Monday, October 17, 2005
Tedy Ballgame
After A Tough Start To The Season, The Patriots Are In Need Of A Cool Bruschi Comeback
Patriots Hub-Bub 10-15-05
It isn't for anyone besides Bruschi and his family to determine what is in their best interest, weighing the risks and benefits of each scenario. Those that make moral judgements on his apparent decision to play this year are flat out in the wrong. It is simply a personal decision with many personal factors. For a guy like Bruschi, who has overachieved relative to his god given ability by using intelligence and hard work, it must be very difficult to have all he has worked for snatched away in an instant. If he is able to play with a risk level that he and his family can live with, that is better than watching the man fade away knowing that he could still be on the field pursuing his dream. Many of us make a decision to take physical risk in our daily lives; Football players knowingly take years off their lives just by playing the game. Sitting out over a small risk would surely kill him faster than any physical risk from playing football.
The good news, according to "insiders", is that he had 2 congenital holes in his heart repaired with a stent procedure and has recovered completely from a very mild stroke. He is no longer taking anticoagulants or any other medication related to the stroke. Sitting out the rest of the season will not give him any health advantage, and there is little to no increased risk of another stroke from playing football versus standing on the sidelines. He does have an increased risk of having another stroke relative to the rest of the population simply because his body has already shown that it is susceptible to such an event, but his risk is less than it was prior to the heart procedure.
Hub Update: 10-17-05
Welcome back Tedy...Best of luck to you and your family.
It isn't for anyone besides Bruschi and his family to determine what is in their best interest, weighing the risks and benefits of each scenario. Those that make moral judgements on his apparent decision to play this year are flat out in the wrong. It is simply a personal decision with many personal factors. For a guy like Bruschi, who has overachieved relative to his god given ability by using intelligence and hard work, it must be very difficult to have all he has worked for snatched away in an instant. If he is able to play with a risk level that he and his family can live with, that is better than watching the man fade away knowing that he could still be on the field pursuing his dream. Many of us make a decision to take physical risk in our daily lives; Football players knowingly take years off their lives just by playing the game. Sitting out over a small risk would surely kill him faster than any physical risk from playing football.
The good news, according to "insiders", is that he had 2 congenital holes in his heart repaired with a stent procedure and has recovered completely from a very mild stroke. He is no longer taking anticoagulants or any other medication related to the stroke. Sitting out the rest of the season will not give him any health advantage, and there is little to no increased risk of another stroke from playing football versus standing on the sidelines. He does have an increased risk of having another stroke relative to the rest of the population simply because his body has already shown that it is susceptible to such an event, but his risk is less than it was prior to the heart procedure.
Hub Update: 10-17-05
Welcome back Tedy...Best of luck to you and your family.
