Shane's Drivel

Are drugs hurting young athletes? December 22, 2008

This site is getting way too common.

That’s USM’s DeAndre Brown who tonight had his shin bone broken clean in two. Notice this was a non-contact injury – meaning it didn’t happen from a hit by another player. He jumped. He landed. His shin snaped in two.

The same thing happened to Mississippi State’s Brandon McRae this year. The same happened to Alabama’s Tyrone Prothro a few years ago.

Its also been seen in other sports in recent years.

Professional ‘Wrastlin’s Sid Vicious had his shin snapped when jumping off a turnbuckle onto the wrestling ring’s spring-loaded surface. It also happened to UFC fighter Cory Hill, although his did happen when his shin collided with another fighter’s shin.

The Texas Ranger’s Ruben Mateo broke his femur, the biggest bone in the human body (“thigh bone”), while simply running to first base.

What do all of these snapped-in-two tibias have in common? Not much except that they’ve all happened in recent years.

Rewind to 10 yeras ago. Had you ever heard of this happening before? Didn’t think so. Not in non-contact situations anyway.

Joe Theisman’s famous injury seemed like a once-in-a-generation thing and his came as a result of contact and twisting awkwardly to the ground.

There was nothing awkward about DeAndre Brown’s landing. Or Brandon McRae’s making a right-hand turn untouched on the football field. Or Tyrone Prothro’s landing in the endzone. Or Sid Vicious jumping off a turnbuckle onto a relatively soft spring-loaded surface. Or for heaven’s sake – Ruben Mateo just running to first base.

These should be HIGHLY unusual injuries. Especially when there is no player-on-player collision. But it is happening. Almost once per year now.

You can’t say they don’t make shins like they used to. Every year athletes are in better and better shape. If anything, they should be injured less, especially in non-contact situations.

Could it be these guys have been on performance-enhancing juice that has made the bones and soft tissues more injury-prone? Its a fact that illegal anabolic steroids can do that. But this is the only explanation I can come up with.