As a fan of DRose I was a bit saddened to hear that he was taking time off to evaluate his basketball future, as,selfishly, as I am in no hurry to see Rose’s NBA journey come to a premature conclusion. However I am more a fan of Derrick Rose the man and if that is what he needs to do in order find happiness, I am in total support of it.
As I perused the various sports outlets that covered this topic, what I found particularly disturbing was some of the vile things people had to say about the situation. At the high end of the classless spectrum were those who wished further injury and harm on him and reveled in his sufferings. Reading through some of the filth masquerading as the English language, an unfortunate and reoccurring theme was the dehumanizing terms used to describe Rose. What it shows is how some sports fans do not look at these athletes as people but running and jumping commodities to be cast aside when they are no longer useful.
It is also quite clear that those who made fun of Rose’s injury history have no idea ( I do, having suffered through an ACL and meniscus tear in the same knee) what a person who suffers a serious knee injury goes through. The surgery is the easy part; these armchair quarterbacks cannot fathom the grind that you have to go thorough to get back to regular life activities is to say the least rigorous, attempting to return to the highest level of professional sports is an even tougher road to traverse. Even as grueling as the physical road to recovery can be, it often pales in comparison to the mental obstacles that must be that must be conquered before recovery is truly completed. To go through that grueling process, to finally learn to trust your body again only to have it let you down is crushing; having to climb that hill nearly annually can be devastating.
The game of basketball was cheated by DRose’s time as a top-flight player being cut short. As he was only 23 when the first major injury, he hadn’t even come into yet, so it was likely that Rose’s best basketball was still ahead of him. Championship hopes were dashed for a franchise and a potential rivalry with teams headed by a then headband cladded other worldly baller were both never realized. The basketball greatness that was prematurely snuffed out has unfortunately put DRose in the hall of all-time what-ifs , along with other modern players such as Grant Hill and Penny Hardaway, guys whose prodigious talent, game and production had them firmly on the path to greatness only to have their careers derailed by injuries.
