What a Rip

Thursday night college football in Tucson, Arizona. Number 2 Oregon and the under .500 Arizona Wildcats on national TV. Four other number 2 teams had fallen to unranked teams already this year, and yes, it happened again. In the first quarter, after already scoring a touchdown and looking very impressive, Dennis Dixon tried to make a hard cut and crumpled on the turf. Game over, season over, national championship hopes. over. MRI shows torn ACL. Dixon is done for the year, and probably the Ducks too. It was good run! My heart and prayers go out to Dennis. It takes awhile to get over that kind of disappointment.

I have a nice zipper on my right knee thanx to a torn ACL. My story is a bit less dramatic! Sure, I was a football star in Jr, High :-) and a track star in high school too. Unfortunately, I didn’t stay in shape much past my early 20′s. So, when I was approaching 40 and playing basketball with my friends at work, it probably was predictable what would happen! When I was a teen, I had ups! At 5’4″ I could leap to near the rim. I was quick too. (just ask me, I’ll tell you) I used to lay back until they passed to my guy, and then steal it. This would continue until the other team figured out that I was pretty much gonna steal it every time they passed it to my guy, so they would stop :-)

Fast forward to my Saturday game with my friends, most 10 or more years younger than I was. I could still steal the ball, although not every time. As for ups, well. no. Too chubby! It’s amazing how hard it is to get an extra 30 pounds off the ground. It led to my downfall. I had the ball, and was driving to the basket at the free throw line. I jumped too high and finger rolled the ball in the bucket. Yes, I scored, but when I landed, my knee rocked. I knew immediately, my day was done. “See you guys later!” I was outta there. It was a Saturday, but I had to go into work. About an hour after my injury, I was hobbling around the newsroom and my knee was seriously swollen.

Did I see a doctor? Of course not! That’s why God gives men wives, to tell them to go to the doctor. I had no wife and little sense. I toughed it out and eventually, my knee felt better. Since I wasn’t that physically active, I was able to do just fine for a couple of years. However, it still would bug me. I noticed my knee was “loose.” My phone would ring and I’d feel my leg flopping around as I jogged down the hall to answer it, for example.

FINALLY, two years later I got the MRI. Torn meniscus and possible torn ACL. Doc went in with the scope to fix the meniscus and check the ACL. If it was indeed torn, they’d open up my knee and finish the job. Yeah. I have a zipper on my knee. It’s much better now! I can run, but since I’m still chubby, I don’t do much jumping :-) My knee will pop now and then, so it’s not 100%, maybe 90. I’ll take it.

The scar looks pretty cool too!