Remarkable Rondo

I am so impressed with Rajon Rondo's toughness. His left elbow was bent back in the wrong direction, it was later diagnosed as a dislocated elbow, and he came back into the game. When I saw the injury, I spouted, "The Celtics just lost the series."

Someone in the bar where I was watching the game yelled out, "Rondo's back in the game!" I figured that guy was a jerk who just wanted attention. Turns out he was right. Another guy said, "Rondo's back in the game. They must've given him a new arm." I felt that was a reasonable deduction considering what had happened to Rondo's elbow.

It was a coincidence that the three least tough players in the NBA were at the arena when Rondo made his triumphant return, his unusable left arm hanging at his side. Paul Pierce was once put in a wheelchair in Game 1 of the 2008 NBA Finals after tweaking his ankle. He ran back onto the court a few minutes later, which is what most people do after tweaking an ankle. Dwyane Wade once left a game, also via a wheelchair, after suffering a serious shoulder injury. And Big Baby Davis writhes around on the floor so often, even Paul Pierce roles his eyes when Davis goes down.

Rondo's courageous performance reminds me of other such instances in sports during my lifetime. As a young boy, I always heard about Ronnie Lott having the tip of his pinky cut off so he could play. It is reminiscent of Phillip Rivers play with a torn ACL in the NFL playoffs a couple of years ago. Yuri Foreman continued to fight last year with a torn ACL as his junior middleweight belt was on the line. Rondo joins these tough guys.

And, of course, today is the 41st anniversary of Game 7 of the 1970 NBA Finals where Willis Reed came hobbling onto the Garden's floor and gave his team an emotional lift which propelled the Knicks to victory.