vikeinmontana wrote: ↑Mon Jun 27, 2022 10:21 am
StanM wrote: ↑Sun Jun 26, 2022 9:59 am
Question. I see comments like yours about players not being able to stay healthy and am trying to understand what that means. The way it’s put always makes the implication that the player is doing something wrong or has some kind of “can’t stay healthy” gene.
Where does bad luck and simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time come into play? The idea that an athlete who makes his living staying in condition isn’t doing something right because someone rolls up on his leg and blows his knee out doesn’t make sense. Maybe in a few cases a player might need to bulk up and add some muscle mass but there have been smaller lighter HOF receivers who have held up fine their whole careers.
Whenever people say that a player can’t stay healthy without defining what that is sounds more like a cliche than anything tangible that can be corrected.
Been banging this drum forever. The term "injury prone" and "can't stay healthy" get thrown around way too much in my opinion. But I guess that's just the life of casual fans talking about elite athletes.
I agree we fans probably are too quick to label a guy. But there IS such a thing as being injury prone. In fact, it’s been studied quite a bit.
For example, research has shown that athletes, even professionals, often work so hard on their technique in order to improve the efficiency of their play that they place little or no focus on reducing injury risk. As a result, some injuries begin as micro-tears or fractures during training. The athlete often isn’t even aware of these injuries. They see themselves as “just sore.” If the athlete doesn’t correct this movement, the micro problem can quickly turn into a major injury.
Of course, many injuries in pro athletes come as the result of contact, falling awkwardly during play, etc. — bad-luck things. But beyond that, the most common causes of injury are overtraining and incorrect technique, and it happens more than we realize.
And of course, there are malingerers — guys who have figured out they get paid even if they’re in street clothes. Not saying it’s the norm, but we all know it happens.
Finally, there are guys who have been hurt so often or so severely that it’s unlikely they’ll ever be as good as they once were.
At some point, if you’re on the shelf more than you’re available, then the label doesn’t matter. The fact is that you bring less value to the team. Anthony Davis of the Lakers comes to mind. Label him or don’t label him … he’s played less than half his team’s games over the past two seasons. There comes a point you have to ask, can we count on this guy to play?
I get the frustration with labeling guys. But we rarely know the whole story, so all we can do is ask ourselves whether a guy is available, and if not, is he worth having for the money he’s being paid? That answer, of course, will vary from person to person.
