The Doctor Who Saved Boston

In this essay, the author

• Opines that red sox fans will not soon forget the memories that the "bunch of idiots" provided them, nor the all out assault on baseball and boston sports history.
• Opines that the most memorable image of red sox fan curt schilling's three games on an inured ankle, blood from broken sutures seeping through his sock and a look of obvious discomfort captured the hearts of every member of the nation.
• Opines that to understand the elation of the nation and the reason that it has turned curt schilling into a god in the church that cy young, ted williams, and carl yaztremski built, one must remember the predicament that the red sox were in
• Narrates how the yankees had beaten the red sox in game one of the alcs, but that familiar feeling of doom and gloom lingering just over the horizon was back.
• Analyzes how schilling, the hired gun, had not only lost the game, but looked utterly ineffective in doing so, allowing six runs in just three innings of work.
• Reports that schilling had a minor ankle injury but would pitch through it and make his start that night and would not have to go on the disabled list.
• Explains that schilling made the majority of his starts in the 2004 season only after undergoing shots of marcaine, which sportsinjuries.com describes as a long lasting local anesthesia that works by blocking nerve sensations.
• Explains that the red sox' attitude toward schilling's injury was no harm, no foul, until october 5, the beginning, and almost the end, of the 2004 playoff run.
• Describes how schilling pulled up lame after fielding a slow roller down the first base line and throwing the ball over kevin millar’s head. he was favoring the same right ankle that had been hurting him all year.
• Analyzes the feelings of anxiety that every sox fan from maine to rhode island no doubt had in the pit of their stomachs. how serious was schillings injury?
• Explains that schilling tore the tissue that covers his peroneal tendon, which sits in a small groove in the fibula and is partly responsible for moving and planting the foot.
• Explains that schilling was the tone-setter and the ace, and without him the sox would have no chance against the hated yankees.
• Opines that after pedro, things got even bleaker, with inconsistent and fragile derek lowe, aging and unpredictable knuckleballer tim wakefield, and young, playoff inexperienced bronson arroyo filling out the rotation.
• Introduces bill morgan, the red sox team doctor who helped end 86 years of playoff futility. he talked about the injury and treatment in "faith rewarded."
• Analyzes how morgan's decision to pitch was the most publicized treatment of a sports injury in history.
• Explains that the red sox front office brought in dr. george h. theodore, chief of foot and ankle service at massachusetts general hospital, to help morgan create a brace to immobilize schilling's ankle while he pitched.
• Analyzes how morgan had reebok play around with different styles of cleats to find schilling a comfortable medium.
• Explains that dr. william morgan is an orthopedic surgeon who specializes in hand surgery. he has his own private practice in brighton, but his primary work setting is in hospitals.
• Explains that morgan received his medical degree from the texas medical college and hospital in galveston, texas, and post-graduate training at the university of massachusetts medical center.
• Explains that morgan performed successful wrist surgery on one former boston red sox superstar shortstop nomar garciaparra, allowing him to come back from what could have been a career altering injury.
• Explains that morgan is not some shaky med student on his first hospital residency. he has been around the block a few times and knows his orthopedic surgery.
• Explains that morgan and the sox didn't have much time. they went in, did the procedure, gave schilling another marcaine shot, and, as they say, the rest is history.
• Describes schilling's pitching in the world series against the best hitting team in baseball, the st. louis cardinals.
• Describes schilling's dominance as he made the heralded and hyped cardinal offense look like a team of little leaguers. the sox went on to sweep the cardinals in four games, ending their 86 year dry spell of world series titles.
• Asks if schilling will be alright to pitch next year as the sox try to repeat as champs.
• Opines that curt schilling and red sox fans are on cloud nine, despite rehab and healing time. the team is world series champions for the first time in 86 years.
• Opines that the memory of curt schilling will remain with everyone who saw him pitching hurt, grimacing in the dugout, bloody sock and all, forever. he was a hero in real red socks and made more than 55,000 people from boston stand up and applaud.
• Opines that william morgan saved the 2004 boston red sox from being another team that just missed.