Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, September 28, 1993 TAG: 9309280023
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: PAUL NEEDELL NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Long
"It was kind of weird," Lageman said last week in the weight room at Weeb Ewbank Hall during the New York Jets' week off, almost a full year after the Sept. 29 knee reconstruction that wiped out his 1992 season. "Right away, I started dreaming about playing football again.
"I'd be in the middle of sleeping, dreaming of playing football, dreaming of running . . . and all of a sudden I'd fire my leg out, and `Arghhh!!' There I was, waking up in the middle of the night, sweating, and my knee's going, `ba-boom, ba-boom, ba-boom.' Just throbbing."
For Lageman, a fifth-year defensive end, the pain was overshadowed by something else. Overshadowed by doubts. "Damn, am I ever going to be able to play again?" Lageman wondered. And even more vexing, "Do I want to play again?"
This wasn't simply post-surgical depression, not in Lageman's case. Armed with a degree in economics from the University of Virginia, Lageman often has wrestled with the issue of life after football and how soon that life should begin.
Lageman's anterior cruciate ligament was shredded during a game against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sept. 13, 1992. Lageman, 25 at the time, no longer was dealing with a hypothetical situation. His future - in football or out of football? - was staring him in the face.
He laughs about it now, but Lageman used to promise himself that "if I ever had a major knee surgery, that was it for me."
He remembers being in the locker room in recent years with former offensive tackle Brett Miller and noticing his teammate's surgery-ravaged knee.
"Brett showed me his knee, and I was like, `Man, if I ever get one of them, I'll step away from the game,' " Lageman said. " `I don't want to be out there playing on a surgical knee.' Then, sure enough, I got one, and Brett's saying to me, `Yeah?' "
Lageman grinned, and added: "I told him, `Well, if I get another one of these, that's it.' But he said: `I don't think so. If you get another one, you'll be doing the same thing you're doing now - rehabbing to come back to play another game.' "
Obviously, Lageman decided the struggle was worth it. Not only is he back on the football field, but he has returned at almost peak form, earning the defensive game ball from coach Bruce Coslet after the Jets' win over the Miami Dolphins this month.
A game ball in Week 2. There's a nice symmetry to that.
"I didn't really think much about that," Lageman said. "To me, there was no irony in getting hurt in Week 2, then getting the game ball in Week 2. But getting the game ball in just my second game back was special, believe me. No doubt about it."
During his rehabilitation, Lageman had a sense of isolation from his teammates that was almost unbearable.
"You're on the `training-room team,' " Lageman said, "but it doesn't really feel like you're part of the team when you're rehabbing. So I don't really think it was the games I missed so much. It was the friendships, the camaraderie with your guys."
So Lageman dedicated himself to the rehab process.
"I decided I wouldn't just come back from this," he said, "I'd come back better."
It began with a supreme test of willpower. Lageman learned from other players who suffered similar injuries that the heavy doses of painkillers used after surgery often made them feel too lethargic to exercise. His solution: no painkillers. Lageman did not ingest a single pill after surgery.
"In fact, I brought the painkiller bottle back in for [trainer] Bob Reese after two weeks - the full bottle," Lageman said. "He went, `You didn't take any at all, did you?' "
How did Lageman cope with the pain?
"Eventually, you get so damn tired you're going to fall asleep," he said. "You sleep right through the pain."
This way, Lageman had enough energy to maintain the weight training on his upper body while beginning the series of flexion and strength exercises on his right knee.
From the day after surgery, Lageman spent about three weeks with his leg strapped into a Constant Passive Motion machine, which promotes flexibility by forcing the joint to bend.
The operation was performed on a Thursday. By Monday, Lageman was back in the weight room at the Jets' complex.
"I said to myself, `You've got a bad situation; make something good out of it,' " he said. "And I thought I'd go right back in the weight room and make my upper body better than it was before, then let my lower body catch up with everything else."
From October until training camp, Lageman put himself through about 1 1/2 hours of rehab a day, six days a week. As he began working more and more with heavy weights, it became a five-day regimen.
Now that the season has begun and the knee is doing so well, Lageman does not require any more work in the trainer's room. He tends to the knee in the weight room, still seeking to improve his power. But the 3-inch scar down the bottom of his knee cap is the only noticeable reminder of what happened a year ago.
The most painful aspect of the entire rehab?
"Just the stress," Lageman said. "There would be times I'd feel good then all of a sudden make no progress."
And there was so much Lageman longed for while he was injured.
"The competitiveness," he said. "I'm the worst loser known to mankind. To be out there in a totally competitive situation . . . well, I realized how much I really missed that."
On opening day against the Denver Broncos, Lageman was almost moved to tears during introductions.
"I mean, just being announced was a huge, huge thing," he said. "To hear my name announced back in the starting lineup, and to hear the crowd . . . . It was just a big feeling."
Yet Lageman admits that he "played like crap" in the opener. But in Miami, it was a different story. Pitted against Pro Bowl left tackle Richmond Webb, Lageman "was everywhere," Coslet said. Lageman, his own worst critic, acknowledged: "I thought I played real well against a good player."
All the pain, now all the gain. On the team's charter flight home after the victory over the Dolphins, Lageman's emotions were soaring as he stretched out across three seats in Row 19. Strong safety Brian Washington sneaked up behind him.
"What makes it all worthwhile?" Lageman said. "Brian comes up, grabs me around the neck and says, `Damn, it's good to have you back.
"That's what makes it all worthwhile."
by CNB