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Over the weekend New York Giants Linebacker, Jason Pierre-Paul suffered a severe injury to his hands while igniting fireworks.
As a result the Giants have withdrawn a $60 million dollar contract offer from the star defensive player.
If this wasn’t disturbing and disheartening enough, he’s facing criminal possession of fireworks charges. Williams has also had to deal with the backlash of social media.
The Jason Pierre-Paul accident is one of many incidents over the past few years, involving players making unsound decisions during the offseason.
Pierre-Paul is not the only athlete to suffer an injury over the July 4th holiday weekend. Rory Mcilroy, the #1 golfer in the world, ruptured a ligament in his ankle while playing soccer. Due to the damage he will most likely miss out on competing in the British Open, a tournament he won just a year ago.
What makes these athletes’ choices so haphazard is the risk they assume of what makes them money: their bodies. Those decisions could have a permanent effect on a player’s career, so professionals should be extra careful.
NBA players have made these decisions in the most perplexing situations. Whether it was Greg Oden playing a pickup game while recovering from a major knee surgery, or Andrew Bynum aggravating a knee injury while bowling. However, one of the worst instances of this happened very early in an NBA player’s career.
Before the beginning of the 2003-2004 season, Chicago Bulls recently drafted point guard, Jay Williams, suffered a season-ending injury while riding his motorcycle in the offseason. Williams had just been drafted only a year ago and riding a motorcycle was a breach of his NBA contract. His career was over at that point; he underwent 13 surgeries due to the disaster, and he is now an analyst working for ESPN.
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=de8eChm4tmY |
But, it was that one wrong decision that lead to the end of a promising basketball career. Williams had a conversation with Oprah about how much the setback affected his life and how he is still seeking to forgive himself for it to this day.
Some of the injuries related to players may just be unfortunate situations, but athletes should always be conscious of how valuable their bodies are to them. Other tragic incidents are the result of poor judgement and sometimes they are just freak accidents. However, whether it is in sports or everyday life; people should always be aware of protecting what makes them money.
I.E.: If your voice makes you money then you should take the proper precautions to conserve your voice.Always protect the money maker, or else you might just have a harder time making it.
Sadly, that is something that Jason Pierre-Paul and many other athletes have had to learn the hard way.
