Remembrance of Things Past

In case you slept through yesterday, Tom Brady made a visit to New York and was photographed wearing a walking boot on his right foot. (It was prominently circled in red by the morons at the NY Post, who were probably paying deference to the fact that most of their reading audience doesn't know their right from their left.) Anyway, to say it ruined my morning and the morning of my loved ones is an understatement of epic proportions. In between trips running to the bathroom to throw up blood, I got calls from both my mother AND brother, saying, "Did you hear about Brady's foot!?!" I would have preferred to begin the morning with a subpoena and a broken tooth. Thankfully, Tom Terrific showed up later walking tall in pointy-toed cowboy boots, probably hoping to stave off a mass suicide of New Englanders.

Anyway, during all this I had a flashback to a similar episode a lot of people won't even remember  unless  they were diehard Sox fans back in 1986, the year Roger Clemens really arrived. Yes, I know I can't speak of him now without spitting nails, but this was back in the day before he became a bloated caricature of himself and a national punchline. He was 23, young and slim (really!) and we were going to ride that golden arm to the promised land. He was absolutely amazing to watch, and had as dominating a year as I have ever seen before or since. So what happened? It's funny, because I really couldn't find any web references to it, and I had to go to my Red Sox Century book to refresh myself on the details, although I remember the emotion like it was yesterday. It was almost the last regular season game of the year, the Sox were playing the Orioles, and Clemens was on the mound. Second inning-whap! Clemens gets nailed in the elbow by a line drive off the bat of John Stefaro. Gave us all-and I mean the entire states of Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island and half of Connecticut-a collective heart attack. We couldn't've been more panicked if Godzilla had been strolling through town. I was in agony-THE PLAYOFFS WERE ONLY A COUPLE DAYS AWAY, AND OUR BEST PITCHER MAY BE OUT!!!!! (It didn't help matters any that the Sox FO then threw it in Clemens' face, saying-on the eve of the playoffs, mind you-that they wouldn't give him more than a two-year contract because of concerns about the injury.) X-rays were negative, and Clemens did pitch in the postseason...but he really was nowhere near the pitcher in the playoffs that he had been during the season, although how much can be put down to the elbow injury, overuse during the season (he threw ten complete games that year) or just him being pissed off at Gorman is hard to say.

So, yes...I saw all of that within seconds of seeing the boot on Brady's foot yesterday, most glaringly the part about the dropoff in performance that came after being hit...are Tom's cowboy boots the equivalent of Roger's clear X-ray...? But Tom said he was going to be all right. Tom's dad said he was going to be all right. Every orthopedist in Boston has weighed in on this, and they all think he is going to be all right. There are absolutely no parallels between an injury to the star pitcher 21 years ago just before the World Series-and the worst championship loss in Boston's history-and an injury to the star quarterback just before the Super Bowl, right?

RIGHT? 

Comments

[Chris Keenan]

You're right Lis. There are'nt any parallels - Clemens is a juiced-up loser who always sucks in the postseason, unlike our cowboy-booted QB. End of story.

[Lisa K.]

It's all good...just breathe...

[sugarshane024]

For the sake of all things holy, I hope that there are no parallels.

My guess is that there are not, though. Clemens is notoriously known for his crappy postseason play. Brady, on the other hand, is a big game legend.

[Kevin S.]

Think of it this way - in 2001 he had to be taken out of the Steelers game due to a sprain and one week later he has playing in the Super Bowl.

He didn't miss a snap against the Chargers and has a week off.

This won't be a problem.

[Michael Leggett]

& then upon be named AL MVP & Cy Young Award-Winner, Ol' Rog hears a Comment from the Man I still regard as the LEGITIMATE Home Run Champion(No Steroids), Mr Henry Aaron, who commented about Pitchers winning MVP:

Ol' Rog starts showing his creepy side by mentionong that he'd DRILL Aaron;

It was a BAD Sign of things to come, involving "Baseball's Version of The AntiChrist";

I never cared for him after that remark & had a feeling in 1986 that he'd be controversial in later years;

Roger is a MAJOR LEAGUE JACKARSE;

Michael