No comments on Freeman's article about Nate's "nudge" to Brandon to play after Roy didn't think he should go?
I listened to Roy after the game on The Game. He said it was his decision to play and that he felt great in warm-ups.
I don't buy that for a second. What is this miracle cure for ALL hamstring injuries that works for every player regardless of the extent of the injury? It's funny that no sports teams have heard of this despite the fact that they pay tens of millions to their athletes...in fact, why don't you PM me and we'll put together a business informing each team about this amazing, always successful cure and we'll charge teams a million dollars each to get the presentation!!
So who lied? Roy or Freeman? Doesn't sound like it felt great in warmups. And Brandon's concern was about game speed. From his mouth, again. At 5:58, he'd told Quick he didn't feel comfortable playing. Nate said Rudy was starting. Then, after a closed-door meeting, at 6:20 it was reported that Roy would play. It seems Brandon either lied about how he felt at 5:58 (did he feel "Great" or "not comfortable playing"?), or he lied after the game to cover for the decision.
Or the less conspiratorial option...he told the truth when he said he was going back and forth on the decision. It's tricky to know when to come back and test it so there is no obvious right or wrong answer until after the fact...
I'm not being conspiratorial. If he was going back and forth, that seems to me to not be "great". If he said it was "great" in warmups, then that's lying. For whatever reason...he doesn't need to explain it to me. But it's not the truth.
Sometimes when people talk, they contradict themselves. I guess my thresh hold for calling it "lying" is higher. The way I interpret all of these statements is that it didn't feel perfect, but it felt good enough to give it a try. After playing a bit it no longer felt like he should continue playing on it so he stopped.
The way I read and understand the article by Freeman, is that it was his subjective opinion that is given that Nate "nudged' Roy to play. How or where does he get that info? Roy said the opposite at the post game interview I believe.
McMillan did give Brandon a little push towards playing, according to an LA Times article on the game: From Brandon's interview last night, it sounded as though the general discussion was that Brandon was still feeling it and was leaning towards not playing, and McMillan said something to the affect that he was going to have to test it in a game situation at some point. Obviously, this wasn't the best of decisions, but they were certainly planning on giving it a go on Friday anyway so it probably would have been the same result then. I don't think that the medical staff deserve to be bashed over this. I'm sure all parties knew that there was a risk, but it was Brandon's and Nates decision for him to play. I think now they'll do what they should have done intially and shut him down until it's completely healed. Hopefully, that will be before the end of the regular season.
...and a "nudge" can be different things to different people. It could be as simple as a conversation like: Nate saying..."there was this time when I pulled a hamstring and I got out and tested it and found out I could play" Broy "Really? I've been nervous to try, but hearing that, I think I'll give it a go" *end of nudge...
Fair enough. Like I said, he doesn't need to explain it to me. But I'm a fan of when players/coaches/GMs do stand up to explain themselves, that it makes sense and is as much truth as possible. If this really was just a contradiction, ok. Seems odd, though. I guess that's where the disagreement is. From all the sources, it seemed to me that he felt ok in practice and drills, so he tried going harder in warmups. He didn't feel like he should play game speed for whatever reason (though I'd say "feeling great" wasn't one of the reasons). After a talk with Nate, 20 minutes later he was the starter. After the game, his response to the criticism about why the heck he played was that he "felt great" in warmups. Just doesn't make sense to me. But I won't clog the thread further...bottom line is that he's hurt and not playing for a while.
Open your eyes a bit wider and look outside the sport... The team had an inkling of that notion in looking to the NFL's treatment methods, but it was probably more complex than necessary. You rarely see football players slowed by hamstring problems for any great length of time. Some of it is probably due to the 'toughness' mentality of the sport, but they are able to get ample treatment to play through it. Of greater interest is track and field, the sport that places arguably the greatest stresses on hamstrings and which deals with them much more effectively than has been the case with Roy. When's the last time you heard of a professional track athlete missing more than a couple weeks with a hamstring problem? It doesn't happen, because the sport believes 100% in deep tissue massage therapy. That is the wonder treatment. No fancy equipment, just a knowledge of the muscles and tendons. I've fully treated "muscle off the bone," supposed end-of-the-career hamstring injuries with sprinters, and there are therapists much better than myself. An average massage therapist will have little to no effect... A great one will solve the problem within a couple sessions. (I'm talking from experience about other people's work on me, not bragging about my own work.) If the team hasn't sought out the best massage therapists available, then they have failed their fans. Rest alone has never healed a hamstring, as far as I know. It just delays the inevitable -- reinjury.
1. Brandon DID do a session of the plasma therapy. 1a. Paul Allen OWNS A FOOTBALL team, so obviously he knows what's involved. 2. Track athletes are all on drugs...LOL...so I would hardly point to them as the prime example of athlete care. **and you asked how many times I hear about track athletes with hamstring injuries...since I never hear anything about track athletes except during the olympics, I don't think that proves much. 3. I believe your views are just a little bit clouded by the fact that you're involved in that area of treatment. I'd love to see objective research on how effective it is related to other methods and rest.
which is pretty much taking me from a real high on the Blazers yesterday to a real low today... sucks ass!
Re-read my second sentence... I already alluded to that. So, you're going to dismiss a whole area of injury prevention and treatment by lumping it with training aids? Yeah, ignorance is a perfect excuse for a lack of options. Uh... Let me see if I got this right. Having knowledge of a situation gives one less clarity in commenting on it? Go ahead and waste time searching for your research... I'll stick with the tried and trusted treatment that works every time. p.s. Your resistance to the idea is natural and is exactly why medical staffs so often get it wrong. It flies in the face of what the medical community is generally taught.
LOL - You are obviously on a massage crusade...I get it. Calling me ignorant when you're the one claiming there is a full proof 100% guaranteed cure for Brandon's hamstring and that miracle is some good deep tissue massage...uggg. I'm just guessing, but I'll bet you also believe that some aroma therapy and crystals might help too, eh? You stick with your anecdotal evidence that supports the position you want to believe...I'll stick with the belief that the Blazers and their $82 Million investment are investigating every therapy available and know more about actual results than you...
Wrong. Rather ironic statement, though, coming from someone with "hippie" in their handle. 1) They aren't getting good results with Roy's hammy, which implies that they do not know more about actual results. 2) All the talk yesterday and today is about Roy testing the hammy to see if it's ready to go, gauge the level of tightness, etc. I don't know for a fact that they haven't hit him with good deep tissue work, but I'm guessing they haven't because of these comments. Reason being, it is easy to tell from probing if things are still too tight. No guesswork necessary. Athletes are always amazed that you can tell where the problem spots are just by feel... The muscles and tendons reveal a wealth of information if you know what to look for.
Maybe Nate nudged him and maybe he didn't. I tend to think he did. And I also think he OVERUSED Brandon last night. With an injury like that he should have eased back into a routine instead of being thrown to the wolves and playing 14 minutes in the first half...essentially playing until the hammy gave way. When Nic Batum came back he had a limit on PT which the coach EXCEEDED. I think Nate is guilty again, only this time with more disasterous consequences.
Blazer_hippie, one thing you gotta know about massage therapists: they are incredibly defensive about the legitimacy of massage. It's something they have to fight over with insurance companies and doctors all the time. You will find no more myopic or staunch defender of massage as a solution for damn near everything from headaches to bad dreams than a massage therapist. It's not a bad thing to defend your profession, though... I'm just saying you're not going to win this argument against handiman, no matter how much science you have to back it up. At the end it will come down to "what could it hurt to try a little deep tissue massage?"