shoulder the burden
I wouldn't want to be Martin Havlat.
Today he will have to make one of the toughest decisions of his career.
Put yourself in that situation:
You dislocate your shoulder. Badly. There's some tearing in the ligament.
Choice one:
You have surgery. This puts your recovery at four to six months. That means
that your shoo-in spot on the Olympic roster is gone, in a year when the Czech
Republic is pegged to come silver or even gold. It also means that you
*might* not even be recovered in time for the playoffs, in a year where Ottawa
is the best team in the league. And if you ARE recovered in time, history has
shown that your play probably won't be as good as it was before.
Choice two:
You don't have surgery. You let your shoulder heal on its own, and hopefully
you can be ready to play again by a few weeks before the Olympic break. But
how well will you play, when you're constantly conscious that even the tiniest
nudge to that shoulder could put you on the injury list, may aggravate the
serious condition, which would probably mean you'd be injured for the playoffs
and miss them anyway, and eventually require you to have surgery in an attempt to
save your career?
Good luck with that one. Glad it's not me.
Posted by Ally at December 7, 2005 11:04 AM