Gophers football: Anticipation has become frustration for Simmons

Turf toe, then a stress fracture and then a broken bone has limited the tight end.

Jack Simmons' right foot constantly hurts, and the pain has become worse now that the weather has turned colder. "You just have to deal with it," he said. Frustration is evident in Simmons' voice. Expected to be a key cog in the Gophers new spread offense, Simmons, a junior tight end, instead has had a limited role this season in part because of a broken bone in his foot.

Simmons missed two games, has only 14 catches for 119 yards and no touchdowns and is playing less than last season when he was Matt Spaeth's backup. "It's frustrating in a lot of ways," Simmons said. "One, I really expected to have a great year. I was hoping to step in where Matt left off. Maybe not at his level because he was the best tight end in college football last year. But I thought I could play at a high level in this offense. And then losing compounds it. If I was having this type of year but we were 9-1, it would be a completely different story. I would be happy."

Simmons had a breakthrough performance in place of an injured Spaeth against Texas Tech in the Insight Bowl last season. He had career highs in catches (seven) and receiving yards (134) with one touchdown and showed he can be a valuable target in the passing game.

Simmons heightened those expectations in fall camp. He stood out because of his pass-catching ability and athleticism, and he also developed good chemistry with freshman quarterback Adam Weber.

But a turf toe injury gradually turned worse and he began the season with a stress reaction in his foot. Simmons heard and felt a pop in his foot after making a catch in the season opener against Bowling Green. The diagnosis was a broken bone, and he hasn't felt right since.

His injury affected Weber, too, because he lost a receiver he trusted and could count on.

"We started off strong in fall practice," Weber said. "But he's played with injuries all year. Give all the respect in the world to Jack because he's played through injuries that I don't think a lot of guys would."

In fall camp, Gophers coach Tim Brewster, a former all-Big Ten tight end at Illinois, said he felt Simmons had a chance to be one of the top tight ends in the conference this season. Simmons (6-4, 240 pounds) has good speed and body control and knows how to find space in the middle of the field. But those strengths were neutralized by his bad foot.

"He's showed tremendous toughness and character by just playing," Brewster said. "[His injury] has had a direct effect in the number of balls he's caught."

Simmons visited a specialist in North Carolina while the Gophers played at Florida Atlantic. He was given a harness that enabled him to run, but he stopped wearing it after two games because it limited his mobility.

Now, he is just dealing with the pain while trying to make plays.

"I'm OK," he said. "The bone has healed, and the trust issue is what it comes down to. I just don't trust it right now."

Source: http://www.startribune.com/512/story/1536170.html

Alner to have neck operation after car crash

The Cheltenham Gold Cup-winning trainer is still outlining running plans for his horses despite serious accident

Robert Alner is to have an operation to realign a broken bone in his neck after being involved in a car crash on Thursday morning. The Cheltenham Gold Cup-winning trainer was trapped in his Peugeot 406 after colliding with a telegraph pole near Sturminster Newton and his Droop yard in Dorset.

Firefighters cut him free from the wreckage and he was taken to Yeovil General Hospital before being airlifted to Frenchay Hospital in Bristol.

Andrew Thornton, who has long been associated with Alner, said on Thursday morning: “He was supposed to have the operation last night but he didn't. He's having it this afternoon and Sally (Alner, wife) is going up to the hospital later on. From what I can gather, not a lot has changed overnight. Sally told me he has broken a bone in his neck and he needs the operation to realign it. It's a pretty serious operation.

“It happened yesterday morning and Sally has said that his head is fine as he was telling her what horses to run, so he knew what had happened which is a good thing.”

Source: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/racing/article2842534.ece

Report: LJ Out For The Season?

There is a report out of Denver saying Chiefs Running Back Larry Johnson is out for the season. That report from myfoxcolorado.com cites sources inside the Chiefs organization, saying Johnson has a broken bone in his foot and is done for the year.

Johnson injured his right foot Sunday against Green Bay when AJ Hawk tackled LJ and his right foot got tangled up underneath their bodies. The report out of Denver said it was a broken bone in his left foot, but it was his right foot that was injured. MyFoxColorado.com said that was inadvertent and it's his right foot that is broken.

The Chiefs completely deny this story, saying their medical staff hasn't told them anything about a broken bone in the foot.

Source: http://www.myfoxkc.com/myfox/pages/Sports/Detail?contentId=4852465&version=4&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=6.1.1

Phelps confirms right wrist is broken

Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps, by his own admission, has never been particularly graceful when walking on dry land. In the water, there is no one faster or sleeker. But on solid ground, he's a self-described klutz.

That clumsiness seems to have caught up with him. Yesterday, during a promotional event in Southern California, Phelps confirmed that he broke a small bone in his right wrist two weeks ago while trying to enter a car in Ann Arbor, Mich., where he is training for the Beijing Olympics.

"I'm a fish out of water. I'm a clumsy person," Phelps told the Associated Press. "I fell and went to catch myself and I just tweaked it the wrong way."

He said the injury isn't serious and shouldn't affect his preparation for the 2008 Olympics. He continued to do dry-land training after the injury, but after he experienced some swelling, doctors ordered a magnetic resonance imaging and found a small crack. They decided to insert a small pin in his wrist to accelerate healing.

"It's fine. Everything's going as we planned," said Phelps, who is from Rodgers Forge. "We were taking it very, very cautiously and just trying to get it to heal as fast as we could so we could get back to swimming."

Full article: http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/olympics/bal-sp.phelps06nov06,0,3073573.story

English has broken bone in ankle

Stoops says defensive end shouldn't be out more than a week or two
Oklahoma defensive end Auston English suffered a hairline fracture on a non-weight-bearing bone in his right ankle Saturday night, Sooners coach Bob Stoops said. There is no timetable for his return, but Stoops said he shouldn't be out more than a week or two.

Stoops compared the injury to one suffered by Rocky Calmus in 1999, though not as serious. Calmus played on the injured ankle and did not miss a game.

English's second-quarter injury led to a slight change of plans for defensive coordinator Brent Venables.

Source: http://newsok.com/article/3163857/

Brittle Bone Syndrome

A baby of about four weeks who was crying incessantly was found to have a broken leg after an x-ray was done. His parents were accused of child abuse because the broken leg was through a non-accident incident. Simply put, his parents were suspected of shaking the baby so hard that his leg bone got broken in two.

Further tests concluded that the baby was hurt because of physical abuse. About two weeks later, his father coughed while carrying the baby. The baby stretched out his arm in surprise and his father heard it crack. X-rays once again confirmed that the baby broke his arm this time.

To cut it short, the parents were fortunately proven innocent after a couple more tests were done. Unfortunately though, the baby was diagnosed with brittle bone syndrome or Osteogenesis Imperfecta.

WHAT IS OSTEOGENESIS IMPERFECTA?

Osteogenesis Imperfecta or brittle bone syndrome is a genetic disease that results in the abnormalities of protein in the bones causing them to become easily breakable. In some cases, this disease causes the child to be stillborn or to die soon after birth. A parent with this disease has a 50% chance of passing it on to his child.

The levels of the effect of this disease to the baby differ in such a way that although genetically, the baby has the disease, his bones don’t break as easily as the other babies with the same disease.

X-rays and tests don’t usually detect this disease at first glance. A more thorough examination of the baby is required to find out if he has been afflicted with this debilitating illness. Observation of the child is also crucial since most cases of brittle bone disease manifest babies fracturing their bones frequently for no apparent reason.

A baby with this disease can easily fracture his bone by merely reaching out to his parent to be carried or sneezing.

WHAT YOU SHOULD CHECK

1. If your baby has broken a bone which you find odd considering he’s been handled with care since birth, don’t wait for another broken bone to occur. Have him checked for this disease right away. It is better to be safe than sorry.
2. Check if the whites of his eyes are more bluish or grayish than white.
3. He bruises easily.
4. His teeth are discolored.

Even if you notice that his bone fracture hasn’t occurred in several months and you don’t see a pattern such as him not breaking his bone twice over the same incident, this is all the more why you should have him checked for Osteogenesis Imperfecta because fractures when you have this disease do not usually occur in a pattern.

So before you go blaming yourself or any other person for hurting your child, it is best to have him checked for every possible reason why he got hurt in the first place. In some cases, babies are fortunate enough to have this kind of disease temporarily. This temporary brittle bone syndrome usually comes in the first year of the child and disappears soon after.

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