When Brian Scalabrine suffered his first concussion of the season in late January, no one realized just how serious it would end up being. Doc Rivers, in fact, felt comfortable cracking a couple of jokes at Scalabrine's expense when talking about his condition.Scalabrine missed nine games but returned too early -- after suffering a blow to the neck in practice followed by a hit to the back of the head against the Nuggets on Feb. 23, he suffered another concussion. He's now sidelined indefinitely, unable to do even routine day-to-day activities without feeling the effects.
From the Boston Herald:
"You can't do anything," Scalabrine said of the last week's inactivity. "I can't watch TV for more than 30 minutes. I can't read a book. I can talk to my wife, but she gets tired of that. But I will say this: When I start trying to read a book, everything moves. I have problems with motion during the day."Dating back to college, Scalabrine has suffered at least five concussions -- and those are just the ones he knows about. In a recent article with the Sacramento Bee, Dr. David Hovda of the UCLA Brain Injury Research Center said:
"When I hear that a player has had four of them or five or six, I honestly always double that number. They have usually also had some before or in practice or in pickup games."That's a scary thought, and one that should convince the Celtics to think long and hard before clearing Scalabrine for action. He's a useful player in the right circumstances, but even with their noted lack of depth, the Celtics might want to consider shutting him down for the year.
(via CelticsBlog and TSB)
