Being a Human Being

All seriousness aside, there was "excitement" in the air when finding out Cleveland Cavaliers' forward Ben Wallace left Game Two of the Eastern Conference semi-finals after suffering an allergic reaction. You read correctly - the words "seriousness," "suffering" and "excitement" all coming in the same sentence.

Wallace started the game, but with just under four minutes to go in the first quarter, a rebound went to the Celtics and he committed a foul almost immediately. Wallace then stumbled off under the hoop before getting attention from the Cavs medical staff. He continued to sit out, lying down on the floor in front of the bench at times before retiring to the locker room.

What's so great about this?? All of a sudden a 6-foot-9-inch, 240-pound veteran professional athlete was taken out by something that might be bad enough to keep any one of us from going in to work. The guys who steal the show on television -- especially someone like Wallace, who occasionally lets his hair bust out of cornrow bondage -- are as vulnerable to what seem like the most minuscule injuries.

No matter how much we joke or say it in a joking (hopefully) way towards our most hated opponents or players, we don't ever want to see a player lose time to a serious injury. This feeling takes greater presence when we experience a serious injury first-hand.

This isn't a post against Ben Wallace as a person. In fact, it's praising Ben Wallace as a person. Sure he didn't want to get an allergy attack/ear infection during the game. But it goes to show the viewing audience that these huge, iconic athletes are people, too.

Maybe the next post will deal with the number of people citing allergy attacks as valid reasons to take a day off work.