Monday, January 14, 2013

Gronk

Is Gronk's injury problem (he missed a full year in college) the result of his intensity, which makes him great?  Is this an example of a strength and weakness being intertwined?

And are we going to have him injured in the playoffs every year as a result?

2 comments:

Ben Wyman said...

We're talking about someone who had an ankle injury last year, received in a normal fashion, and then someone who sustained a broken arm this year during a standard blocking play. He re-broke the arm by landing on it - the surgeons had put a steel plate on the bone, and plates like that will "funnel" tension to the end of the plate, which is where the new break occurred.

In other words, his injury problems have nothing to do with his intensity. They're just injuries. It seems like there should be a narrative here. There is none.

Assistant Village Idiot said...

Well, there is a narrative, but it may just be "football is a collision sport, steroids push muscles beyond the strength of bones, and after that it's just law of averages."

My secret aim was to be first on the scene if it turns out that Gronkowski keeps getting injured. You can't really say bones are brittle if they are just short of the insane requirements pro football puts on them.* But he gets injured. It may be just luck o' the draw. But if 3 of 9 career injuries are extras because of his style, that counts, even if it's not 9 of 9.

*Just like you can't say Peyton Manning or Matt Schaub play badly in the playoffs just because they are 2 passes short of great. It just feels that way. And it's fun to say, when you are a loser calling into sports radio yourself.