Given how many careers have been derailed by concussions and all we’ve begun to find out about the ugly long-term impact of brain injuries on former athletes it seems unfathomable to me that a prominent veteran mainstream media member would still be ripping players for not playing through a concussion.
And yet here’s this from longtime Minneapolis Star Tribune columnist and 1500-ESPN radio host Patrick Reusse regarding Twins catcher Joe Mauer:Mauer is poster boy for the ethic that has taken over Twins’ clubhouse. And Prince is same for the Tigers. To quote me: #playyousissies
— Patrick Reusse (@1500ESPN_Reusse) September 30, 2013
Mauer suffered a concussion on August 19 and missed the remainder of the season because a month later he continued to experience symptoms such as dizziness and sensitivity to light every time he tried to increase his workouts. He has a brain injury.
That was the fourth in a series of tweets from Reusse about how Tigers first baseman Prince Fielder has been more durable than Mauer despite not looking like much of an athlete. How body type and athleticism relates to brain trauma is unclear.
UPDATE: I thought perhaps Reusse would come back on Twitter to say he misspoke or otherwise offer an explanation, but instead this was his follow-up tweet several hours later:Sign Prince for $23M and you get 100% of games. Sign Joe for $23M and -- for whatever reason -- you get 70%. Those are facts.
— Patrick Reusse (@1500ESPN_Reusse) September 30, 2013
“For whatever reason” in this case is a brain injury. And then a few minutes later the backtracking began:
#playyousissies is my battle cry for Twins of Target Field era ... not of Mauer specifically. Concussion, OK; boo-boo on knee (Arcia), no.
— Patrick Reusse (@1500ESPN_Reusse) September 30, 2013
He of course specifically mentioned Mauer, not Arcia or anyone else, in four consecutive tweets and called Mauer a “poster boy.”
Battle cries and sissies and boo-boos. Cool stuff, all around.