Objective Summary #2

Nate Jackson (#81)

In chapters five though eight of Slow Getting Up: A Story of NFL Survival from the Bottom of the Pile, Nate Jackson, a former NFL wide receiver, shows how the NFL requires a very strong drive and much determination to succeed as well as adaptivity and knowledge of where you are needed most. Nate enters his second season on the Denver Broncos as a young and talented wide receiver, waiting for his chance to show the organization what he has. Coming back the next season the coaches conclude that Nate should be moved to the position of tight end, a bigger, more aggressive type position. The author highlights the importance of being able to adapt in the NFL to survive. Nate makes the team with minor stress and focuses on learning his newly assigned position. He takes note from more seasoned tight ends on the team and tries to mimic their play and style. Through all of the practices and hitting Nate acquires a new hamstring injury. Instead of taking time off to heal it he plays through it and tries to build muscle around it. This yields no positive outcome and has to go to a professional to look at him. Nate has to rest his hamstring and sit out most of the pre season. The author emphasizes that all professional athletes are constantly working through injuries that should have them on the bench. The author mentions the fact that drug use is commonly used as a pain killer in the NFL. Drugs such as marijuana are commonly used but for "medical purposes" as Nate says. The section ends as Nate gets back into Denver from a road game and meanders into Broncos Headquarters to sleep.

Marijuana commonly used as a painkiller in the NFL.

Sports Injury Guideline

Essential Question: Should football and rugby be banned due to the injuries that occur while playing?
Claim: Football and rugby should not be banned because the positive aspects of playing are worth the risk of injury.

Typical rugby play.

Typical football play.

Reason: Football and rugby provide certain exceptional athletes with a viable career option. Professional athletes commit their childhood and early parenthood to being at the top of their sport. This work and grind takes years and is as hard or harder than getting another job that pays as well as a professional athlete. The minimum salary of an active player on an NFL roster is $375,000, while the top salary in the NFL is upwards of $17,500,000.

Objective Summary

Denver Brocos Logo

In the book Slow Getting Up: A Story of NFL Survival from the Bottom of the Pile, Nate Jackson, a former NFL wide receiver, tells the story of the journey into the league, and crucially staying in the league through the strife of making it past roster cuts and being on the practice squad. Nate starts his career by making it onto the San Francisco 49ers despite going to a DIII Menlo College. The author emphasizes the importance of hard work and perseverance. Nate worked hard, even though being at the bottom of the depth chart, and was abruptly traded due to his chronic shoulder injures. Nate went to the Broncos for a second chance. Nate works hard and makes an impression on the practice squad and takes on the NFL atmosphere (eat, grind, party, sleep, repeat). Nate goes the season watching the team he practices with on television, as they don't bring practice squad players on road trips. Nate gets an offer to join an NFL Europe team in the off season to develop his skills. He gladly accepts. Nate prospers in the NFL Europe but is stricken by injuries yet again. An MCL tear sits him out for two months but makes it back to the practice field. As the season closes they end with a losing 3-7 record, second to last in the league, but Nate feels solid in his receiver skills. Nate makes it back to Denver and starts to settle back into the real NFL. New players and coaches are picked up to overall improve the team as a whole. Coach Rod goes in depth in the daily film sessions and critiques everyones play. From the new players like Nate, to the more experienced players like Champ Bailey. Nate uses Rod's critiques to improve. Nate grinds through the pre season and survives the first rounds of cuts. The final preseason game determines who will make the last cut. Nate makes every special teams unit and scored a touchdown. Nate makes the team. At the fourth receiver spot, he rotates in when the other receivers get tired. Nate completes his first regular season NFL catch and completes two others also. Following the success, Nate is greeted by another injury, a broken tibia, which is season ending. The section ends in his team losing in the playoffs to Peyton and the Colts.

Nate Jackson (#89)

Sports Injury Survey Results

Through results submitted by the collegues in my class, we learned about the understanding ordinary students have on sports injury. For many people, the topic of sports injury does not interest them, but for 50% of the class they do care about the topic. A majority of the people who took the survey have a slight knowledge on the topic but still a vast amount have no idea. The class decided that the badt amount of injuries in sport occur in football. This activity was very enlightening on the knowledge of the collegues in my class.

Sports Injury Survey

Take the survey here!

Paralyzed Discussion Question #3

Evaluate the effectiveness of Dr. MacIntyres focusing technique on Reggie's playing ability. How can Reggie trust him that it will work for the long term?

UCLA Football

Psychologist

Dr. MacIntyre taught Reggie a very important skill to help Reggie play football to his full potential once more. Ever since Reggie returned to practice after Nate's injury he has not been as focused and has not been able to perform to his old glory. This worries his parents and his coaches which makes Coach Clark think that it would be best if Reggie sat out for a while and went to a sports psychologist. The first visit to the psychologist, Dr. MacIntyre was pretty much uneventful expect for the fact the Reggie got to let some of the feeling he had inside off of his chest. Reggie's second visit to Dr. MacIntyre was where he really learned valuable information. "I want you to breath deeply, hold the breath for a count of five and then exhale slowly. Try to focus solely on that task and nothing else"(129). Reggie has his doubts about this technique actually helping him play football again. Reggie talks to Dr. MacIntyre about how he actually knows that this will work. Dr. MacIntyre had a whole other side that Reggie had no idea about. "I was a middle linebacker for UCLA back in the eighties. I played at Lincoln too. Just like you"(126). During his playing days Dr. MacIntyre blew up a teammates knee in practice after a viscous hit. After seeing what he did to that player he couldn't hit as hard anymore and was having trouble focusing. One of his coaches taught him the centering technique and he went on to be an amazing player and four year starter. Reggie goes back to practice the next day after learning the centering technique and lays the first bit hit since the Nate's injury. Everyone on the team is glad that the "stick-em" of old is back.

Paralyzed Discussion Question #2

Analyze the effect of Reggie’s involvement in Nate’s injury on his playing and hypothesis how Reggie will play throughout the season.

Proper tackling technique.

Where Nate's injury occurred.

Reggie has not been playing like the “stick-em” of old since he was involved in Nate's injury. His hitting power has decreased and his reads have been fallible. The Monday after Nate’s spinal column injury in the game against Milbury, Reggie had practice. His head wasn’t in practice since he was thinking of how Nate was doing. Reggie subconsciously did not want to hit anybody hard in fear that he would injure someone else or himself like Nate. During a play at practice Reggie was playing middle linebacker, “I moved in to tackle Bart, but for some reason, I couldn’t do it. My legs suddenly went weak. I lunged at him and missed badly” (48). Reggie couldn’t bring himself to hit anyone and make a proper tackle with Nate on his mind. This is quit a problem seeing that Reggie is a middle linebacker whose job is to hit players and hit them hard. With Reggie’s head not into the game he misses a lot of his reads, which in turn puts him in a worse position to make a play. Since Reggie cannot hit, read plays, or make plays on the ball he is simply not fit to be playing football in his current state. The coaches see that Reggie hasn’t been playing up to his old status and start to worry what is happening to one of their star defensive players. If Reggie keeps playing scared then he won’t start on the defensive for many more days.

Paralyzed Discussion Question #1

Compare and contrast how Reggie felt about Nate's injury before and after the hospital visit.

This is the technique that Nate used to tackle Reggie.

Proper tackling technique.

Reggie was feeling like Nate’s injury wasn’t his fault before he went to the hospital, but after the visit he thought otherwise. Reggie plays varsity football at Lincoln High School and was in a game against Milbury. When Reggie got an interception, Nate Brown tackled him with his head down which is unsafe. Reggie got up and started to celebrate the great play when his tackler did not get up. When the ambulance showed up Nate was taken off the field on a stretcher. Reggie’s family and coach told him that Nate’s injury wasn’t anybody’s fault but Nate’s.Nate used an unsafe tackling technique which ultimately caused his injury. The way that he tackled Reggie led to swelling in the spinal column and temporary or permanent paralyzation. The day after the game Reggie was worrying about Nate so much that he went to the hospital to check on him. Nate’s mom was there and was furious with Reggie. When Reggie asks Nate’s mom how he’s doing she says, “This is the Intensive Care Unit. How the hell do you think he’s doing?” (34). Nate's mother was distraught and thought that Reggie caused the injury. After this experience Reggie doesn't know what to think. He starts to blame himself but everyone else besides Nate's mom tells him that it was not his fault.

Tuesday Write 9

Picture taken from the New York Times.

A man dresses in a suit is about to quit his job at The New York Times. He was the best sports writer in his office. He would discuss trending athletes and even critique games. The unprofessional colleagues he worked with pushed him to resign. They didn't dress professionally  and were horrible at describing scenarios with words and using imagery. He discussed with them his future at the paper and got really slim, unsatisfactory feedback. The man in the suit stood there, analyzing his peers. He never really had a good connected with them which made the office very awkward. He turned invited the whole office outside for a coffee break but that was not the real reason why he had invited them out. He turned away and revealed his resignation to the office. It was a big sign on the building that said, "Bye, bye Suckers!" He assesses the looks on their faces as some were happy, some were sad, and some were just shocked. He hypothesizes that some will be mad about the way that he resigned since it was not formal but he did not care. He explains to them why he quit and all the people from his office felt foolish. The man in the suit walks away, out of a job, but open to the new adventure that awaits. Many others papers were interested in his writing and wanted him to write for them. He often looks back and compares and contrast his old life with he has now, at The San Francisco Chronicle.