The ONLY Bad Part of Football

With the renewal of summer every year also comes the event that has become America's new national pasttime: NFL training camps and the new football season. Every summer fans fill training camps and stadiums to see their favorite teams and players break the seal on a new season of football.

Lately, however, what the fans have been seeing is their favorite players going down with an injury during training camp, which is the one thing every player in the league agrees that each player would be better off avoiding.

In the past week alone in NFL camps we have seen the Falcons' Harry Douglas (Knee) out for the season, the Buccaneers' Antonio Bryant (Torn Meniscus) will miss the rest of the preseason, and now the Panthers' Steve Smith was carted off the field yesterday with an apparent shoulder injury, though x-rays were negative.

So what do all of these players have in common? Well, a lot of things: they're all wide receivers in dynamic offenses, they're all in the NFC South and, most importantly, they were all hustling and giving their best during practice when they were injured.

My point? Every player would like to have an injury-free career, and I'm sure he wishes that same thought to every single other player in the league. But that's just the problem. How do you avoid an injury? The truth is that you can't and, if you try to, you won't be effective and won't last long in the game.

The players that are able to get over the fact that they could have their season, or careers, ended at any moment are the ones who make a difference. This is a violent game. It always has been and always will be. And with the players being bigger, stronger, and faster than ever before, we just have to get used to seeing more injuries.

You always hate to see when a guy gets hurt, but it's just part of the game and almost adds an aura of toughness and virility to the players who fight through the pain to reach their ultimate goal: the Lombardi Trophy. Once you've got that in your hands, nothing hurts on your body anymore. Besides, you've then got all offseason to heal up and do it again next season.