Bulls Fans Working through Fears on Derrick Rose

Derrick Rose

I was watching the Blackhawks game this past Tuesday, and of course actively tweeting as well.  (I've come to really enjoy Twitter during games, and not just the Blackhawks, but also the Bears and Bulls.  Even other sports like golf are fun to get into, with fellow fans on Twitter.)  Anyway the joke popped that as Patrick Sharp looked seriously injured, he'd probably be back in a month.  In the meantime Derrick Rose, who had sprained both ankles in Game 2 last week, would be lost for the season.  He certainly was lost for the season last year, after another serious knee injury, and was gone the entire time in the season before that for a torn ACL.

I laughed, kept it private, and decided not to play along on that bandwagon.

It's a bad joke, of course, but there's a message in it.  In another tweet, as the Bears were getting shellacked by the Patriots two Sundays ago, I had an exchange with another fan about the Bulls.  His catch phrase was If healthy, our team should represent the Eastern Conference in the NBA Final.  I said, that If is what we fans have to live with the whole season.  The fact that Rose injured himself yet again so early in the season did nothing to allay our collective anxiety.  At his behest, Coach Tom Thibodeau took him out of the lineup for two games in a row, and I agree that it's a good idea to be especially cautious with him.

But any criticism, like bad jokes, may or may not be fair to him and the team.  I will leave that point for others to judge.  Instead, I offer the idea that fans are working through that anxiety, and the awful uncertainty and fear of another injury, serious or not, befalling the superstar young man.  Maybe sort of like Peyton Manning, he'll recover in strong fashion at some point.  Then again maybe his apparent vulnerability to injury suggests that his body is not meant for the rigors of professional basketball.

We don't know, but we'll see.

Rose isn't concerned that many of the most vocal critics regarding his future are from his hometown in Chicago.

"That's Chicago, man, I'm used to it," Rose said. "Chicago is a hard place to play, I know that. They just want to see good basketball. They're just good basketball fans so I can't get mad at them."

Reference: Derrick Rose tweaks ankles in return.