On Tuesday morning, the Minnesota Twins revealed that their closer, Joe Nathan, had a torn ligament in his throwing arm and would likely be shut down for the 2010 season.
The subsequent barrage of texts, tweets, and comments from White Sox fans were overwhelmingly celebratory.
As one Sox fan friend of mine put it, "Hell yeah!"
There's no doubt that Nathan being removed from the equation seriously hurts the Twins' chances of winning the AL Central even though it's only the beginning of Spring Training. But the response from White Sox Nation made me wonder.
Is it right to celebrate an injury?
Color me cynical, but I think there's a very clear line between celebrating an injury and being excited about the potential impact the loss of a player on another roster could have on a team's playoff chances.
And being happy at someone else's loss is not a bad thing.
Not always.
Take, for instance, the infamous hit Charles Martin of the Packers put on Jim McMahon. Clearly, Martin was out for blood.
You can see a "hit list" on the towel hanging from his belt, and his intention was to take McMahon off the field for longer than a couple plays. History, and Bears fans, would argue that Martin might have eliminated the Bears' chances at a repeat appearance in the Super Bowl with McMahon that afternoon.
Similarly, over this past weekend we saw Matt Cooke of the Pittsburgh Penguins take a blatant cheap shot on Boston's Marc Savard. Savard has subsequently been diagnosed with a level two concussion, and his season is likely over. Cooke, by being a goon, has seriously hurt the Bruins' playoff prospects this season and the career of Savard.
Cheering for a player that goes out of his way to hurt someone is miserable, and players like Martin and Cooke should be required miss as many games as the player they hurt.
But those scenarios are dramatically different than the situation with Nathan. This is an injury that wasn't caused by someone else.
On the most basic level, I see the injury to Nathan as something that sucks for Minnesota fans. They're losing one of only two consistent closers over the past decade. The Twins are now going to have to scramble to figure out what their bullpen looks like with just a few weeks before Opening Day.
But for Sox fans...
For me, the best example of an injury worth celebrating was when Lara Flynn-Boyle, playing the part of Wayne Campbell's psycho hose beast ex, rides her bike into a parked car while harassing Wayne and Garth while they play street hockey.
That's Hollywood (or Aurora), though. This is real life.
A more real example is the devastation that hit the Red Wings roster earlier this season. Detroit lost most of their best players for a, pardon the pun, healthy part of the first half of the season to injuries, and they're now fighting for a playoff spot (at the expense of Cristobal Huet) with a month left in the season.
The line between celebrating an individual's pain and the positive ramifications on a team's postseason opportunity is absolutely something to be explored.
Any fan wants what's best for their team. Look at the excitement in Chicago over the weekend after the Bears signed Julius Peppers. The impact on the Bears' defense will be incredible. Injuries to opposing teams can be seen in the same light.
Privately, and even publically, many Bears fans hoped for the better part of the last two decades that Brett Favre would miss a couple games.
Cubs' fans wouldn't mind Albert Pujols taking a couple months off, either.
The Blackhawks are going to win the Central Division for the first time since 1992-93 this year, and the ease with which they're going to do so can be credited, in small part, to the injuries the Red Wings were dealt in October and November.
Injuries are part of the game, and should be treated as such.
So my approach to the Nathan injury is the same as it was when Johan Franzen was lost for a couple months: I'm thrilled. Not at the specific player's expense, but because a Chicago team I cheer for has increased chances of winning.
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