Now that it’s a definite that I need to have knee surgery, albeit a likely minor arthroscopic procedure, I have to figure out exactly when.\u00a0 I’m putting it off as best I can but for the wrong reasons.\u00a0 I play on several sports teams and on a couple, I’m kind of in a principal position and need to be there.\u00a0 Here’s a breakdown:<\/p>\n
1)\u00a0 I’ve been on a two-hand-touch, co-ed football team called Sacks In The City for something like a dozen seasons or more (we play two seasons a year in Spring and Autumn).\u00a0 For a while, we were dominant with 7 championships including a four-peat and a couple of 23 game unbeaten streaks.\u00a0 We’ve never missed the playoffs but in recent years, haven’t been able to win another title.\u00a0 This year looks very good for us though.<\/p>\n
With my friend John (our QB), I’m a holdover from the original squad.\u00a0 We are likely the oldest team in the league in terms of average age, but we are still very effective.\u00a0 I have had my great moments and not so great moments in this and past seasons, but with so many talented players, it’s not a big deal for me to miss games.<\/p>\n
2)\u00a0 Last Fall and again this season, I also played on a different two-hand-touch, co-ed football league but this features less players on the field, includes blocking, and plays on a true grass field in Central Park.\u00a0 It is tremendous fun, mostly because I get to play QB.\u00a0 I’m definitely not a natural in that position from an athletic perspective, but I get the job done decently enough and have good situation-management skills (or so I allow my ego to believe).\u00a0 We have had a great season so far and I believe that we can make it to the playoffs if we continue along this tract.\u00a0 One of our best players recently stepped in for me as QB when I had to miss the first half, and he led us to a big half-time lead, so I suppose I could sit out and the team wouldn’t suffer too much… but my ego would!<\/p>\n
3)\u00a0 In July, my friend Sandie asked if I would play goalkeeper for her soccer team at a game played on Columbia University’s soccer fields.\u00a0 I agreed but I was terrible.\u00a0 Surprisingly, they asked me to play again (they were desperate since they never had a regular goalie on the team), and I played a lot better, so much so that when the new season began for the Fall, I was asked to join the team as a regular.\u00a0 I played goalkeeper throughout high school and college, so it was a no-brainer.\u00a0 It’s also co-ed but has a fair amount of competitiveness to it.\u00a0 We’ve managed to really come together as a team and now boast an undefeated record (including one tie).\u00a0 Another win this week likely puts us in strong playoff contention.<\/p>\n
4)\u00a0 For several seasons, a bunch of friends have played in a co-ed softball league under the banner Sofa Kings (say it with a different cadence and an adjective to get the full effect).\u00a0 I’ve been interested in joining the team for some time, but have only gotten spot appearances here and there when they need bodies on the field.\u00a0 I have to admit; I LOVE playing with these friends and enjoy every minute of it, but for now, I remain a reserve until or unless one of their regulars decides that scheduling remains problematic and drops from the team.<\/p>\n
So, with all of this, I’ve decided to wait until mid-November.\u00a0 I wear this special hinged knee-brace with straps and all; it’s a relic from two years ago following the arthroscopy I had performed then.\u00a0 It limits and practically eliminates all lateral movement which is my biggest threat.\u00a0 In all cases, I limit my participation intensity to something like 75% of normal and I’m paying acute attention to the effect of every small tweak and twist.\u00a0 This past weekend, I actually ran fairly hard and felt no pain, had no scares, and managed my situation well.\u00a0 Ultimately, I’m playing with borrowed time in the face of a condition that, while requisite of a surgical procedure, is not terribly serious.\u00a0 I’m not taking this for granted though and have right-mindedly decided to call it quits at the first sign of danger.\u00a0 I’m not getting paid for this stuff.<\/p>\n
I’m somewhat wondering why I’m even posting this, but it might partly be to respond to the growing chorus of concern.\u00a0 The general structure of the knee remains intact and strong.\u00a0 It is not painful at all, just stiff.\u00a0 With the knee brace, I’m forced to play at a diminished intensity which is good.\u00a0 I’m well-aware of my mortality and I’m remaining alert to the signs of joint degradation.\u00a0 So, to all the nay-sayers out there, I say, you’re right… and in the event of something catastrophic, just save the “I told you so” stingers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Now that it’s a definite that I need to have knee surgery, albeit a likely minor arthroscopic procedure, I have to figure out exactly when.\u00a0 I’m putting it off as best I can but for the wrong reasons.\u00a0 I play on several sports teams and on a couple, I’m kind of in a principal position […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-training"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gregghgordon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gregghgordon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gregghgordon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gregghgordon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gregghgordon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=221"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.gregghgordon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":223,"href":"https:\/\/www.gregghgordon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221\/revisions\/223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gregghgordon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gregghgordon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gregghgordon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}