Bowl Game Tap Out: DomTech's Take

Christian McCaffrey is not the first high-profile player to decide to sit out of his team’s bowl game, and we predict he will not be the last. Jaylon Smith’s worst case scenario example is worrisome to players who have millions of dollars of future earning potential on the line based on their draft status. Jaylon was injured in Notre Dame’s Fiesta bowl game against Ohio State last year. Entering the game, he was widely projected to be a top-5 NFL Draft pick. During the game, he suffered an ACL and MCL tear and was dropped to a second-round pick. This resulted in Jaylon receiving a $4.4 million guaranteed offer from Dallas, in comparison to the actual 5th overall pick, Jalen Ramsey, who joined the Jaguars for $22.9 million guaranteed. 

Obviously, there is a risk for injury in every game played as a college athlete, but when the regular season is over and every team’s national status has been set, why should players participate in a bowl game that is nothing more than a profit machine for the industry? 

When the first six bowl games were established in the 1930’s the NCAA was outraged by their existence “because they serve no sound educational ends, and such promotions merely trade upon intercollegiate football for commercial purposes.” By the 1980’s the bowls were being sponsored by major corporations and were paying schools more and more money to come participate at their locations. Fans then began pushing for the bowls to help crown a national champion, and by the 1990’s the Orange, Fiesta, Sugar and Rose Bowls came together to establish the Bowl Championship Series.

Yes, the BCS, and now the College Football Playoff that has replaced it, helps to give purpose to bowl season and allows one team to be the reining national champion, which is worthy post-season motivation to play.  But the origin of the bowl games is rooted in profitability and greed. The non-CFP games exist solely for profitability and have meaningless outcomes, so why risk becoming the next Jaylon Smith horror story?

Some believe McCaffrey is abandoning his team and being selfish in his decision to sit out of the game, but he has received nothing but support and understanding from his coach and his team. Much of the media is also supportive of his decision and are predicting that this is a trend that will gain traction over the upcoming seasons. Why should players risk their personal financial status just to play in a game designed to make money for other big wigs? We say good for you McCaffrey, see you in Indy.

-Emily De Lena

Hamstring Injuries: Why they happen and how to deal

At all levels of sport, hamstring injuries remain one of the most challenging injuries to deal with. Most commonly seen in track, football, and soccer¹, hamstring strains present a challenge to all athletic trainers and physical therapists, as evidenced by the high rate of reoccurrence: almost 1/3 of athletes with hamstring injuries are reinjured within a year².  With how difficult these injuries are to treat, what’s the best way to attack rehab and return athletes to their prior level of sport?

              Having worked track and field as an athletic trainer for 5 years now, this remains one of the toughest and persistent injuries I deal with every year. There are many risk factors that need to be evaluated and addressed, from the core and pelvis all the way down to the foot and ankle¹. The majority of initial hamstring injuries I evaluate are not caused by insufficiency at the hamstring itself; rather, this seems to be where weaknesses elsewhere in the kinetic chain manifest themselves and cause injury. On the other hand, eccentric weakness in the hamstring muscle after injury has been consistently identified as a risk factor for re-injury^1,3.

Rehabilitation of hamstring strains needs to target all these deficits. In my rehab, I initially target the glute muscle in all 3 planes of motion while the hamstring itself begins to heal, as I’ve found that the vast majority of athletes do not effectively use the glutes. I’ll also use functional core exercises in the initial phase. As the hamstring heals and we are able to begin rehabilitating the muscle itself, I’ll begin more complex motions involving the core, glutes, and hamstrings together in a more functional manner, re-evaluating frequently to determine when to best let the athlete return to jogging, running, and finally, sprinting and return to sport. In every case, I discuss with the athletes the importance of continuing a maintenance rehab program to minimize the risk of agonizing re-injury.

             

-Chip Wintringham

1.     Heiderscheit BC, Sherry MA, Silder A, Chumanov ES, Thelen DG. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther. 2010 Feb;40(2):67-81

2.     Foreman TK, Addy T, Baker S, Burns J, Hill N, Madden T. Prospective studies into the causation of hamstring injuries in sport: a systematic review. Physical Therapy in Sport 2006;7:101–109.

3.     Orchard J, Best TM. The management of muscle strain injuries: an early return versus the risk of recurrence. Clin J Sport Med 2002;12:3–5. [PubMed: 11854581]