The Daily Egyptian is published by the students of SIU at Carbondale. Except during vacations and exam weeks, The Daily Egyptian is published Monday through Friday during the fall and spring semesters and TWThF during the summer semester."

Nothing funny about hit on Sambursky

Commentary

Joel Sambursky, who for the whole season had been the gutsiest quarterback in college football, was motionless on the field. The SIU football team sat solemnly watching as Sambursky was carted off the field on a stretcher.

At that point, Joel quickly reverted from a source to a friend. There was no leg movement, no finger wiggling, nothing. He was motionless. For 20 minutes, I thought a good friend of mine was going to be confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his days. I frantically called DAILY EGYPTIAN reporter Jens Deju, who was at the game, to text message me via cell phone when he received word on Sambursky. Disgusting thoughts swirled through my mind, thoughts that should never be conjured - Joel Sambursky as a sob story. Then my cell phone vibrated and a text message from Deju said Joel had full movement and would be fine.

I heard from my sports editor Sunday that the Salukis had been on ESPN's SportsCenter. Figures; they did get pounded by a superb Delaware squad, so my initial thought it probably was a short, 15-second game recap. Embarrassing? Yes, but just.

But my editor informed me that the blindside blow put on Sambursky, which was a clean hit, aired as No. 10 on the "Not Top 10" plays of the day. He then said something that pissed me off, and it wasn't some smartass comment I had become nearly immune to after 1 1/2 years at the DE.

According to him and many others, after SportsCenter showed the hit, Linda Cohn, a SportsCenter anchor, laughed. Somehow a hit that caused an exceptional student-athlete, who has done a tremendous amount of greatness for the University, not only to the football program, to be carried away on a stretcher was humorous.

Who the hell is Linda Cohn or anyone at ESPN to laugh at Sambursky? This is the same network that has brought us riveting series such as "Playmakers." To chuckle and laugh at a strong hit is one thing when you are a spectator, but as an "objective" journalist at ESPN, how is it funny when a 20-year-old kid lies motionless on the field, his parents probably shedding tears?

Is it funny to say if you lopped Cohn's hair off, she would look like Brad Cole if he had a horrible overbite? Neigh!

The context of that "funny" hit was not just another pretty-boy quarterback getting the snot knocked out of his skull. It was people sitting on the edge of their seats in this region, a football team wondering what will be of their team leader and a mother and father and a younger brother wondering if Joel will ever walk again.

Losing by a lopsided score of 48-7, plainly said, sucks. I can understand for many of those around the area, the first thought permeating their mind was, "Oh piss, there goes the future." Living on the same floor as Sambursky last year and becoming friends with him struck as a greater shock, as it did for all those who know him on a personal level.

Everyone, especially journalists, needs to understand that an injury is never funny. It was not funny when one of my best friends, who was a projected top-five round pick in the MLB Amateur Draft, had Tommy John surgery last Tuesday and watched more than a million dollars be cut out of his elbow. And it wasn't funny when Joel was lying on a stretcher.

How can an injured kid ever be funny?