Injured Athletes Deserve More Respect

Let's look at a fictitious scenario that could very well happen to you...

Imagine you're doing your job, whatever that job may be, and in the course of performing one of your routine tasks, something unexpected happens and you get hurt.

Your injury isn't life threatening, but it is such that if you continue to perform your job it could not only increase the physical damage already done, it could also have a devastating effect on the future of your employer.

You, being a dedicated employee, attempt to continue working but the injury is such that you simply can't - and you tell your boss such. Your boss makes the decision to replace you with another worker, someone who, while not as talented as you, is technically qualified to do your job.

Sadly, your replacement is unable to complete the job successfully and your company fails in its goal, which, by the way, costs you a huge bonus.

What would your reaction be if your boss held you personally responsible for the company's failure?

Better yet, how would you feel if you were blamed for the failure and ridiculed for not making a better effort to perform the task...by people who have never done your job and have absolutely no understanding of the extent of your injury and how that injury would have made it impossible for you to continue working?

I think it's safe to assume that you would not take kindly to it. In fact you may even have a few choice words for anybody who insinuates that your injury was not as severe as you claimed it was.

None of us like to be called a liar and I doubt there are many of us who, given a choice, would opt to fail at our chosen profession - especially in a critical situation.

Why is it, then, that so many of us see fit to ridicule professional athletes who suffer injuries during a game and do not continue to play?

Prime example: Jay Cutler, quarterback for the Chicago Bears.

In this year's NFC Championship Game against the Green Bay Packers, Cutler suffered a "Grade II MCL tear" in his knee. During half-time he received a pain-killer shot, took the field at the beginning of the third quarter and tried to resume playing but was unable to perform to the best of his abilities. He was removed from the game and replaced by two different back-ups.

The Bears lost the game and were denied a trip to Super Bowl XLV.

Before the game was even over, Cutler was being ridiculed by sportscasters and fans for not "playing through the injury."

After the game was over he was trounced not only by the media and fans, but by other players, most of whom had been watching the playoffs on TV.

In the days following the game the media and sports fans everywhere ridiculed him.

I might be in the minority, but I think the people who ridiculed Cutler were being extremely unfair and judgmental.

For other football players to criticize him is beyond me, they know what it's like out there and they (should) know the risks involved in playing hurt. Forget losing the game, it could mean ending their career.

Members of the media have a long way to go before I'll put large amounts of stock in anything they say, let alone give any credence to criticism of a world class athlete offered up by a guy whose idea of a workout is not using the drive-through at McDonalds.

As for fans...this is where I get really angry.

Who do they think they are?

Let me be the one to break the news to you...being a fan provides you with absolutely zero right to offer criticism about the performance, or lack thereof, of any player on the field when it comes to injuries.

For the record, I am a sports fan...a pretty big one, and I have ridden that emotional roller coaster with my teams for over forty years now. Sure there have been times when I second guessed a manager's decision, or became upset with a questionable call by an official and believe me - I have felt the heartache when my team lost the big one.

However - one thing I never do is question decisions regarding the status of injured players.

Any fan who thinks they have the right to say a player wasn't giving their all needs a reality check.

Some of the things I hear spoken by sports fans make me laugh...

"He should play hurt, I go to work sick all the time."

Right, you going to work in an office while you have a head cold is a fair comparison to standing on a field trying to throw an accurate pass while 275 pound men try to dismember you. (By the way, for all of you math whizzes out there, it may sound good to say they should give 110%, but according to the universal laws of mathematics and physics...it just ain't possible.)

"Those guys get paid millions of dollars to play, they should play."

Brilliant. Who wouldn't risk ending a career worth millions of dollars just so a beer drinking construction worker in a Lazy Boy would respect him? To make matters worse, if the player does go back onto the field and compounds his injury even more - who will complain the loudest when his team is missing one of their star players next season due to said injury? You got - the guy wearing the hard hat with his team's logo on it.

"He wasn't hurt as bad as he said he was."

This one really kills me. I can't even imagine being stupid enough to say this. Professional athletes work almost their entire lives to achieve one goal...to be the number one. To be a champion. To reach that point where they can say "I am the best." So it only stands to reason that when one of these players is so close to that point he can practically touch it, he should fake an injury and remove himself from contention. Who wouldn't do that?

It seems that the only way a player can get any respect for being injured is if they have to carry him off the field on a stretcher or if he is hurt so badly he can never play again.

Talk about short-sighted.

When a professional athlete steps onto the field at anything less than 100% he not only risks losing the game of the day, he risks further injury, thus reducing his teams chances to win in the future.

I love being a sports fan.

I love watching my teams win and yes, I feel that since at least part of their salaries are paid by my money, they owe it to me to give 100% every time they take the field.

But I have learned over the years to trust the decisions they make on and off the field to be in the best interest of not only winning today, but tomorrow, next Sunday and next season.

I owe that to them.