<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Broken neck, intact spiritRaptor Sow fights injured vertebra`I didn't know what was going on'Aug. 12, 2006. 09:21 AMDOUG SMITHSPORTS REPORTERPape Sow is a man of indomitable will.He's strong enough of body and mind to have made himself into an NBA player in the most unlikely of circumstances. As a teen, he spent five years in California with no family to lean on. He transformed himself into a professional basketball player with his work ethic, his spirit, his drive to accept nothing less than the best from himself.But three days and three nights lying immobile in a Las Vegas hospital with a broken vertebra will fill a man's mind with everything from anxiety to fear to questions of whether he'll be able to walk again, let alone dunk a basketball."At that time I was kind of nervous because I didn't know what was going on," the Raptor forward said last night in his first interview since fracturing a vertebra in a horrific fall. "It's kind of hard, three days just laying there while they tried to figure out what they were going to do, it kind of scared me a little."But, you know, a couple of doctors came to me and told me it wasn't a big deal, they just were going to try to make sure they do the right thing."That's why I was confident."Standing in the corridor of the Rexall Centre, enjoying a break from watching a thrilling Rogers Cup tennis match, Sow spoke with his customary confidence, tugging imperceptibly on the neck brace he's been forced to wear since that early July operation in Las Vegas."I'm hurt and I'm a little upset because this is what I love to do, work out and play and I cannot do it and I don't know how long it's going to take," he said."I'll keep doing what they tell me to do though and go with it. Everything happens for a reason."Sow remembers everything about the injury, which occurred on the first day of summer league practice for him and a dozen other would-be Raptors trying to get in the extra work they need to become fully contributing members of the team.He was driving to the basket with his typical reckless abandon. There was a collision, a fall, a break. A silence fell over the gym as it became clear this was not just another accident."When I first fell, I was thinking I broke my arm but after I went down, like two minutes after, I started feeling pain going to my shoulder and my neck," he said."I started to say, `Rory, (Mullin, a member of the Raptor training staff who was handling summer league duties) my neck has started hurting.' That's when he said, maybe something's wrong with your neck, that's why your arm feels like that."I'm glad it was him and he immobilized my neck because if it wasn't him, I wouldn't even be here talking to you right now."Not only is Sow talking, he's looking forward to playing as soon as he can. He's ahead of schedule in his rehab, already doing some bicycle work to keep in some semblance of shape, working out once each day with an eye to returning to the court.Doctors haven't given him any indication of when that might be, though, and that's the part he's finding most difficult of all. He's pain free, but not able to do enough work to satisfy his indomitable work ethic."I just take my time, do what the doctor says," he said. "If it was just me, I know myself, I don't like to sit down, I don't like to just lay there, but now I can't make the decision. I have to leave everything in the doctor's hands."It's not as if he's going through this alone, though. He was full of praise for the way the Raptors did everything possible to make things more comfortable for him. A few rows down, his father Macodou, who raced from Senegal to Nevada to be with his injured son and who now stays with him in Toronto, sat beaming at the thought he was with his son again.``It's very important, when you're injured with this kind of injury, to have your family around you," said the son.The family, the therapists, the trainers, the organization all want him back as quickly as he can be; he vows not to disappoint."Toronto has done everything, that meant a lot to me, made me more confident because I have people behind me."That makes me more happy, more focused to get healthy more quick."</div>http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentSe...d=1155333028042
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (JoshBosh @ Aug 19 2006, 12:41 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Good to hear that he's gettin better.. so now what are we gonna do with Slokar?</div>let him prove himself
Pape Sow has made an incredible improvement to his game since he moved to the NBDLto see this makes one get more excited abt the raps this season
It's great to see a player like Sow who continues to do whatever it takes to get back on the court. He has the drive and the determination that I think will help him go far in the NBA.
He has potential I remember seeing some flashes of offensive potential this year.I think he averaged like 4rpg and 1blkpg in like 10-15 minutes for a stint after he came back from the NBDL
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (JoshBosh @ Aug 19 2006, 12:41 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Good to hear that he's gettin better.. so now what are we gonna do with Slokar?</div>I read somewhere, where they are already shopping Slokar.I hope Sow comes back soon and comes back 100%. He does have alot of potential, but I think this injury will slow him down for awhile.
