http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/s****ts.apx.-content-articles-RTD-2007-06-13-0036.html
Time has come for college, pro athletes to buckle up
Wednesday, Jun 13, 2007 - 12:06 AM
By PAUL WOODY
TIMES-DISPATCH COLUMNIST
We make a lot of noise and spend a lot of money in an effort to
protect athletes from injuries and themselves.
States enact legislation to test high school athletes for steroid use.
In New York City, aluminum bats have been banned in high school
baseball.
But sometimes in our frenzy to remove all dangers, we miss the simple
things that will protect every athlete.
If an athlete was told that one simple act, something that requires no
more than a few seconds to perform, would safeguard his health, you
would think he would comply without a second thought.
This, unfortunately, is not the case, and J.R. Smith offers the latest
evidence.
Smith is a 21-year-old guard for the Denver Nuggets. Saturday in
Millstone Town****p, N.J., the s****t utility vehicle Smith was driving
overturned.
Smith was thrown from the vehicle and suffered an injured left
shoulder. A passenger, Andre Bell, died.
Neither Smith nor Bell was wearing a seat belt.
Seat belts save lives. Seat belts prevent serious injuries. Seat belts
extend careers.
Why is that so hard for some athletes to comprehend?
Smith's accident is not an isolated case.
In 1993, Bobby Hurley was a rookie and the starting point guard for
the Sacramento Kings. Hurley was driving home after a December game
when another vehicle slammed into the side of his truck.
Hurley was not wearing a seat belt. He was thrown from his truck and
suffered a broken shoulder, back and ribs. His trachea was torn. He
almost died.
He returned to the NBA the next season, but never was the same player.
Derrick Thomas was a one-man wrecking crew as an outside linebacker
for the Kansas City Chiefs.
On Jan. 23, 2000, Thomas was driving too fast -- everyone does on
occasion, athletes tend to think it's their birthright -- on icy
roads. His SUV overturned. He and a passenger were thrown from the
vehicle.
The passenger died instantly. Thomas suffered a broken back, was
paralyzed from the chest down and died two weeks later.
A third person was in the SUV with Thomas. That person survived the
crash. He was treated and released. He was wearing a seat belt.
Many states, Virginia included, require drivers and passengers to wear
seat belts.
Many colleges explicitly tell their athletes they will wear seat belts
when traveling to games in cars and vans.
Professional teams will prohibit players from riding motorcycles,
skiing, even playing another s****t in the offseason.
Teams go to great lengths to protect players from every injury, from
ingrown toenails to heat stroke.
But every head coach, assistant coach, athletic trainer and general
manager should do one more thing: insist until they see full
compliance that their players wear seat belts.
Even the most lunkheaded athletes should understand that all the
weights lifted, laps run, all that work done to improve, can be lost
in an instant if they don't spend an instant to buckle a seat belt.
Athletes might think they are invulnerable and immortal. Smith, Hurley
and Thomas are just three examples that they are not.
Contact Paul Woody at (804) 649-6444 or pwoody@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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