When to Hang It Up
The money in big-league sports has helped fuel enormous advances in sports medicine. But is the long-term health of athletes being sacrificed for teams' short-term gain? Leaving it all on the field.
 Dr. Robert Cantu says society needs to stop lionizing athletes who play through pain. (Photo by Christopher Churchill) Photo by Christopher Churchill |
The year is 1979. Twenty-two-year-old Larry Bird has spurned Red Auerbach’s initial offer of $500,000 a year, and Bird is back in Terre Haute, Indiana, counting down time until Auerbach either ups his offer or the Celtics lose their exclusive negotiating rights to the player already known as the Hick from French Lick. Bird figures regardless of what happens in ... (Full article: 4274 words)
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