Playing Hurt: Treating and Evaluating the Warriors of the NFL
by Pierce E. Scranton Jr., M.D.
Overview
From the Publisher
Playing Hurt includes interviews with former NFL players such as All-Pro running back Curt Warner, who describe what it is like to persevere through a physically punishing NFL season and to battle catastrophic injuries. Scranton also talks about the highs and lows of being associated with the Seahawks and working with NFL greats Chuck Knox, Steve Largent, and Tom Flores and the always controversial Brian "The Boz" Bosworth.
My thoughts
I love this book!!! It is chock full of information!! When I picked it up I thought I'd be reading about sports injuries, and indeed I am. But there is SO much more to the book than just injuries. We get the scoop on the combines, the draft, the salary cap, and the sidelines. There are interviews with players, personal stories from the locker room, and analysis on the game, the league, the owners, the coaches and the players.
Anyone who knows me knows I have a deep interest in the history of the Seahawks. For that reason I loved the author's take the ownership of the club in the Nordstrom days, the Behring era, and the lead-in to the current ownership of Paul Allen. I'm impressed that he treats the Behring ownership with respect while pointing out the lack of leadership. It speaks highly of the author that he analyzed the situation in a manner I feel is very fair.
The other thing I like is that it's clear that the author loved his job and loved the Seahawks. He saw a lot of changes throughout his tenure as the team physician but he didn't leave with a grudge. My guess is that on Sundays, he's still keeping and eye on the Green and Blue.
Favorite Passage
My favorite passages probably aren't those that are related to specific medical information but since the book is titled Playing Hurt, I thought I'd give you a sample of the writing that does involve medical issues. This is an excerpt of the author's interview of John Yarno.
"Well, you know, Doc, this was back in 1978. They cut back then. It wasn't like the arthroscopic surgery of today. (Yarno grins.) None of that sissy surgery! They opened it on both sides, so I had these two incisions about eight inches to a foot long. The anterior cruciate ligament was torn off the bone, so they drilled into the bone and screwed it back. I guess that was good, because at that time they didn't have to reconstruct it, and the attempts weren't working out so well back then. The medial collateral ligament was ripped in half, and they sutured it back together. I wound up in a cast all the way up to my hip for six or eight weeks, totally immobilized. They didn't even have hinge casts back then. When the cast came off, my leg looked like a noodle. I mean, it was totally atrophied. My knee joint was actually bigger than the muscles, and it looked awful. The first thing I remember was I had to get my motion back."
