“Are you hurt or are you injured?” was a question asked by Coach Dick whenever someone got hurt in practice or in game. Coach was a tall thin man who was constantly seen wearing an aged school cap and an all-knowing smirk. He believed the T formation was never improved upon, and all those other offenses were just cowboy showoff shit! He was a strong proponent of iron man football, and he had no qualms about having people play both ways all game whether they were able to or not. However, he did it in a way that left the “choice” up to you. If you’re hurt, you can still play. If you’re injured, you need medical attention. This led to a weird grey area of players mummifying their arms with white tape in order to play with broken wrists or taping their ankles into immobile stumps in order to hobble onto the field. I walked onto the team as a freshman and quickly learned the hard way what the question “Are you hurt or are you injured?” meant.
One practice, I was playing defense against the starting varsity offense. I took a hard hit from a 6’4″ 280 pound senior tackle. And something just snapped in my shoulder. Pain began shooting down my left arm and up my neck. I went up to Coach Dick and he said, “Son, are you hurt or are you injured?” I squeezed out an, “I think I’m injured Coach.” He looked at me disapprovingly and put me on the sideline. The whistle blew soon after marking the start of calisthenics. I watched from the sideline of the 50-yard line as Coach Dick lined the players up for full field suicides. Right before everyone starts running, Coach Dick turns to me and with cupped hands booms, “Son, you may have got injured, but you don’t run on your shoulder do you?!”
I had to run the suicides with my left hand dangling limp beside me. All the coaches seemed to enjoy the spectacle. That night the doctor told me I DID break a bone in my shoulder. Thanks, Coach Dick!
