So Who’s to Blame for the Beckham Injury Cockup?

By: Laurie | August 14th, 2007

A couple of things I’ve noticed in my life about pain and injuries. First off, pain is very much affected by mental state. When your adrenaline’s pumping? What pain? I am SO not injured!

Second thing: When you reach a certain age, old injuries never really heal. They just kind of hang around in the shadows of your life, waiting for you to perform the action that will invite them back to the party. So when you feel a twinge, you think: Oh, right. That was the tendinitis from 2003. Or, yes, that’s my 2005 ankle sprain making itself known again. Or, Oh, damn. There’s a new one, ready to join the rest of the longterm injury gang!

Yes, I do have a point here that is not about lamenting the aging process. And my point relates to this Frank Yallop quote from a few days ago:

‘The ultimate decision will come down to David,’ Yallop said last night. ‘We’ll see how he is tomorrow. I’m not going to put him out there to re-injure it. We’ll put him out there when he is fit and ready to go. He’s getting close. We won’t force it. He knows his own body and he’ll let us know if he is ready to go.’

And then we have this quote from today’s Grahame Jones LA Times article, which, if you’re interested in the injury, you really need to read:

After Beckham sat out five of his first six Galaxy games, one team official said that he might have “to take one for the team” and get on the field despite the injury. Beckham then played 21 minutes against D.C. United in Washington on Thursday. The ankle again “flared up” after that game and Beckham stayed on the bench Sunday.

So let’s look at the history. Beckham, a fiercely driven and competitive player, is injured for England. He continues to play for Madrid and really gets injured. Then the pressure builds for him to be better before Chelsea, and guess what? He’s playing against Chelsea. Then he’s reinjured and out for a couple more weeks.

Then ESPN shows up, and there’s pressure, and… He’s better! He’s playing against DC!

And then… Oh. Damn. He’s reinjured. But he might play in…SuperLiga? The RBNY game? The next nationally televised game?

Note to the Galaxy. A player with ENORMOUS pressure to be a savior is NOT the best judge of whether or not he’s injured!! Neither is the coach, for that matter, or a “team official” with a vested interest in seeing the player on the field. The best judge should be an objective doctor, who should have the ability to say: Don’t play! Don’t travel! You’ll get reinjured and make it worse!

So, after multiple reinjuries, why is this not happening?

(Although, P.S. I’d still really, really like to see Becks in SuperLiga tomorrow. Aren’t we people funny?)

Some Related Galaxy Posts:

Category: Player News

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Diane

Re the other thing on justjack's mind: don't worry about the boys at the other end performing instantly. Frank Lampard has been on the other end endlessly without finishing and Becks always has a nice word to say in his defense. He's been doing this a long time, he's worked with young and inexperienced players, nervous players, and players in slumps (and been all of those himself). He'll just keep practicing with...whoever...until they can connect, that's pretty much his answer to anything anyway!
justjack

Well said and said in the best possible manner. This is definitely a doc's decision to make not the pressured player or an invested manager. This is classic American boss behavior messing up the show. I admit I lusted those minutes of the DC match. But then another thing came to mind, when he is fit (if everyone lets him get fit), will he eventually get frustrated dishing up gorgeous service with no one on the other end? (I think Buddle & Pavon will step up to it, but what if they don't, or Gordon and the other hacks are put up there instead...) Back to the injury... I know at 30 I could recover easier than what I cannot at 40. And I know the pressure of everyone telling you, you've gotta show up, do this, be this... meanwhile your body is telling you, uh-uh, no. No matter how pissy people get you've gotta say no until your bod says, okay lets rock. He's younger than I and certainly more fit, but he's no John Terry who can recover from a blown disc in three weeks. And I too wish for Wednesday... but frankly it's not being broadcast locally or nationally (and tix for HDC are way outta my league now) and as much as I'd love to see him play and focus the side, I never want to see injuries ruin a career. Stay home, Becks. Put the foot up and chill out.
Diane

I still think its a tic that forces Yallop and Lalas to say "it will be a game-time decision" and "with a day of rest he might be ok" for 48 hours before every match. I personally am bored to death (ah, now there's a medical diagnosis!).

If they can't say "Beckham has a second degree (I vote third degree because of the swelling--mom's can do this) sprain with [fill in # of] torn ligaments and is being treated at [pick someplace that doesn't involve flying or a Galaxy subs bench]", I wish they would just not say anything and issue a squad list the day before or morning of each match, like a normal team.
mag

This thing never happens in Europe if you are injured you stay at home and train on your own alone.
Very very odd situation