-by Kuti

Status check:
Head, no pain.
Neck: 100% range of motion. Pinched nerve still there.
Shoulders: Left side is fine. Right side has a slight throbbing.
Arms: Left side ok. Right side, tingling pain and numbness from pinched nerve.
Wrists: Full rotation. Good. Continued pins and needles.
Hands. Left side, good. Right side, unable to bend middle and ring finger, otherwise ok.
Chest and ribs: Pain in top right rib, prob bruised, not broken.
Back: Lower back pain. Nothing 5 minutes of stretching can’t work out.
Legs: Throbbing pain in left thigh, (The kind that hurts if you try to use the stairs or stand up.) otherwise good.
Ankles, mostly ok, as long as tendons don’t get caught in  the wrong place. (Then it hurts like hell until you can readjust.)
Toes, big nail has turned purple, doesn’t hurt anymore. (Now just need to wait for it to fall off and new one to grow in.)
Safe to get out of bed.

As the great (Future MVP) Singer has stated, once you get things going, the pain kind of goes away. But let’s pause for a moment, you’d think with all the pain that we go through, the injuries and the soreness, we’d just stop. At a certain age you gotta be an adult and make the mature decision to stop putting your body in situations it shouldn’t be in.
We’ve seen what happens to guys that stop playing. They get old. Really really quickly. They have the same pain, and even worse, regret.
Every year there is the famed Vets Rooks game. The question many have is “Am I a Vet yet?” (No one asks, “Can I still be a rook?” except for MK) To be labeled a Jewball Vet is to be accepted into a pantheon of dedicated diehards and derelicts. We know that once you are in the Jewball family, you will never rarely be asked to leave. As this season has shown more than ever, we come together and support each other on and off the field. Once you become a veteran, it means you gave something to the game, something more than a dollar for spray paint. As a matter of fact, I don’t recall money ever being asked for or requested. When something is needed, guys step up and offer.  You give your time, energy and pain. You figure out a way to have your wives, girlfriends, families be ok with you leaving every Sunday morning for 2-3 hours. I know for me, I have given up my right to complain. If I get hurt, don’t bring the pain home. Suck it up and take whatever meds you need to.
Being a vet means teaching the younger generation what it takes to survive. You need to teach the younger generation that we are here to have fun, here to play competitive football, here to bring it every single down. But we also need to be able to go back home and carry on our mundane non-jewball aspects of life. We need to go to work tomorrow, we need to be able to help with our kids, we need to be able to function. So, some of you rooks need to learn how to flag grab, you need to learn that if it’s not a snow game, you DO NOT TACKLE. You want to stop a run, make a play. But if you go in with the intent to take a man down, the vets will not be happy. Not only are you hurting a player, you are hurting the game. Next, if you get hurt on a play, you take a minute, collect yourself and get back in there. Now, I’m not saying if you get seriously injured, like a ruptured tendon of dislocated patella. Yes, if that happens, sit the hell down. And stay out until you’re healed up.
Watching the video recaps yesterday, the most common thing heard was Jordan yelling “Go down!” “He’s Down” “Get down!” Why would he keep yelling that? I don’t know if he even realized he was doing it. I‘d like to offer a suggestion. Commish has been playing this game longer than 98% of the guys to have ever played Jewball. He has seen the beginning, the middle, the dark and current. He also sees the future. I’d venture to say that the average age of the VETS this season is significantly higher than ever before. Watching guys play tackle is a beautiful and scary thing. It’s fun to watch but players can get injured at any moment. So when J is standing on the sidelines, he is protecting the past and future of Jewball. He wants, needs to see the vets stay healthy, he needs the rooks to stick around. As he has said many times, you need new, young blood for the game to last.
As I contemplate finally getting out of bed, as painful as it will be, I think to myself. The real question if I am a VET or not is something we should all ask ourselves; “Does Jewball need me or do I need Jewball?