While we were out I found the book The Blind Side which has been made into the movie by the same name. I read through the first chapter of the book- mainly because I couldn’t put it down.
That chapter recounts the final play of Joe Theisman’s career. For any fan of football during that time, it is likely a play that’s seared into the memory. It is still, 25 years later, The quintessential example of the unpredictable violence the games participants can be subjected to. I’ve only watched it once. That was enough. When I see a replay of it starting, I turn away until I know the replay is done.
The chapter steps through the play, describing in detail how the play unfolded. He breaks off the narrative to go into a great amount of detail about the affect Lawrence Taylor had on the game of professional football. He does this in an effort to offer a more complete explanation of what happened on the play. In effect, he is stating that this play is not the culmination of the 4 seconds it took for the play to unfold, but the previous 4 years of havoc which Taylor wrought on opposing teams’ offenses. It was because of LT that the term ‘blind side’ came into being in football. This sets up the remainder of the book. The whole chapter is a good read. I recommend finding the book just for that chapter.
The most interesting bit for me were the final words of the chapter.
Listening to the play as it was called on the radio, I can still recall the announcer (I think it was Frank Gifford) exclaiming how LT had jumped up from the pile waving frantically for the trainers to get on the field. As it turns out, his gesturing had nothing to with with the trainers.
LT wasn’t afraid of anything on the football field per se. But he was claustrophobic. When he tackled Joe Theisman on that play, he ended up near the bottom of the pile. That, coupled with knowing Theisman’s leg had snapped like a twig, kicked his claustrophia into overdrive.
His frantic behavior after the play had nothing to do with Theisman or the medical staff. It was all about fighting off the claustrophobia.