For everyone who's read Mike's latest . . .

Mike, I have a question for you: why, exactly, did the Vikings allow this to happen? It's not simply a human tragedy -- we're talking about a team captain and an All-Pro player; this is a tremendous loss for the team. I don't understand why someone in the organization didn't intervene and say, "You're not playing today," or "Fine, but you have to come off the field as soon as you feel bad," or "Only until 11 a.m.," or something similar.

Of course, I also don't really understand why they would hold workouts in such conditions in the first place. And I'm not talking about it from a player's perspective like you were, about who's a wimp and who's a team player; I'm talking about management needing to protect valuable investments.

I haven't been following the case in a lot of detail, so maybe there was some intervention. But it just seems to me like someone in the organization really dropped the ball, so to speak.

-- Anonymous, August 06, 2001

Answers

Here's the problem ... it's not quite that simple.

The point of the training camp workouts is to toughen the players up for the regular season. You work out all the off-season cheesecake and Krispy Kreme dinners, and become a lean, mean fighting machine for the regular season. If you don't, you can wear down in December and January, when the playoff race heats up. You want those valuable investments in peak shape for when the bills come due in the winter.

It's hard to tell a guy like Stringer "You can't practice." He's a grown man ... and also a team captain, so he's setting an example. It's a part of the athletic culture that, to an extent, you want a guy like Stringer going as hard as he can for as long as he can, because that sets an example for your other players.

One consequence of all of this is that the early practices are brutal. Even if you work out and watch your diet all off-season, it's ard to prepare for the rigors of camp. Lineman throwing up multiple times is a pretty common occurence, so I doubt team management was too concerned at Stringer's sickness. That was a tragic mistake.

-- Anonymous, August 06, 2001

But why do it in extreme heat? You can work a guy out till he's puking just as easily in an air-conditioned facility. More easily, in fact, because he won't be losing so much sweat to the heat, and won't get dehydrated as quickly.

As someone (I think it was George Vecsey in the New York Times) pointed out, teams are as likely to play in extreme cold than in extreme heat, but that doesn't mean they practice in sub-zero temperatures.

And of course Stringer wouldn't want to take himself out, for the very reasons you mentioned. That's when cooler heads are supposed to step in. Does it set an example to the team that the man literally worked himself to death, and now they're short a friend and an All- Pro linebacker?

The one good thing that might come out of this is that now when similar situations come up, someone can say, "Look, I don't want you to go the way of Korey Stringer," and the player (or others pressuring him to play) might listen to reason.

-- Anonymous, August 06, 2001

I hope that does, indeed, happen.

I think the point of working out in the heat is to make camp as hard as possible. You want this to be grueling, so your players are prepared for the season. You want those pounds melting off.

And I think the Stringer thing happened because nobody considered it a possibility that he would die of heatstroke. They should have. High school coaches certainly should, since it happens a lot more often there. But if you don't think a professional football player in decent shape can die of heatstroke, you're not going to be too worried when he starts throwing up. By the time you do start worrying, it's too late.

-- Anonymous, August 06, 2001

You want those pounds melting off.

Does that actually happen? I was under the impression that weight lost during workouts (especially in the heat) is actually sweat, i.e. water stored in the body, and thus it's not necessarily a good thing to drop a couple pounds in the course of a workout.

-- Anonymous, August 06, 2001

For those of you with HBO, there's a new series called "Hard Knocks" (I believe). It's documentary-style and it follows the Baltimore Ravens' (current) training camp.

I was shocked. *Shocked* that there was no mention of Stringer, even though the coach talked extensively about keeping them healthy etc. etc. and it's being filmed right now.

It was incredibly enlightening.

edited because I can't ever keep "coach" and "couch" straight.

-- Anonymous, August 10, 2001