Tuesday, Oct. 26, 1999 | 4:28 a.m.
Ron Kantowski is sports editor of the Las Vegas Sun. Reach him at [email protected] or 259-4088. Regular sports columnist Dean Juipe is on vacation.
I'm not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV. In fact, my favorite doctors are Pepper, J, Detroit and the woman with the British accent on E.R.
Several months ago, I twisted my knee while watching TV (honest). Then this summer, I felt a sharp pain in my elbow while trying to pull-start an old lawn mower that has never had its spark plug changed.
My personal physician (as opposed to the Sun team doctor) tells me I've got loose cartilage. He said it could be fixed with surgery, but made it sound like an optional procedure that wouldn't be covered by the company health plan.
The point I'm trying to make is that if you X-rayed my knee or elbow today, you'd probably find a condition that warrants surgery.
It's probably the same deal with Orlin Norris.
If the ringside physician says he twisted his knee, even temporarily dislocated it, who am I to disagree? All I know is what I saw, and what I saw is that the guy who walked back to his corner after being whacked by Mike Tyson after the bell at the MGM Saturday didn't do so with the gait of Joe Namath. Moreover, I still haven't seen a postfight photo of Norris where he appears to be in pain.
Had it been anybody else but Tyson who delivered the blow, Norris would not have gotten off with taking a knee so lightly. The headline might have read "Knee-Jerk Reaction."
After all, boxers are supposed to be warriors.
Muhammad Ali once fought 12 grueling rounds against Ken Norton with a broken jaw. And somewhere in the Philippines, they are still mopping up DNA belonging to Ali and Joe Frazier.
But fighters aren't the only jocks who have gotten softer than the UNLV basketball schedule. As a rule, athletes just aren't as tough as they used to be. Neither are baseball players.
(Back in 1982, I saw a pasty-looking Bruce Sutter puffing away on a cigarette in the Atlanta Braves locker room. Then I saw Bob Horner naked. Now you know why I don't consider baseball players athletes.)
I used to think football players were macho. Then UNLV wide receiver Len Ware, who said minor knee surgery would not keep him from playing against archrival Nevada-Reno, did not play against UNR, Wyoming, BYE or BYU.
Either his injury was more serious than first thought, or Ware has never heard of Chuck Bednarik. Or Willis Reed. Or Mickey Mantle.
These days if you play with pain, they call you "old school." Or they feature you in a Nike spot, although frankly, I'm tired of looking at guys with cauliflower ear.
Many sports fans don't think of auto racers as athletes, but when was the last time one missed a race after crashing? I've seen Dale Earnhardt start races when he was bandaged up like King Tut. As a colleague joked, a guy who drives cars for a living could be killed in practice on Friday ... and still qualify on the outside of the second row on Saturday.
There are others with pain thresholds that are even higher than "Dharma and Greg" viewers. Cal Ripken Jr., rodeo cowboys, hockey defensemen. Make that hockey defensemen, forwards and goalies.
But given that Orlin Norris appeared to take the easy way out Saturday, it's a good thing he isn't a hockey player. In fact, he might not have what it takes to drive the team bus.
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