Broken Fibula - Again!

[jonathan]

I've never bought the claim that Booth's clean getaway proves he didn't break his leg jumping from the stage. At least since I learned the fibula does not bear weight.

I've been an athlete my entire life and I know for a fact that there is a lot you can play through. I once yanked my shoulder out of socket swinging a golf club. After pacing back and forth a minute wondering what to do, I just shoved it back in with the other hand and went about my business. It's happened two or three times since then and each time I've done the same thing. Now of course it hurt, but it certainly wasn't anything that couldn't be played through. Even now, at 43 years old, I still play softball a lot. Occasionally, I'll have some kind of injury that really makes me wonder if I might have to sit out a game or two. But virtually every time, once I get on the field and the blood starts to flow, the injury takes a back seat. That's just the way it is with adrenaline. There are also injuries that just don't show themselves the way you would think. I once knew a guy who lifted weights a lot. At some point, he tore a pectoral muscle, but didn't even know it. He found out one night when he went to pick up his daughter and hit it just right and felt the pain.

Now, I'm not saying that I absolutely believe Booth broke his leg jumping to the stage. The claim that he broke it getting thrown from the horse does make a lot of sense. I'm just saying that I truly believe he could have broken it jumping and still made a clean getaway, showing no sign of injury. In fact, in my mind, I know he could have. As far as the encounter at the Navy Yard Bridge with Cobb, I wouldn't imagine the adrenaline rush would have even started to wear off that quickly. As a couple of others have pointed out, in these situations, the worst of the pain usually comes later. That's exactly what happened to Booth. But I'm with Laurie, I think it's mostly irrelevant because I also believe he was going to Mudd's anyway.

Now, of course there are injuries that can't be ignored, but a lot can be played through if one has the motivation. Booth certainly had the motivation and a huge adrenaline rush. Throw in the fear factor that Herb pointed out, the boot that Laurie pointed out, add it up and we have something that's barely worth mentioning as evidence of anything. At least that's how I feel.

I agree that the Manteo Mitchell injury is a very interesting coincidence. I looked him up and it made me think of something else interesting, in a stupid kind of a way. He is from North Carolina, same as me. In High School, there was always a group of seniors headed to Western Carolina, which is in Cullowhee, in the NC mountains. One day, somebody asked one of our teachers where Cullowhee was, and he replied that "it's about as far west as you can go and still be in NC". Manteo Mitchell is from Cullowhee (about as far west as you can go in NC), but his name, Manteo, is of course the same as the name of Manteo, NC, which is on the Outer Banks, about as far east as you can go in NC. I wonder if that was intentional on the part of his parents or just a coincidence.