YOU CAN'T SPELL "LAST SECOND DECISION" WITHOUT ACL

by Orson on Aug 28, 2008 12:58 PM EDT

Sometimes physiology makes the decisions for you. For instance, we realized early on in life that, being born with the physique of a jaundiced infant who stumbled into the liquor cabinet early and often, we were never going to make it in professional sports, or college, or really even perform well in any form of athletic endeavor. Our body made the decision for us, and the mind kicked in a few extra decision points by acquiring a fondness for liquor, video games, and long hours spent searching Youtube for football clips. Sometimes things just flow in magical congress like that. Thanks, human body!

Physiology and its unique quirks also helped Mike Bellotti simplify his quarterbacks decision: Nate Costa's body vetoed any competition for the starting job by not only developing a pesky torn meniscus in his left knee, but by throwing in a tear of the anterior cruciate ligament for free. Surgeons and mechanics know the same tricks, except that when doctors find "something else while they were under the hood," you lose another season--your second in a row--to a knee injury.*

Justin Roper, the "less athletic" of the two quarterbacks (i.e. not a runner) will start against Washington. Ty Willingham has no comment.

*Or they tell you you have inoperable cancer. Either way it sucks.

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In Willingham’s defense, it is tough to comment when your scramble partner is standing over a four-foot putt.

/obligatory

by GamecockTony on Aug 28, 2008 1:13 PM EDT reply actions

I wouldn’t call it a stirring tribute, but Costa does give a nice nod in the direction of Dennis Dixon with this injury.

by spartymike on Aug 28, 2008 1:20 PM EDT reply actions

Where’d you get the picture of my older daughter’s first birthday?

(We learned from our mistakes and gave the younger one her birthday beer in a sippy cup to avoid spills and thus sinful wastage.)

by DC Trojan on Aug 28, 2008 1:40 PM EDT reply actions

I love that picture.

That little girl will be doing a keg stand at an SEC or Pac-10 school in 17 years or so.

by Signal to Noise on Aug 28, 2008 2:04 PM EDT reply actions

as someone who just had an acl reconstruction 6 weeks ago, im having difficulty discerning how the doctors didn’t know there was an acl tear in addition to the meniscus tear. did he not have an mri done? did they not perform a lachman or pivot shift test? was there no swelling/bloody fluid? was it just a partial tear that they decided to fix while they were in there? if so, they would have had to fully rupture the acl before putting in a new one… more info please

by ryan on Aug 28, 2008 2:09 PM EDT reply actions

In response to the growing concern, Phil Knight has donated 160 artificial ACLs to replace every Duck players’ existing ligament before the Washington game Saturday.

by Innocent Bystander on Aug 28, 2008 2:43 PM EDT reply actions

I’ve got more info for you. Doctors knew it was blown a week ago, Oregon just didn’t release the info. They think he got a bad cadaver ligament in the last replacement surgery.

by jensen on Aug 28, 2008 7:25 PM EDT reply actions

I noticed that you mentioned Ty Willingham, but didn’t also allude to what a great role model he is, and that, if he gets fired it is just wrong. You must be as racist as ND.

by jerry on Aug 29, 2008 8:39 AM EDT reply actions