Purple Pennings
Mary Moczula
Issue date: 11/7/08 Section: Sports
Writers block. It hit me pretty hard this week. I spent a great amount of time on my futon watching ESPN and trying to get inspired, but nothing sparked my interest. I started pestering my friends and begging anyone I knew to give me something I could write about that would be informative and entertaining. Finally, one of my friends said, "What about Trevor Wikre, the guy who cut off his pinky?" At first, I was skeptical. Sure, it is an interesting story, but I didn't really know how I would be able to write something that would not sound like the same awe-filled story that sports fans have undoubtedly heard on multiple occasions since Wikre told his doctors to amputate that pinky a few weeks ago. Then, however, I read David Fleming's 30-second column on ESPN.com and, for the first time, heard the story from this perspective:
"At this point, I'm not really sure who's a bigger idiot here: a kid who would actually chop off part of his hand so he wouldn't miss the ultimate, once-in-a-lifetime gridiron challenge of playing against teams like the Colorado School of Mines, or a sports culture so ridiculously lacking in perspective that it would actually glorify and celebrate an act of what is essentially self-mutilation?"
Harsh? Maybe a little bit. True? Well, I won't speak for you, but I can't help but agree with Mr. Fleming on this one. Think about to your years in high school. I am sure you can remember at least one young man or woman who sacrificed their body to injury in order to continue playing their sport of choice. In my tiny, 400 student, all girls high school, I can think of three examples. One girl decided that she would rather have swollen, achy "cankle" for the rest of her life so that she could play every game of her soccer season instead of letting it heal properly first. One girl refused surgery on her shoulder so that she would not miss her senior year of basketball. The last girl pushed off surgery on her back (which she needed because without it, she ran the risk of paralysis) so that she could dance in her last recital before graduating.
"At this point, I'm not really sure who's a bigger idiot here: a kid who would actually chop off part of his hand so he wouldn't miss the ultimate, once-in-a-lifetime gridiron challenge of playing against teams like the Colorado School of Mines, or a sports culture so ridiculously lacking in perspective that it would actually glorify and celebrate an act of what is essentially self-mutilation?"
Harsh? Maybe a little bit. True? Well, I won't speak for you, but I can't help but agree with Mr. Fleming on this one. Think about to your years in high school. I am sure you can remember at least one young man or woman who sacrificed their body to injury in order to continue playing their sport of choice. In my tiny, 400 student, all girls high school, I can think of three examples. One girl decided that she would rather have swollen, achy "cankle" for the rest of her life so that she could play every game of her soccer season instead of letting it heal properly first. One girl refused surgery on her shoulder so that she would not miss her senior year of basketball. The last girl pushed off surgery on her back (which she needed because without it, she ran the risk of paralysis) so that she could dance in her last recital before graduating.
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