he started developing post concussion syndrome symptoms and has been held out the last 2 days in practice. He's getting up there as an athlete and head injuries are nothing to mess around with...is this the beginning of the end?
I think the title is a bit dramatic, but once I heard Martino mention during Sunday's game that Pablo felt he was one bad concussion away from retirement I was pretty sure 2012 will be his last season. His contract is expiring anyway and I'm sure Pareja, with his history, will be more than happy to have Pablo as a coach if that's what Pablo wants to do next.
I'm hoping he makes it through the season and then gets a testimonial game. After so many years with the Rapids, he's earned it.
I suspect Oscar is working on a plan B (No P). At least I hope he is. Does anyone* know what the personnel/cap implications are should Pablo simply retire midseason? * By anyone I, of course, mean Jason
There is nothing specific in the roster rules about a mid-season retirement. Its not something that I can remember the league ever having to handle before. There is a rule for buying out a player's contract (as the Sounders did with O'Brien White today): I know that in other American leagues a player that retires immediately stops receiving any salary and as such, stops counting against a team's budget. I would hope something similar would happen in MLS. I know that if you bring in a player in the midseason transfer window his salary cap hit is prorated to only count for as much as you actually pay him for the season. I would think something similar could be applied if a player retires mid-season.
In answer to the thread title, way too early to say with this kind of injury. Keep in mind Pablo came back to training camp supposedly 100% and not feeling the effects. That said, three things: 1) Very weird he wasn't wearing the headgear last week. If he wants to extend his career he should be taking every precaution. 2) It pains me to say, it's time to find a backup plan and start phasing it in, fast. Maybe that is someone on our roster right now (Rivero? Labeaux?), maybe not. But with the nature of concussions, we should treat every minute we get from Pablo this season as a bonus, not as granted. 3) ******** Jamison Olave and FSL.
Concussions are very serious injuries and I hope if Pablo does play this week that he is truly cleared by medical staff. I also would not doubt if this is his last year. Pablo has been the face of the Rapids for some time now and surely deserves a coaching opportunity or work in some other capacity with the Rapids when his career comes to a close. Best of luck to Pablo and I hope he doesn't suffer any more head injuries.
Would be sad if Pablo can't come back from a series of bad knocks to the head. Pablo would be missed.
Have you seen his shin guards? Doctors will tell him to wear helmet or one of those total 90 things and Pablo will just grab a normal headband! Back to being serious - I too think it is a little too early to call this, but it is disconcerting. As for his backup, well, I think we all have been talking about how it is kind of strange to fit Pablo and Jeff into the same lineup in a 4-3-3. Pablo is the one that I would say has been playing "out of position" so I think it would be easy to replace him in the starting lineup by introducing Rivero or Casey (once they can play until then Amerikwa or Akpan?) into the line up and shuffling pieces appropriately. The bigger problem this poses though is that Pablo was the obvious replacement in the pivot position that Ginja has been playing. Who can fill that role? I think the Rapids thought they had a year to figure that out, sadly they may not have that long.
It appears inevitable that this is happening. Pablo's number 25 should be on the wall of honor immediately. And a bobble-head too.
I'm not ready to write him off yet but when the end does come I completely agree with his name going right on the wall and finally getting another Rapids bobblehead.
Is it fitting for Mastroeni, a victim of too many knocks to the head, to be depicted in a bobblehead?
If he's still got symptoms at this point, I'd lean heavily toward making him a coach now rather than later. He's got a lot to teach, and I'd much rather move him to that role than try to keep playing him at the risk of permanently debilitating head trauma. Sucks, 'cause I really like watching him play, but knowing what I know, I'd be super-stressy watching because I'd be too concerned with whether this is the game that takes him out forever.
http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2012/04/02/concussion-sideline-mastroeni-least-six-more-weeks Out for six weeks minimum.
Now I'm starting to think he's going to retire and not come back. We'll see how he's doing in 6 weeks though. The earliest he could play would be the May 19th home game against KC. If he does decide he can't play anymore I'd love to see him suit up for one last game and get a couple minutes in stoppage time as the third sub. Even if he just stands in the center circle as Omar holds the ball in the corner to kill off the last minute of a win, I'd like to see him be able to leave the field his own way, not due to injury.
Obviously Pablo's uncertain comments lend credence to this thought, but let's be fair here: it's just six weeks. You wouldn't be saying a guy's career is over if he had a 6 week injury anywhere else on his body. Brain injuries are obviously a completely different set of circumstances, but as far as we know, he's only had the one concussion. Perhaps having a total of two months off (if you include the last two weeks) will be enough for him to recover. After all, he was supposedly symptom free by early February from his late October concussion. I don't feel we've heard enough yet to cross the line of cautious optimism into full-on pessimism.
The lack of sleep for him is worrying, and I wouldn't be surprised if that's a minor cause of the lingering headaches. Hopefully that is anxiety-driven instead of concussion-driven, because the former is a lot easier to overcome than the latter. I think at this point, Pablo needs to accept that his playing days may be over, and any additional games after this will be his final ones. Two concussions in seven months - really not good.
as someone who has dealt with pcs after a serious concussion then came back and got hurt again i know what he's going through its a really scary time the insomnia is maddening and the headaches are crushing , and i dont just mean the pain i mean the fact that they dont go away is demoralizing... and its not pessimism... its realism. I think he knows its time
I don't discount your experience or the pain of dealing with PCS. I just personally see Pablo saying "6 weeks" instead of "I'm done" as a sign he doesn't think it's yet time, and wants to give it at least one last shot.
