As far as I know, every NBA fan has seen the dreadful footage from the LA Clippers - Charlotte Bobcats game this past Tuesday. It started out as normal NBA fast-break play. Clippers PG Shaun Livingston raced down the court with the ball as Bobcats players were chasing him, he went up for a layup and...

I have to admit: I can not tell you what happened exactly after that as I had to look away from the screen, the sight was so scary. All I could see was Livingston planting his left foot as he came down from the layup attempt and his knee started to bend in an unnatural direction. As that bending started I looked away, and the next time I looked at the screen all I could see was Livingston lying on the floor, clearly writhing in agony. Every player, every fan held their collective breath, as it was apparent, from the first moment that this was a serious injury. Everyone watched as the team doctor attempted to pop the knee back into place.

I don’t mind seeing gore in movies, I’m not one to be troubled by scenes that are deemed by most to be disgusting or too scary, but sports injuries are something I can’t stand to watch. Whenever I see someone starting to roll an ankle I flip the channel, looking away from the screen, covering my eyes with a squint and a scream that would make a teenage girl watching a Wes Craven horror movie in full gory dolby surround proud.

Changed the sub-header completely, again to convey the actual point of the piece.


Why is it that TV stations replay the injury over and over again? I could not bear to watch it happen live, let alone in full zooming slow motion, frame-by-frame action. How can these commentators not only watch it, but also give commentary like “Ooh I think this is the moment where his second ligament just snapped”? I probably am unable to watch this as I have suffered too many ankle sprains to even keep count, and if someone knows what that feels like, they cringe every time they see someone suffering a similar injury.

While you see this phenomenon with every single sports broadcast, the worst offending sport by far is tennis. Anyone who watches with some regularity has seen this before: A player attempts to run from one side of the court to the other to reach a ball that is damn near impossible to get, he takes a long deep step to prepare for a miracle shot, and rolls his ankle in the process. Now the live action is pretty graphic, yet we have to bear through another 10-15 replays of the event each time, with my "favourite" replay being a zoomed camera-shot of the foot area as the ankle is being rolled (back and forth and back and forth).

Thankfully this time around there were only two replays to get through, otherwise the broadcast kept showing how they are preparing a stretcher to move Livingston, and the commentary team was sensible enough not to get into gory details of what they saw, only reiterating that by the looks of it, this will be a very serious injury.

Indeed, according to the newest reports Livingston tore the anterior cruciate ligament, posterior cruciate ligament, medial collateral ligament and lateral meniscus in his knee. He also dislocated his patella, and his tibia-femoral. For all those, who are not familiar with these injuries: what this all means, is that he has torn 4 of the 5 ligaments in his knee (tearing one can mean the end of a career, so imagine tearing four).

The latest news has also stated that Livingston will be able to return to the court, but it will be a long rehab taking at the least eight months. The most likely scenario, however, has him rehabbing the knee for the next 12 months. That would mean that the Clippers have not only lost their young talent for the rest of this season, but for the entire following season as well. The doctors estimate that in 12 months he will be able to resume basketball activities, they say nothing about him regaining the same physical abilities he had before. This is such a freak injury, that I could not even find a precedent in basketball. But most players who have suffered a torn ACL (a dreadful injury even on its own) were unable to fully regain their game. With the knee being surgically repaired after such an incident it is common for players to lose speed and athleticism, and we are not even talking about the mental questions that can come up.

One of the biggest mental problems after such a rehab can be overprotection and overcompensation. If you play your normal game, but you are trying to save the formerly injured knee some stress, you will add stress to the other knee, increasing the risk of injury there. Many ex-players have also admitted that following a serious injury, they had to retire simply because they lost their own belief in their invincibility. They started questioning themselves and their body's ability to withstand the stress.

The one mental aspect that follows an injury, which I can relate to the most, is the fear factor. As I’ve said, I have rolled my ankle numerous times already. After a while it has changed my whole playing style. Since it was my experience that I was more likely to suffer the injury while going to the rim, I went from being a slashing, penetrating guard/forward, to being a rather passive spot-up shooting guard. We tend to think that NBA players do not have any fears when playing the game. Just watch a player when he attempts a comeback after a serious injury, he will shy from contact, he will do anything possible to reduce the risk to suffer the same injury again.

I’m hoping Shaun recovers fully, has a quick successful rehab, and can forget fully what has happened to him last Tuesday. Not because I am his fan, but because I don’t want to see a fellow sportsman being taken out of the game because of injury. Stay strong Shaun, our hearts and prayers are with you!