" It Can Happen Any Day"

I brought the subject up once, and that's the subject of injuries,it came up in the post about handling the pressure. It talked more about faking injuries or hoping in my subconscious to get injured so I won't have to deal with the pressure that certain games and events bring up, pressure that isn't easy to deal with.

Unfortunately, there are the real injuries, something no one thinks about to much, until it happens. We as athletes are supposed to be the healthiest ones around, since we work out so much and practice all day and every day, but professional sports can be hazard's to anyone's health.

On the pro level it stops being a sport that we do for fun and it becomes work, and usually players are over worked and over practiced and they hurt their body.

When a player gets injured it's the most helpless feeling in the world, you can't do what you love but also you can't do your job, you can eventually lose your contract and salary and the option to play later on in your career.

I have seen players that tore a ligament, tore their ACL, broke several bones and other harsh injuries that can kill dreams, hopes and careers in seconds and all of this with a quick and wrong turn, fall or just bad luck.

We sometimes get so motivated and so pumped with adrenaline that we don't notice we are hurt or that we need to rest or to take it easy, cause we just want to go on and practice and play and be a part of what's going on, reading about or seeing someone get injured always brings it back to my mind and also to others, that things can end very quickly and very painfully, without us having a chance to change it or control it.

Sports is a short enough career anyway, and when it can end in the middle of it's prime, from something that took exactly 5 seconds it's scary and sometimes hard to accept. Even though we are all sure we aren't the one's who will be injured, it's not really up to us and lady luck, or in my case manly luck :) can blink it's eye for a second and it will all be over.

In more gay related subjects, it was interesting to hear and read the article in dime magazine : http://dimemag.com/2010/03/secret-life-of-the-gay-american-basketball-player/

I really believe that the gay subject in sport's is developing and getting more intention with everyday going by, I can't say what the outcome will be, but I'm sure that their are some journalists who would love to interview a gay pro player and put it out there and see what the reactions will be.

As I said before, I don't believe that such a player will come forward and do it, but maybe I will be surprised. Maybe things are changing faster than I thought they would or maybe it's just a temporary thing.

I also have been reading about teams that have promotional nights for the gay community, I wonder if it's out of a real wish and desire to appeal to other major crowds out there, or is it just in order to sell tickets and avoid empty seats.

In general I have to say that things are pretty much the same, I have been a good boy for so long that I'm about to go crazy, but besides that, well, guess there isn't much besides that....

This song is just a general thought :

I'm tired of being what you want me to be
Feeling so faithless lost under the surface
Don't know what you're expecting of me
Put under the pressure of walking in your shoes
(Caught in the undertow just caught in the undertow)
Every step that I take is another mistake to you
(Caught in the undertow just caught in the undertow)

Handling The Pressure

Hey Everyone.

Hope all is well with everyone and you are enjoying the winter where ever you are, After seeing a part of the all star game in the weekend I got my idea for my next blog.

A all star game is in same ways a dream of a pro player, not in the sense that you get picked to play in it because that's a given, but in the sense that you don't fell almost any pressure.

There aren't too many things on the line in a game like that, you go out and get the chance to have fun and not worry too much what happens, and if you win or lose.

In the years I have been around I have seen many players manage their pressure in different ways, I can only speak for myself but I feel pressure and nervous every game.

In a way I think that it always reminds me that I care about what I do, about my team and about the game.At the same time I have to admit that there are and were times where the pressure is almost too much.

I don't mean that I can't play or can't handle it, but just that during times of pressure thoughts that I don't really want pop up to my head,even though it happens during the days before the game.

I have had those thoughts of a injury, not even faking one, but hoping to get injured and cheering from the sidelines.If that happens no one could blame me, and everyone will remember the big contribution that I gave the team.

That way I could come to the game clean and quite, not been nervous, not waiting for the jump ball and not worrying how I will play, but just sit down and see others running up and down.

I'm sure that if you sit with a lot of players in a open and real conversation a lot of them will tell you about the struggles that they had at some point of their playing career.

I know that no one can see the pressure one me, or no one thinks that I'm nervous before a game or that I have those thoughts, cause I keep cool and can "act" the part.

I try to show everyone that I'm doing fine and feeling fine, so I can just think that a lot of different players have those kinds of thoughts. When I just started playing pro, it was harder, I was much more nervous, but with the experience I'm getting I feel less nervous then I used to.

I think that a lot of times when we see a player performing we can't be sure if the reason for a bad performance is pressure or not. Sometimes players look like they don't really care and they are just there to get it over with.

It's something that drives fans crazy, but I guess that the pressure can make your freeze on the court,field or what ever you are a part of and make you look nonchalant.

There are cases when you see players try so hard, that it becomes over trying.I think that's also because they feel pressure to be great, to be the number one talent and so on.

I think that in my case the pressure is first of all because of what I expect from myself, and my need to play good and succeed every game.

Again, just like many pro's, but maybe worrying about not playing well, or thinking that I won't play well is what gets me nervous. I can't really put a finger on it, and also I don't talk about it with other players, so I don't know what they really fell.

If I try to connect it with been gay, it might have something to do with it. Maybe wanting to be better or to prove myself more to "fit in". it's just something I threw up to the air, since it's not something I can really point to as I said before.

I can honestly say that luckily I'm almost never injured and even if I do get injured I almost do anything possible to play. So I can only guess that what I sometimes think just stays as something on my mind and not something that really happens.

When it comes down to it, when I'm on the court I usually feel on top of the world, there is nothing greater than been on the court in the money time.

When the game is close and everything is on the line, the pressure is out there and I can feel it,but in those moments I wouldn't change it for anything and been injured or sitting out just sounds crazy to me.