What could have been........

There is a special type of sports discussion that revolves around what could have been IF a player did not get injured. One of the greatest examples is Mickey Mantle. His infamous injury suffered by getting his cleats stuck in a drain that altered his career. Mantle was strong and fast and not only the star of the future for the Yankees BUT a player with a combination of power and speed that had never been seen before. This injury changed a lot of that, as Mantle was never the same. At least his brilliant talent was seen. In the case of 7 foot 3 inch Arvida Sabonis the Lithuanian Center who played several years for the Soviet Union until the USSR crumbled, the American sports fan got to see a tiny sliver of his talent before injuries hampered his accomplishments (most notably in the 1992 Olympics where the Lithuania team won Bronze). He also played several seasons for the Portland Trailblazers, after many injuries, and definetely past his prime.

My friend sent me the link to the Grantland story by Jonathan Abrams on Arvidas Sabonis: http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/6867508/arvydas-sabonis-long-strange-trip

Perhaps Ted sent it to me because he remembers I used to proudly wear my Lithuania tie dye shirt in our college years (you remember the Grateful Dead helped sponsor the team). You can still buy the t-shirt here:
http://skullman.com/
The article is good and brings back the discussions of what could have been if players did not have injuries that altered their career forever. Any basketball fan should read it for the many quotes from Bill Walton...... entertaining even though often kooky.

Walton of course being one of the best examples of a tremendous talent who dealt with injuries preventing him form having a long elite career.

Other examples that come to mind are : Houston Astros pitcher J.R. Richard, let's hope Stephen Strasburg recovers, the recent retirement of Yao Ming, Bo Jackson, Donnie Baseball fits in here since he never got to play in a World Series game, etc.

If I come up with some more examples I will add them to the comments.