself by agreeing to sort of cover the series as part of my real job — and the football player acquitted himself well. Ward’s personality — which I’ve heard described as something like shooting sunshine out his ass — was evident on the dance floor, and he was consistently rewarded for it by the judges, who were responsible for half of the total scores for each couple.
The other half? I imagine there was some serious ballot-box stuffing on the part of Stiller Nation.
But if I’m a Stillers fan — and I most definitely am not — I still might have a couple questions about the worth of Ward’s appearance on the show. He’ll apparently soon have surgery to repair one of his ring-laden thumbs, although the injury appears to be football-related and not a rogue paso doble sprain. And while Ward is generally one of the most sure-handed receivers in football, he had one big drop on the show — as in dropping Johnson on her head during a rehearsal session:
Ow.
But I suspect that as long as dropping dancers doesn’t translate into dropping football the next time Ward’s on the field, Pittsburgh is going to be OK with any little nagging troubles left over from the show. We love us some football, and we love us some reality TV — the winner of the first Survivor All-Star season is a Pittsburgher, after all — and putting the two together has made for a fun off-season.
Hm. American Idol is holding auditions in Pittsburgh on July 15. I wonder if Ben Roethlisberger knows how to sing?
*Preferred local pronunciation.
Photo sources: One. Two. Three: A screen cap I took myself.
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