Thursday, September 13, 2012

Pain

Why I came up with this topic months ago for the Loose Blogger Consortium I'm not really sure.  I wasn't being prescient about Grannymar falling and hurting herself, honest.  At least, I don't think I was.  No, what I had in mind was probably ...

American football is a high impact sport.  You have to willingly give yourself to the sport or you should really get out.  Why?  Because fear or hesitation puts you at a disadvantage that can get you hurt.

Even if you play it well, even if you are a marvelous athlete with strength, speed, balance and good instincts, it will deliver pain your direction.  One of the first lectures I received from a football coach - and this was a good one floating in a sea of inanity to be honest - was on the difference between pain and injury.  The coach told us that this was one of the most valuable lessons to be learned from playing football, the ability to distinguish the difference.  A lot of plays end and the next play begins with you as a player in pain.  Few plays involve significant injury.

Here are some of the things I learned about the two:

1.  Many of the most painful things are not injurious at all.  Like whacking your crazy bone will light you up, it really doesn't incapacitate you for very long.
2.  Some of the most injurious things hurt very little, if at all, at the time of injury.  I broke my arm pretty severely playing ball and it was not painful.  Until they set it.  And through the next week.  Oh, Lordy!
3.  Continuous exposure to pain makes it less noticeable.  As the season goes on, things that would really bother you at another time really don't matter to much.
4.  Those obsessed and blessed, those who have future aspirations and possibilities in the sport, have a different assessment of injury than the rest of us.  I actually heard a sportscaster ask a pro what he considered to be a serious injury and his reply was, "If it takes out a support member."  In other words, if it just hurts like hell, if it doesn't slow you don't or rob you of your strength, it is not serious.  One of our local pros had the bottom joint of one of his fingers amputated rather than being hindered by it and missing the playoffs!
5.  Coaches are much more likely to think it is merely pain than most players are.

Now, these truths actually apply pretty well to emotional pain, too.  In our lives, we have to determine those things which bring us pain but will pass as opposed to those things which will incapacitate us and leave scars.  Many soldiers returning from combat zones are emotionally scarred.  Most teenagers who have broken up with their first true love will recover just fine.  But, the teenager may experience his pain more immediately in some ways than the soldier and that is one of the danger signs.

That, to me, is one of the greatest lessons in life to be gleaned from American football.  I bet shackman knows what I'm talking about.  He was good!

14 comments:

  1. Dang, I would never cut my finger off for the playoffs! lol You've made some good points though. I really see how when I'm busy, I don't notice my aches and pains.

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    1. I shouldn't have put that in, because that finger is getting way too much focus, LOL.

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  2. Men and their balls! No way will you catch me chopping my finger off for any games!

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    1. Thank goodness, considering the self-destructive tendencies you've been demonstrating lately! :-)

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    2. And Grannymar, no man would dream of cutting off his balls. TOF, I am disappointed that you did not take her up on this very sensitive subject.

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    3. You picked up what I missed! That's why guys play team games.

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  3. Once again Grannymar causes my display to be bathed in coffee (Community Dark Roast with real cream if it matters). Our balls indeed. And, funny how when I thought of pain football never entered the room because it was a constant. I too used baseball to discuss it.

    Sports lessons for life are there for the taking. You needn't ask as every coach beats you incessantly about the head and shoulders with them.

    I'll keep my balls, thank you GM. :-)

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    1. GM should take notice, because we are very sensitive about our balls and the games we play with them!

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  4. Were you ever seriously injured during practice or in a game? I hope not, still…

    As someone who was a football fanatic for years, I think every player has his share of pain. Some just handle it better than others.

    Blessings to you, consort ~ Maxi

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    1. I lost my Junior year by getting a complete break of both bones of my lower left arm. It ached each winter for about 5 years, but has not bothered me since.

      Unless you count it hanging slightly askew when I'm relaxed. I ascribe any problem I've ever faced in life to that! :-)

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  5. I wonder did you have moments when you had sustained an injury, but not yet the pain - and looked at it and thought - oh my, that's gonna hurt.
    i think that's probably the ideal time to light up a cigar - Hamlet maybe.

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    1. Yes. That's how it was with my arm. To be honest, I was mostly angry at first because I knew I was decidedly out of commission after running and working out all summer.

      The whole pain realization didn't come home to me until they wheeled me in to set it. And the reality was MUCH worse than the anticipation in this case!

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  6. I can't tell you first hand about pain got from playing football. But want you to know "I'LL BE WATCHING YOU".
    bikehikebabe

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    1. Well, if you are hoping to watch me play football, you are about 44 years too late, LOL

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