Paul Pierce – Future Pro Soccer player?
I know this is a bit late but I’m sitting here at work and watching a soccer game. I’m not a big soccer fan because frankly I don’t understand it as well as I should. I think baseball is fascinating because I understand the pitch counts and sequences and strategies and that makes it great to watch for me. Basketball is the same but soccer I find boring and I blame it on my lack of understanding and not the fact that nobody scores. But that’s not what this is about.
I just watched a guy get bumped by another player and go down like he’d been shot. He laid on the ground writhing in pain and it made me think of Paul Pierce. Pierce went down like his knee was blown out, the trainer was hugging him on the ground trying to console him. He had a look of fear in his face like he thought he was done. The look was strangely familiar with the soccer player I just watched go down. Soon the stretcher came out and took the player off the field. I thought he might die on the way to the hospital only he didn’t die. In fact he was healthy enough to be playing within 5 minutes of his ‘life threatening’ injury. It was a miracle unlike anything I’d seen in the past 5 days. The only other miracle that topped it was Paul Pierce.
Pierce was on the ground clinging to life when half his team carried him off the court and onto a waiting wheelchair. The camera crew followed Pierce and his ‘trainer’ entourage down the tunnel and one guy even tried to shield Pierce from the camera as he grimaced in pain while they pushed him. The last glimpse we had of Pierce was a hand and a towel over his face clutching his ‘horrificly’ injured knee. Then the heavens parted and within 5 minutes, like a Euro soccer player, Pierce came running out of the tunnel. I could actually hear trumpets playing in the background, bagpipes playing from the rafters and angels singing as Pierce reached the floor. Faintly I could hear ‘Eye of the Tiger’ and the Rocky theme song playing in the background. Pierce went on to play the second half of his life in leading the Celtics to victory.
Then it hit me all at once. The best floppers in the league are typically the Euro type of player. Ginobili, Gasol, Kirilenko, Divac (sure he’s retired but he’s the best of all time and deserved mention) are just a few of the great tradition of soccer/basketball players. Pierce can now join the club. In fact, Pierce solidified his spot on the club after faking an eye poke when Kobe’s bicep hit him later in the game and then he was ‘scratched’ by another Laker. It’s amazing the guy can walk let alone play a basketball game.
After watching the USA mens soccer team play they should bring in Pierce and give him a shot. It couldn’t hurt could it…
June 10th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
Your sardonic wit fails. I say this as a basketball fan and not as a Celtic fan. I’m sure you play sports, as do I, and have never had a “scare” with a knee or ankle, right? I think it says a great deal about someone’s character who thinks he is done with a potential season ending injury but it ends up being not as bad as first thought. It wasn’t as if the Celtics needed a miracle to win game 1. It was a close game throughout. It just seems media types (and I don’t include the armchair bloggers in that category) want it both ways. They want these pro athletes to act more professional and yet when they do something with heart, it’s claimed to be fake. All the more reason why I hate reading sport columns because everyone wants to take shots instead of being honest with themselves. The reality is that sports writers are on the same level as entertainment reporters. Unfortunately, Britney’s team is all filled up at the moment.
June 11th, 2008 at 11:26 pm
I highly disagree with you on a number of points.
1) Soccer CAN be more physical than basketball, and is most of the time. I’ll debate that all day.
2) Yes, soccer has its problems with divers, but aren’t floppers just as worse?
3)
Assumption: Paul Peirce was not injured, and that he milked that injury for all he could to make a ‘dramatic’ comeback and inspire the team.
Reality: Peirce probably did sustain a semi-serious injury. I do not question his pain after the injury, as it looked quite bad from a spectator’s POV. What you’re failing to account for is that 5 minutes he spent in the locker room. No, he didn’t muster up the strength to play through it valiantly. It’s called cortizone. That happens all the time. I’ve seen it first hand. Players get a decent injury, get carried off to the locker room in a stretcher, and come running back out feeling better than they did before the game. I highly doubt Peirce was trying to make the injury look worse than it was. A little steroids always does the trick.
June 12th, 2008 at 4:19 pm
Ok. I can admit that I agree with both of you on a couple points also. But I can’t agree that soccer is more physical than basketball. Not even close. Espn the magazine just threw some figures together about the most physical sports based on reported injuried and basketball was easily tops by over 10-1 over soccer. Soccer has it’s moments but running up the field and occasionally bumping someone isn’t what basketball is as far as physical and the size and strength of those playing. We can argue that one all day.
I never said PIERCE wasn’t really hurt and I probably should’ve mentioned that. I believe he sustained a real injury but the whole wheelchair thing was ridiculous. I’ve seen cortisone and the miracles in provides but anyone who studies it knows that Cortisone isn’t immediate at all with its powers.
And JOE, i’ve had knee injury after knee injury and I know how scary it can be. I’ve thought I blew mine out more than once and I sure wasn’t playing again within 5 minutes of the injury.
Pierce obviously suffered a real injury and I want Pierce to be 100% so the Celts can win the whole thing.