The world according to Jim:
• Have you, too, begun taking extra care not to do anything that might rupture your Achilles tendon? …
• “Epidemic” isn’t exactly the right terminology, is it? Or maybe it is. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines the noun as “an outbreak of disease that spreads quickly and affects many individuals at the same time” or “an outbreak or product of sudden rapid spread, growth, or development.” The Oxford English Dictionary adds this figurative definition: “A sudden, widespread occurrence of a phenomenon, typically an undesirable phenomenon.”
No kidding. You can’t catch it by exposure, last I checked, but darned if we haven’t had a sudden widespread occurrence in just the past few weeks. …
• The NBA playoffs, of course, were greatly affected by Achilles injuries. Damian Lillard of the Milwaukee Bucks ruptured his in Game 4 of the first round against Indiana. Boston’s Jayson Tatum tore his in the Eastern Conference semifinals against the New York Knicks. And Tyrese Haliburton tore his at the saddest possible moment, in the early stages of Game 7 of an NBA Finals hardly anybody had expected Indiana to reach. …
• But here’s where I wonder if there’s really something to the “epidemic” characterization. Thursday night, former UCLA and Angels pitcher Griffin Canning threw a pitch for the New York Mets, planted his left leg and then went down. Afterward, New York manager Carlos Mendoza confirmed that it “looks like an Achilles injury.” …
• So folks, just be careful out there, especially if you are a weekend warrior on the basketball court, softball field or even the golf course. …
• The NBA had seven Achilles injuries in 2024-25 – well above the league’s previous average of 1.3 per season – with James Wiseman, Isaiah Jackson, Dejounte Murray and Dru Smith getting hurt in the regular season before the three playoff injuries. Epidemic? Preventable? You judge. …
• Given all of these scenes of players collapsing in agony as that particular tendon gave way, this might be one of the most unforgettable sports moments of all: The night of April 10, 2013, when Kobe Bryant tore his left Achilles tendon in a game against Golden State – and, stubbornly, got to his feet and made two free throws before, in the description of Register beat writer Kevin Ding, “limping off to the locker room.” …
• Which leads us to today’s quiz: When did Bryant make his next game appearance after that injury? Answer below.
• ESPN’s Maria Larson discussed the possible causes with several medical experts, and Dr. Nirav Pandya, professor of orthopedic surgery at UC San Francisco, noted: “As the season goes on, you see a lot of these calf injuries crop up from the wear and tear of playing an explosive game.” In other words, overuse. …
• NBA commissioner Adam Silver has indicated the league is researching the possible reasons for the increase. Here’s a layman’s suggestion: Adjust the schedule. Eliminate back-to-backs. Maybe reduce the number of games, too, even if that means going to the NBPA and negotiating a pro-rated adjustment in salaries in recognition of that lost revenue.
I mean, shouldn’t player safety be first and foremost? Wear and tear adds up. …
• It’s happening in soccer, too. The USMNT lost forward Haji Wright for the remainder of the CONCACAF Gold Cup because of an Achilles “injury,” though he didn’t appear to have torn it. MLS Orlando City SC midfielder Wilder Cartagena, NWSL Seattle forward Veronica Latsko and Manchester City’s Mateo Kovacic are all out because of Achilles issues. And given what we wrote earlier this week about overloaded schedules in that sport, maybe it shouldn’t be much of a surprise. …
• Quiz answer: Kobe returned to the court Dec. 8, 2013, less than eight months after the injury, but he only played six games that season before breaking a bone in his knee and sitting out the rest of the ’13-14 season. The Achilles injury, suffered at age 35, might have been the beginning of the end of his career. …
• In Thursday’s Audible, among the things colleague Mirjam Swanson and I discussed was a proposal within the halls of the NCAA to pull down the guardrails that prohibit college athletes and staffers from betting on professional sports. And I made the observation that the 2018 Supreme Court decision to legalize sports betting nationwide was a mistake. …
• Here’s another reason why: The toxic combination of gambling and social media has created an atmosphere where an individual who loses a bet is apt to attack the player or players they deem to be at fault. Then again, it’s not necessarily just disgruntled gamblers who are contributing to the toxicity. …
• The Chicago fan banned for life from MLB parks for his over-the-line heckling of Arizona’s Ketel Marte is just the most recent example. Jordan Whitlock, the wife of Boston Red Sox pitcher Garrett Whitlock, posted some of the threatening DMs her husband had received after a bad outing, with the message: “No one should have to deal with this in any work setting. Leave people’s families out of it. That line should not be crossed. This is not ‘a part of the game.’ This is unacceptable.”
Isn’t it awfully discouraging that we need to be reminded this is unacceptable?
jalexander@scng.com