He’s doing WHAT?!

It has been reported by several sports news outlets that Shawne Merriman of the San Diego Chargers will forgo season ending knee surgery to repair two torn ligaments in his left knee.  He has made this decision despite the warnings that doing so could lead to further damage to the knee, which COULD very likely result in a career ending scenario.  I was always under the impression that once a ligament in the knee was torn your season was over.  The knee, however, consists of 4 ligaments: ACL, MCL, PCL, and LCL.

If the ACL or MCL (or both) are torn, you can forget about the rest of your season (see: Woods, Tiger).  However, the PCL and LCL aren’t as major to the stability of the knee and can be played on.  Of course, as mentioned earlier, risks do apply.

Personally, I can’t wait for the day when a 300lb offensive lineman pulls on a sweep and… 

So to quickly recap, Merriman has done the math:

Miss one year and gain another 10

OR

Play one and possibly miss out on another 10

And he came away with straight A’s.   

Merriman was quoted as saying, “To be as simple as possible, I just want to play football.”

Apparently for not as long as one would expect.