By KEVIN DING
Here's the X-ray of my broken left fibula suffered March 18 in the last inning of our softball championship game. Guy slid into the back of my leg as I was tagging him out at second base for the first out of the inning. I needed a delay to shake off what I certainly didn't believe to be a broken leg but just as certainly found hard to get up from; the umpire made me do some test jogging (leg buckled on first attempt) and take three test throws (second two were fine). Unfortunately, the opposition scored the tying and go-ahead runs to win the title before we could get the last two outs -- me having to range over from shortstop to take the final cut-off throw from the outfield and make the desperation relay home. Despite trying not to put any weight on my left leg, I felt a popping sensation on that throw near the ankle, which I later felt more often and eventually was told is the bone moving around the ankle joint because it is no longer attached above.
I went straight from the softball field to Staples Center to limp badly around and cover the Lakers' game that night. That wasn't fun. The next day, I went to the doctor at Maggie's behest, still believing it was a deep calf bruise or something, but the X-ray showed the damage. The doctor was pretty excited; I'm guessing he takes a million X-rays and rarely sees a break.
It has been two weeks since (and maybe two or four more to come), with some crutches early on until the pain became at least tolerable to walk on with this Aircast up almost to my knee. It has not been fun -- first broken bone of my life, 40 years in -- but at least it has validated my sense of self-determination in playing through and working through that night. (I'll note here for my kids to read in future years that the big scar on my right leg is from a metal spike ripping through my leg as I crawled back to third base in a second-grade recess kickball game so that I wouldn't be tagged out.)
Once I informed Lakers public-relations VP John Black that it was diagnosed as a broken leg, this was his email about me finishing the game at shortstop and covering the Lakers' game that night: "What a (bleeping) stud!!!!!!! And we thought Kobe was tough…"
Too bad we didn't win the championship, though. Would've been a really good story then.
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