Krause: Injured Cutler should be saluted, not scorned

This past Sunday, Jay Cutler – perhaps in total innocence – reinforced the negative image most people who follow NFL football have of him.He did this not by throwing a crucial interception as his team was driving for the tying touchdown (his replacement, Caleb Hanie, did that); and not by fumbling a snap in the end zone, giving the other team – the one his defense had just stopped on the goal line – a safety (thank you, Big Ben).No. Cutler did it by either removing himself from Sunday’s NFC championship game, or being removed by his coach. Take your pick. No one can seem to come up with the definitive answer (sort of sounds like the Roger Clemens-John McNamara ’round-and-’round following Game 6 in 1986).The purpose here isn’t to criticize Cutler’s performance – though, truth be told, I was more worried about the Packers losing after he left than I was while he was in there. The purpose is to examine the furor over his injury.Once Cutler left the game, the tweets started. And they ranged from simply calling his “alleged” injury into question all the way up to calling him a coward. And these were just from NFL players, who should really know better.This brings to mind a long-held belief of mine that injuries in sports are only as serious as the popularity of the person who is injured. Cutler is not the world’s most beloved quarterback, so if he gets hurt, a lot of misdirected disdain about him as a player gets manifested by his peers questioning his heart. Even Trent Dilfer, on the WWL, chimed in – questioning Cutler’s heart and fortitude for opting out of Sunday’s game. Apparently, Dilfer’s one Super Bowl ring now qualifies him to be an orthopedist. Who knew?But the more important issue here is this: How does anyone who doesn’t feel a man’s pain know the extent of the man’s injury? In my years of playing and covering sports, I heard it said, often, that there’s a difference between pain and injury, and athletes should learn it.My attitude then is the same as it is now: Oh, REALLY? Please explain.Pro athletes make their livings with their bodies. They also work in a highly competitive environment where one injury – even a serious one – can have catastrophic ramifications on a career. And that’s not simply because the injury itself might threaten a livelihood. Or haven’t you ever heard of Wally Pipp?No pro athlete in his right mind – and especially someone such as Cutler, who can never be confused as being among the NFL’s elite quarterbacks – is simply going to walk off the field in the middle of the biggest game of his life. Nor is someone like Jacoby Ellsbury going to fake his way through an entire season, knowing that if he does, he’s going to be questioned for it.It’s more likely that it’s the other way around ? athletes of all ages are petrified of leaving the field of their own volition lest some unenlightened cretin of a coach label him soft. This happens when the athletes are 15, 20, 25, 30 and all ages in between and over.This is why players like Dustin Pedroia tried to rush back into the lineup last summer when common sense (not to mention his own organization) should have been much more cautious. But then again, Pedroia had to have been paying attention when all the whispering about Ellsbury within the Red Sox organization started, so who can blame him?One of the ugly little secrets of team sports is that coaches often coerce their players into stepping onto the field while they’re less than whole. Players buy into this, thinking it makes them appear tough. But all it does is prolong the recovery process of the injuries and perhaps make it less likely that they’ll ever completely heal.Also, we romanticize the whole “playing in pain” phenomenon until we get pathetic creatures like Brett Favre, who just took the whole thing to ridiculous extremes. Sadly, this is what our kids are fed. They think it’s cool to go out there three days after nearly having their arms ripped out of their sockets for the sake of looking tough.