On Saturday, Rutgers played Army in a football game in which Rutgers won 23-20. Unfortunately during that game an unthinkable, non realizable injury occurred to Eric LeGrand, a Rutgers defensive tackle. With only five minutes left in the game Army's Malcom Brown was returning a kick off when Eric LeGrand made a head down tackle instantly bringing him to the ground. On Sunday while in the intensive care unit the school announced that LeGrand had become paralyzed from the neck down, as he suffered a spinal-cord injury. LeGrand was on the leadership council for the team and was a role model to most players. This is something that will deeply hurt the team, as they lost someone who carried a lot of responsibilities the past two seasons.
This is not the first time a spinal-cord injury has happened to a player in football, although it is rare, there have been several players to get this injury. Think about it, a person's whole life is centered around being active and excelling at a sport and in one second its gone. Its a horrifying thought, but, its also a thought that can help to change someones perspective on life. There has to be more to life than just sport there has to be something to strive for a higher purpose, thats what something like this has done for me. It has opened my eyes to really strive for more, to be understand what life really has to offer, before you know it, it could all change.
I had not heard of this accident, and I am deeply saddened by this news. Sports are a way for many of us to be entertained, and we don't realize most of the time that many of these athletes are potentially putting their lives on the line. Incidents like this sadly remind us of this fact.
ReplyDeleteThis is very sad. However, this is one of the most dangerous sports around and injuries like this can occur. The players know what can happen but they dont expect it until it happens. They risk serious injury for the love of the game.
ReplyDeleteI had not heard about this either. I can't believed that happened. It's always scary to hear that this could happen to a player. No one wants to hear this has happened to a collegiate player.
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