EL BARRIO, DE BRONX – Your Deacon Blaber has always known Easter Weekend as just that, Easter Weekend. There was Good Friday and Easter Sunday. As I got older, I got introduced to Easter Monday as part of an extended weekend and it made sense. I was thrown for a loop the other day, when I wished a Happy Resurrection Weekend! Now I know why they chose to call it that instead of Easter but didn’t know it was that popular – as several people did it. With the clock ticking well past tardy and the creative juices sucked dry by an abundance of Easter cocktails, the weekend-themed storyline hit me: Look at the Best Sports Resurrections in each of the 5 major sports leagues!
NBA: Without a doubt this one goes to Paul George. We all saw the highlights on SportsCenter as he broke his leg while on Team USA duty. The way his tibia broke made most of us physically ill. So it was great to hear that he is ready to play again. His team, the Pacers, have not cleared him yet, but that is only a matter of time.
MLB: Okay, so Tommy John, is not a recent name since his resurrection was so far back but the man now has a surgery named after him. The revolutionary surgery that saved his career in the ’70s is now extremely common and bares his name. It is so common that the Mets use it as soon-to-be-required surgery for all their pitchers. That’s instead of… well, you know – taking effective precautionary measures. And Mr. John, managed to have a solid career following the surgery, making it chic.
NHL: My memory isn’t the best but the player that is popping into my mind the most is Jaromir Jagr. The whole NHL assumed his career was over when he went to Russia for a couple of seasons. However, here he was the other night putting the puck into the net for another goal setting a new record.
NFL: Without a doubt this one goes to Michael Vick . Don’t think about the most recent season season with the Jets. The man did 3 years for his “hanging with the wrong crowd.” A crowd of mean dog owners, if you will. However, he came back to a back-up role with the s long as Eagles won the starting job until injury. He will go somewhere this year as the #2 qb and do it all over again.
MLS: I will make it short before you go to sleep. This is the opposite of the Jagr story. England’s Jermaine Defoe had come to the MLS after a bad spell at his club, the Tottenham Hotspurs. So he was thought to be done. He in-turn had such a successful year and has ended up back in England fans have demanded he play for England.
That’s it for now, come back tomorrow for Cheesy Bruin, a staff member that follows his own rules – when/if he can get on the Internet.
