A half-fast solution

Gee, what a surprise: Efx2blogs is down again.

Join the club. Guess who else went down over the weekend.

No, I don't mean Tom Brady or anyone else in the NFL, quarterback or non-quarterback, "skilled" position or unskilled. Or any major league baseball pitcher--a number of them have arm injuries now.

Whom do I mean?

I mean me.

It happened on Friday night, while I was covering a high school football game. We're in the second quarter, our team is leading 14-0, and they had just recovered a fumble by the other team at their own 20. I went to the team's bench, to ask the players along the sidelines who made the recovery.

It's now 3rd and 10, and the quarterback goes back to pass. I get a great picture of his offensive line protecting him as he wings the ball far downfield ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/PassplayA-9-08.jpg[/IMG]

The ball comes down to the pass receiver, who catches it in full flight, past a diving defender ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/PassplayB-8-09.jpg[/IMG]

Hey!!! Get the hell out of my way!!! You wrecked what could have been a great picture!!!

The reaction on the bench told me he is now running downfield, trying to dodge defenders. In a gap between the players standing along the sidelines I catch a glimpse of him cutting back, away from his pursuers. I fired ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/PassplayC-9-08.jpg[/IMG]

Damn! A helmet in the way! I tried to push forward past all the obstacles along the sidelines ... and felt my foot catch on something. It must have been the plastic container used by the water boys when they carry water bottles onto the field during time-outs. Anyway, I was off-balance. I felt my ankle give way. I was falling.

Falling ...

A thousand thoughts raced through my cranium in the next fraction of a second. Most of them had to do with people I know who have fallen and broken stuff. My friend, S, wrecked her knee when she was doing some hot-dog skiing as a kid--she has zippers on two sides of that knee today. Last year, she broke a leg when her dog unexpectedly pulled her off her front porch. The woman at the next desk here in the office broke her leg last year. A dog was involved in that saga, too.

My life passed in front of my eyes, so to speak. Then I was seated on the ground, watching as the pass receiver completed an 80-yard touchdown. The knot of players followed the play, but I stayed on the ground, and my left ankle was hurting. I wanted to stay seated for a while until I could assess one question: How bad is this? OK, I didn't hear a pop. My ankle was hurting, but it wasn't real bad. My leg seemed intact.

After about 30 seconds (as they were running the conversion) I tried getting up. The ankle hurt more when I put weight on it ... but I could put weight on it. I was limping heavily as I started moving around. But we were only three minutes into the second quarter. I still had a lot of game ahead of me, not to mention the postgame walk back to the car and then an hour-long drive home.

I limped around for the rest of the game. During halftime I sat on the bench and called my wife to tell her what happened. It's not that bad, I told her. After the game ended, I walked back to the car for the trip home. An hour later, after keeping it fairly motionless during the trip home, I pulled into my parking spot and started getting out of the car. I could, but that ankle was very stiff now. I ambled along like Frankenstein to the porch, up a few steps and then inside. By the way, the bedroom and computer room here are both on the second floor, up 16 steps.

It hurt just about as much Saturday, but I had to go to the office to write for a while and then left for an all-day volleyball tournament. That involved not only a long walk to the school but also walking back and forth between three different courts where the games were being played. That was most of my Saturday. I got to stay home Saturday night.

Sunday, I had to write in the office in the morning, then went home, then took my wife grocery shopping, then back home. 16 steps upstairs. 16 steps downstairs. Slowly. Slowly. Today, it was back to work and walking around there.

No cast. No crutch. It's not that bad. I'm taking Tylenols to deal with the pain when it gets too rough. For a while Saturday morning, I was worried about a broken bone in my foot--I've been down that road before, about 15 years ago. But no. It feels slightly better than it did Sunday. My foot is swollen, and my left calf is stiff. There are bruises on my ankle. Looks real pretty.

I am walking, but at only about half my normal speed. I usually walk fast. Now I'm just ... I guess I'm just half-fast.

****
Sunday, I got to watch the start of the new NFL season. That's very good news. Know why? It means the start of the new NHL season is just a month away.

This evening, the Green Bay Packers start their new season with a game against the Minnesota Vikings, who are supposed to win their division title this year. I imagine DeeJay is at the game--she usually makes the trip to Green Bay when her Vikings play there. Has a great time with the tailgate parties, etc.

Just for DeeJay, here is a joke I heard a few weeks ago:

Why are the Minnesota Vikings like an Indian car?

Think about it.

Why are the Minnesota Vikings like an Indian car?

Give up?

Q: Why are the Minnesota Vikings like an Indian car?

A: Because neither of them has a title!

(Now, in case you think this is a little bit racially insensitive, let me inform you where I first heard thisjoke: It came from the P.A. announcer during that Indian powwow we attended in early August.)