The Lemonade Treatment

By: Marc NettlesChicago Bulls guard Derrick Rose has a higher upside than the next Apple release. He also has very fragile knees.Rose, the youngest-ever NBA MVP, sat out practice with what was referred to as “lower body soreness” on February 23rd, according to Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau. The optimistic and faithful Chicago fans shrugged off the news, as The Return 2.0 was starting to really come full-force. Then, a day later, came the unbearable. For the third time. In three years.The former Rookie of the Year had sustained a tear in the medial meniscus in his right knee that would require surgery and most likely end his season. Again. The same injury he had sustained a tiny 15 months prior. Those same optimistic and faithful Chicago fans – at least some of them – turned faster than the revolving doors on the Chrysler building. A poll linked to BleacherReport.com featured columnist, Sean Highkin’s February 25th piece on Rose asked, “Will Derrick Rose ever be elite again?” Of the over 28,000 responses at the time of publication, 63.6-percent answered, “No.”Comment boards linked Rose immediately to names like{{more}}Yao Ming, Brandon Roy and Grant Hill. All draft lottery picks who saw their near etched in stone places in history erased and replaced with “what-ifs.” Some comments on social media – surely made by someone who never made it past YMCA-fame – called Rose “a lemon” or “Mr. Glass.” The most common comparison for Rose is fellow Chicago-native, Anfernee Hardaway. They used to call him those names too.Both were lottery picks. Both were compared to all-time greats, Rose to Allen Iverson for his swift-paced, reckless, get to the rack at all costs style of play and Hardaway to Magic Johnson for his ability to play the point forward with both grace and power. Penny was on the cusp of true elitism with consecutive All-NBA first team selections in 1995 and 1996 before four knee surgeries depleted that grace and power. His explosiveness was then more like a cherry bomb than a full-on, nightly fireworks display. He was never the same again.Other sports have their own unfortunate versions of Hardaway. Numerous. Too many for this page to properly respect. The first names to come to mind once I heard the news on Rose were Gale Sayers and Sandy Koufax. Both retired in their primes due to injury concerns. Both did so by the age of 30. I could even reference Mickey Mantle or Bobby Orr, who both played through such intense pain that one can only begin to imagine how the record books would read if the past were to the contrary. But in the interest of keeping things a little more current, let’s consider the names Terrell Davis and Ken Griffey, Jr.Former Denver Broncos running-back, Terrell Davis, or ‘TD’, as he was so fittingly referred to, brought greatness to a franchise that was always just a bit short. Thirteen of his 60 career rushing touchdowns came in 1996, a team-record at the time. He and quarterback John Elway then went to back-to-back Super Bowls in 1997 and 1998. In the first ‘Big Game’, Davis rumbled for 157 rushing yards and a then-record three rushing touchdowns on his way to Super Bowl MVP. The following season, he topped 2,000 yards and won the NFL’s most valuable player award. Then came 1999, when he destroyed his right knee. In all, TD suffered a torn ACL and MCL in his right knee, arthroscopic surgeries on both knees and a stress reaction in his lower left leg. He was arguably never the same after 1999. Griffey Jr. will still make Cooperstown, but his career was on a blazingly straight path to so very much more. Admittedly, this columnist is a bit biased towards “Junior”, my second-favorite player all-time. Griffey Jr. ended his 22-year career with 630 homeruns and thirteen All-Star selections while playing Gold-Glove caliber defense in one of the game’s marquee positions. Unfortunately, his march to unseat Hank Aaron – before Barry Bonds – as the all-time “Dinger-King” was delayed and delayed and delayed again before being halted completely by the physical burden of twelve disabled-list stints. Among those trips to rehab were a broken wrist, a broken hamate bone and surgeries on his left knee and hamstring. To put a relatable number to his career, he missed a total of 522 games, according to BaseballProspectus.com. That’s almost three and a quarter seasons. During those 22 seasons, he only managed to play more than 140 games nine times. You do the math on what could’ve been.Injury after heart-breaking injury rewrote the destined fairy-tale that was to be these aforementioned careers. Make no mistake about it: to no real fault of their own, except for maybe listening to their passions rather than their bodies. But haven’t we all been guilty of something similar in our own pursuits. I think it’s important to remember that each of these athletes were just big kids playing a game they love so much that they continued to do so until their bodies screamed at them to just stop. Any former athlete remembers having to be dragged away from the batting cage because it had become too dark to see or not caring if it was raining as long as there was a hoop to shoot at. The difference between our childhood memories and theirs, they were great. Once in a generation so great; they never stopped playing. Not until their bodies forced them to submit. They didn’t decide to pursue art or teaching or anything else. They kept dreaming and playing their game. Just like the little kid in all of us likely still wants to do.The worst part is each of these athletes were and are regarded as some of the classiest guys in their respective leagues. It’s not Ty Cobb out there spiking the base-runners that are sliding into second [base]. It’s Derrick Rose not being able to be out there to help guide his team to the playoffs once again in an effort to raise the spirits of the people of the city he’s forever so loyally competed for. Now those still faithful to their beloved Bulls are shaking their heads in disbelief once again. Not nearly as much, however, as one of –supposedly-the nicest guys in the league, who now faces yet another surgery and the daunting task of making yet another return.So keep in mind how torn up you were when your dream of playing center-field at Fenway Park or quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys or yes, even guard for the Chicago Bulls was permanently delayed when you type on your keyboard at your cubicle and call out a professional athlete for being injured…If you never had those dreams, your opinion may never even matter to those that once did and still do… So Derrick…here’s to taking your “lemons,” putting it in a “glass” and making it into lemonade.