Echo

Derrick Rose is a professional basketball player for the Chicago Bulls. On April 28th of last year, he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his knee during a game. In the ten months since his surgery, he has, by all accounts, done his rehab like a madman to get back on the court. In fact, his doctor has termed him fit and ready to play again.

But to hear Derrick Rose talk, he still seems to be miles away from returning.

In a interview last month with USA Today, he said he was in the "high 80s" as far as being back to 100 percent healthy. But a month later, he didn't want to put a percentage on his recovery. "It could be tomorrow and I feel like I could play the next game," said Rose. "Nobody knows but God." Rose, 24, reiterated that he had no date in mind after which he would consider it too late to come back this season.

The reason this hit home with me was in relation to the injury I had back in May of 2010 in which I popped both of my quad tendons. I had the surgery and put in the rehab work (sometimes three-a-days sessions) like WeeBay from the Wire. Around the same time period, my doctor declared me ready to return to the working world.

Physically.

When I hear DRose talk, I hear echoes of me in his language. He has said that he doesn't want to come back until he was 100% healthy. I said the same thing to my doctor. While he put up with me for a little bit, he finally gave me a metaphorical kick in the pants and urged me to get to back onto the playing field of life. When I went back to work, it was rough the first couple of weeks. But soon thereafter, it got better. The mental part kicked in. I told my doctor like Neo told Morpheus on the movie "The Matrix", "I see what you're tryin to do."

I got it.

Now I understand that the stakes are higher with Rose's legs than mine. I get that. But at the end of the day, the toughest defender you may go up against (in life) is yourself.