Concussion Survivor: I know that look Luke Kuechly
In all the years of owning and operating this site, combined with the years of writing for Bleacher Report I have never written any material that hasn’t been about the New York Giants.
After watching the Saints Panthers game I wanted to take a stab at something I know about beside Giants football. Concussions.
The reaction to Luke Kuechly injury last night was pretty amazing. Watching him on the field, breathing hard, sobbing and looking quite lost was nothing short of tragic. Kuechly is beyond a warrior, he is one of the games brightest stars. The best at his position since the day he entered the league.
Watching him exit the field sitting on a cart with a dazed look on his face reminded me….of well…me.
No, I never played big time Division 1 ball, yet having played the game that I loved through highschool and college I sustained four diagnosed concussions. The last hit left me crying on the bus after the game having woken up from some kind of black hole. I don’t remember the game ending or getting on the bus. After college I received three more concussions playing in a few competitive pick up football leagues.
I couldn’t imagine getting hit by a professional or college football player of today. The size and the speed is outright amazing, the ability to coil and explode is so ferocious that the only way to describe it…is a car crash.
Luke Kuechly is on record saying that he’s all in, that this is the choice that has made and he understands the ramifications of playing the game of football. What I saw last night from the great Carolina linebacker was confusion, fear and a sadness. After a severe hit to the head, you disappear as your brain turns off to heal itself. And during that short time when the world has stopped and you don’t exist, only becoming conscious do you truly understand the magnitude of what now is in motion.
There are a lot of opinions of what Luke Kuechly was going through last night. I can only tell you that I saw a young football player in the prime of his career realize he had just lost something so dear to him that it scared him to uncontrollable tears. All the pain, the sacrifice, the heartache, the promise and joy taken away in one play.
He can’t make sense of it, for he will watch the film over and over trying to force a memory, trying to make something turn on, trying to find that one fragment of time that proves he doesn’t need to give up what he loves the most.
@NYGiantsRush