watersider
Well-known member
I think comparisons between these two athletes are interesting because both suffered hip injuries that have had a huge impact on their careers. Bo’s hip injury basically ended his career, and Lawrence hasn’t been the same since injuring his hip. For those of you too young to remember Bo Jackson here is a brief overview with highlights:
Jackson was one of the greatest athletes of American sport. He was an all-star in both Baseball and NFL and was recently voted by ESPN as the greatest ever athlete (March 2013).
some incredible Jackson baseball fielding highlights:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WXf3dmUYsE
highlights of his Nfl career (a bit long but you’ll get the point):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0GCixb2QjI
and some big homeruns and general praise:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHEdsonq6bI
But his career would never be the same after suffering a hip injury. Here is a description of the injury from Wikipedia:
‘During the divisional round of the 1990 NFL playoffs in January 1991, Jackson was tackled by Kevin Walker of the Cincinnati Bengals, causing a serious hip injury that ended Jackson's football career and seriously threatened his baseball career. After Jackson was tackled and lying in pain on the ground, he allegedly popped his hip back into place. In an interview on Untold, his Royals teammate George Brett, who attended the game, said he asked the trainer what had happened to Bo. The trainer replied: "Bo says he felt his hip come out of the socket, so he popped it back in, but that's just impossible, no one's that strong."[22]
Following surgery and rehabilitation on his injured hip, it was discovered that Jackson had avascular necrosis, as a result of decreased blood supply to the head of his left femur. This caused deterioration of the femoral head, ultimately requiring that the hip be replaced. Amazingly, Jackson was able to return to baseball toward the end of the 1991 season as a member of the White Sox after the Royals had released him. Jackson missed the entire 1992 baseball season. When he announced soon after his surgery that he would play baseball again, many thought that goal to be unrealistic, especially at the Major League level.[22]
Before returning to baseball, Jackson tried his luck in basketball; he played briefly for a semi-pro team in Los Angeles before quietly retiring to focus on baseball.
Jackson was able to return to the Chicago White Sox in 1993, and in his first at-bat, against the New York Yankees, he homered on his first swing.[23] The next day Nike ran a full-page ad in USA Today; it simply read "Bo Knew." He would hit 16 home runs and 45 RBIs that season, helping lead the White Sox to the American League West Division crown. Jackson was honored with the Tony Conigliaro Award.
Yet while his power remained, he no longer possessed his blazing speed. During his time with the White Sox, Jackson had no stolen bases, although he did play in his only career postseason games. For the 1994 season, he was signed as a free agent by the California Angels for one final season, where he hit another 13 home runs in 201 at bats, before retiring during the strike.’
I couldn’t find a better highlight of this but the injury occurs at 4:45 on this highlight video. It looks the same as Lawrence’s injury:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jENazOd2UiI
I think perhaps the hard running style of Lawrence prior to injury has perhaps been permanently lost in the same way that Bo ‘knows’ Jackson was never able to recover from his injury. It obviously is a very complicated and problematic injury.
Jackson was one of the greatest athletes of American sport. He was an all-star in both Baseball and NFL and was recently voted by ESPN as the greatest ever athlete (March 2013).
some incredible Jackson baseball fielding highlights:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WXf3dmUYsE
highlights of his Nfl career (a bit long but you’ll get the point):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0GCixb2QjI
and some big homeruns and general praise:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHEdsonq6bI
But his career would never be the same after suffering a hip injury. Here is a description of the injury from Wikipedia:
‘During the divisional round of the 1990 NFL playoffs in January 1991, Jackson was tackled by Kevin Walker of the Cincinnati Bengals, causing a serious hip injury that ended Jackson's football career and seriously threatened his baseball career. After Jackson was tackled and lying in pain on the ground, he allegedly popped his hip back into place. In an interview on Untold, his Royals teammate George Brett, who attended the game, said he asked the trainer what had happened to Bo. The trainer replied: "Bo says he felt his hip come out of the socket, so he popped it back in, but that's just impossible, no one's that strong."[22]
Following surgery and rehabilitation on his injured hip, it was discovered that Jackson had avascular necrosis, as a result of decreased blood supply to the head of his left femur. This caused deterioration of the femoral head, ultimately requiring that the hip be replaced. Amazingly, Jackson was able to return to baseball toward the end of the 1991 season as a member of the White Sox after the Royals had released him. Jackson missed the entire 1992 baseball season. When he announced soon after his surgery that he would play baseball again, many thought that goal to be unrealistic, especially at the Major League level.[22]
Before returning to baseball, Jackson tried his luck in basketball; he played briefly for a semi-pro team in Los Angeles before quietly retiring to focus on baseball.
Jackson was able to return to the Chicago White Sox in 1993, and in his first at-bat, against the New York Yankees, he homered on his first swing.[23] The next day Nike ran a full-page ad in USA Today; it simply read "Bo Knew." He would hit 16 home runs and 45 RBIs that season, helping lead the White Sox to the American League West Division crown. Jackson was honored with the Tony Conigliaro Award.
Yet while his power remained, he no longer possessed his blazing speed. During his time with the White Sox, Jackson had no stolen bases, although he did play in his only career postseason games. For the 1994 season, he was signed as a free agent by the California Angels for one final season, where he hit another 13 home runs in 201 at bats, before retiring during the strike.’
I couldn’t find a better highlight of this but the injury occurs at 4:45 on this highlight video. It looks the same as Lawrence’s injury:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jENazOd2UiI
I think perhaps the hard running style of Lawrence prior to injury has perhaps been permanently lost in the same way that Bo ‘knows’ Jackson was never able to recover from his injury. It obviously is a very complicated and problematic injury.
