Cursed
Sometimes I think this is a cursed sports town.
Last season, despite a youth movement, the Rockets endured injuries that saw all of their key players out of the lineup for long stretches of the year, and they regressed from their near-playoff status of the prior year. (Incidentally, that Steve Francis is hurt already, albeit with a "minor injury," must be a concern).
And this year, the Astros had to endure Jeff Bagwell's shoulder and production from him that was well below what one might expect for someone with his contract. Also troubling are the persistent rumors that the injury is no longer really an injury, but a chronic condition that may never improve.
But nothing really compares to the announcement today that Tony Boselli will miss the rest of the season. The Texans made him the first pick in the expansion draft, and assumed one HELL of a contract for a player that they KNEW had some question marks about his health. Just a few weeks ago, the Texans were pretending that Boselli was just about ready to join the lineup after yet another surgery -- apparently to try to put down some persistent rumors that Boselli might never play again. Now, Boselli's agent even admits he may never play again (although you have to go to a source OTHER than the Chron for that tidbit:
Agent Tom Mills told ESPN.com that there has been much speculation that Boselli will retire, but the only immediate decision is that the tackle will shut things down for this season, with his future to be re-evaluated at another time.Way back in August, I wrote that the Tony Boselli pick is probably the only bad move the Texans have made. But it's a REALLY bad one that's looking worse all the time."Who knows if he can ever play again?" Mills said. "But this isn't the time for that decision. He'll save that one for another day. The prudent thing was to decide he couldn't play this year, to keep rehabilitating, and to see where he's at heading into 2003."
It's the Houston curse.
(10-16-02) Tom Coughlin, coach of Boselli's former team, says his organization never misled anybody about Boselli's health. I actually believe him. The Texans made this blunder all on their own. But Coughlin still has to be happy they did, and freed up the Jags' cap space for a player who is physically unable to perform.
[Posted at 17:32 CST on 10/15/02] [Link]