A real man is someone who never backs down, half-asses a job, or gives up. A real man finds way to learn something from every experience. A real man finds a way to succeed regardless of the pain caused from a situation or the obstacles that are ahead of him.
If there is an elite fraternity of real men, Aron Ralston, Nolan Ryan and Evil Knievel are all members. And Rob Summers of the Oregon State baseball team just got his letters.
Summers is a real man. He is working his tail off, finding a way to learn from the worst possible situation. I’ve heard about finding the silver lining, or looking at the bright side, but this is ridiculous. Anyone that looks for pain as a good sign for anything is manly.
I don’t know how many of you keep up on current events outside of the immediate sports world, but on July 12 Summers was victim one of the most shocking crimes, a hit and run. Most of the details on the accident are unknown but he was outside his apartment complex when he was hit. He has been in the hospital recovering from injury ever since.
That’s not the real story here. That would be too easy. Summers doesn’t want to just sit in a hospital and wait for his body to heal. He is working toward his recovery harder than I work for “fan mail”. Summers has been moved from Legacy Emanuel Hospital to the Rehabilitation Institute of Oregon at Good Samaritan Hospital. Now everyday he wakes up, ready for treatment and ready to make headway.
Summers will go through four to six hours of physical therapy a day for another six to eight weeks. Even the doctors are saying he is making good progress thus far. Who would argue? Any person that gets hit by a car and is able to talk about it has made damn good progress already. And on top of that he is regaining feeling in his lower extremities. In my book that equals damn good progress.
Late last week when he was beginning to have some feeling in his ankle, it was pain. That’s fine with him. Since getting that ache he has also had feeling in his shins and calves.
Dude makes Chuck Norris look like Jan from The Brady Bunch. Jan could barely take a football to the nose, but Summers took a full frontal from a car and came out on top.
Forget those Chuck Norris one-liners, I know Rob Summers one-liners will be catching on soon. I can just see it: when life gives Rob Summers lemons, he makes wine or Rob Summers tears cure cancer, too bad he never cries. Really, find me another baseball player in the history of life that has beaten a car. In fact, how many people do you know that have taken on a car, and been able to tell you about it?
I don’t know any.
Props to Robbie for being a real man. Use whatever metaphor you want here. At rehab he said that he is enjoying getting out of his hospital bed and he is learning from his experience while working towards a full recovery. I bet 99 percent of the population would throw in the towel after something like this, and he is taking it as a learning experience and a chance to grow.
Time will tell if he can return as a pitcher for the Oregon State bullpen. If he does, imagine the metal capacity this kid will have. After coming back from this, I can’t see him getting rattled in a game after giving up a two-run shot or complaining after taking a line shot to the chest.
Regardless of the outcome he is the epitome of a true O. State Baller. He is more of a man than me, you, and anyone you know. I promise.
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