Pissing in

When Lyndon Johnson became president and decided not to fire the (to put it mildly) aggressively difficult J. Edgar Hoover, he summed it up with, "I'd rather have him inside the tent pissing out than outside pissing in," maybe the second-best presidential quote since Reagan survived a long battle getting some arms sales through Congress and declared "I feel like I've just crapped a pineapple."

But, as usual, I digress.

As a, uh, whatever I am, bloggist, I guess, I'm used to standing inside the tent pissing out, as it were (though I don't wear dresses, but then, maybe J. Edgar didn't shave his legs, so we're even). But this past week, Bob pissed in, and with some very worthwhile and supremely readable thoughts. He writes:

First, I love both Frazz and your blog. Second, please don't be an idiot.


You talk about not being impressed with overuse injuries like stress fractures because they're usually a result of bad judgment, yet you're exercising really bad judgment yourself. You've got soreness, which you ignore, followed by a severe shooting pain, which you're going to ignore in a different way by working around it.


Do yourself a favor and go to a good orthopedic surgeon who specializes in sports injuries, get a diagnosis, and then find a good physical therapist and get it taken care of. If you don't nip this in the bud, you may end up with surgery and restricted motion and you won't even be able to do the freestyle.


Orthopods and physical therapists are getting more and more specialized; really good ones are often hard to find. Look for someone who regularly treats the problem you have, keeps up to date on research, and is willing to try different approaches to solve your problem. Don't be afraid of switching doctors or PTs if you aren't getting results.


If you end up with an MRI on the shoulder, make sure the radiologist who reads the MRI does lots of shoulder MRIs. Believe it or not, this is more or less a specialty and can be a problem.


Four decades ago, my podiatrist sent me to the best orthopedic surgeon in town with the admonishment "Always remember, there is no minor surgery, only minor surgeons." This is a great rule of thumb to follow with all medical treatment. Treat yourself to the best, and get that problem taken care of.

Bob is right. And hopefully my response reassures Bob more than it makes it think I'm arguing. I haven't had my sports doc look at it. Not because I don't want to, and certainly not because he's anything but the very best, but because he's a little busy at the moment being one of the most important people in the state of Michigan right about now. He's the team physician for Michigan State University basketball program. But I did talk to my swimming coach, who, as an Olympic and long-time world-class IMer, has seen probably as many shoulders as my doctor. And a friend of mine is physical therapist to a number of world-class athletes himself, and he's weighed in as well. And everybody knows I'm an old fart out to have fun, not some elite ready to risk all for some brass ring. I'm resting the joint, correcting the faults that caused the problem and carefully making sure all systems are go.

And while one of my strongest desires right now is to not be the blowhard cartoonist-author-guy who pulls out of the event because his shoulder hurts, that's exactly what I'll do if I have to. Because an even stronger desire is not to be the one that had to get pulled into the boat with a bad shoulder in the middle of the San Francisco Bay.

In spite of Bob's plea, I can't promise not to be an idiot. But I sure don't want to be THAT idiot.

Thanks, Bob. You're number one in my book, so to speak.