I think there are two different types of unwritten rules in sports. There are the rules that players follow, which I assume begins with something like: “don’t throw your teammate under a bus.” Then there are the rules that we, as watchers and commentators, have, which start with something along the lines of “players should play hard” and “players should care about rivalries” and includes “players should be approachable and likeable but also tough and, when appropriate, cruel.”
As is often pointed out, the rules we want players to follow aren’t always the unwritten rules that they do follow (cut to a patented Bill Simmons joke about Johnny Damon nodding in the corner). But I think there’s one that both players and fans tend to agree on: players shouldn’t be blamed for one injury. There’s a line, of course: players who refuse to play through any pain, players who don’t seem to care so long as they’re receiving their paycheck, players who just want a day off—these players are fair game, according to the unwritten rules, but we’re not allowed to lambaste someone for having a bone broken. We generally assume that they would have liked to avoid that outcome as much as anyone.
This is especially true with what you might call “robber” injuries. You know what I’m talking about—Orr’s knees, Koufax’s elbow, Bo’s hip. These are the most extreme examples, maybe, injuries that quite possibly stole GOAT-level players from us, but there are dozens of others of players who took a freak hit (Neely), who were overworked (Bird), or whose bodies just broke down early (Walton). We don’t blame these players for having to end it too soon; instead, we regret it, and curse the sports gods for their fickle nature, and start muttering to ourselves whenever a baseball player breaks a wrist, a basketball player blows an ACL, or a hockey player gets a concussion.[1]
