Hartson was an imposing, raw striker for whom silky skills were always elusive. Goals, however, were never too hard to come by, scoring at a rate of more than 1 every 3 games for Luton, Arsenal, West Ham, Wimbledon, Coventry City, and, most notably, Celtic.
His impending struggle with cancer is a familiar one, and he has a long and difficult fight ahead of him. It'll take every last drop of that grit and determination for him to overcome.
In August of 2005 I was diagnosed with testicular cancer, but, thanks to the wonderful vagaries of insurance, it didn't get much treatment until well into the fall.
I knew what it had been all along, but the bureaucratic red tape and the endless visits to a small doctor's office in Brooklyn made things overly complicated. It was October when I finally got my surgery, but the spread to the base of my spine was an unexpected epilogue.
The spinal node infections were far worse, and required far more; a few cycles of strong chemotherapy, bedrest (I kissed work goodbye and somehow managed to freelance throughout despite the heavy haze of Cisplatin and painkillers continually clouding my head), and a far more intrusive, painful, dangerous surgery (a RPLND, or Retroperitoneal Lymph Node Dissection... google it if you dare!) in order to kill off the beast.
There was precious little time to deal with the potential compliations from the surgery - painful recurring acid reflux (check), sexual dysfunction (thankfully, no, as the birth of my first child recently can attest), paralysis, kidney failure, nerve damage restricting movement, bowel obstructions, hernias - before going under the knife, thanks to the aggressiveness of the disease.
As the pattern normally goes, lungs would be next, and eventually brain. Of course, not all variations behave the same way; some skip right to the brain, some are far more invasive, others loiter solely in the groin until plucked clean, but Hartson's type sounds especially awful. Of course, there are all the stories about Lance Armstrong and his recovery, but to be grim, for every Armstrong, there are 999 non-Armstrongs, those who can't handle the treatment and those who eventually succumb.
My story ended brightly; after the long course of chemo, coupled with this difficult surgery, I made a full recovery with few lingering effects (and a sweet 18-20inch scar), and recently passed my three-year anniversary of receiving that good news of being cancer-free. Two more years to go until my chances of remission fall back in line with the general population, and I'm moving on with my life.
The point of sharing my small story is simple: I feel for Hartson and his diagnosis, as he might well not be so lucky. Few are, despite testicular cancer being one of the easiest cancers to treat, and I wish him all the best. We all do, and here's hoping his story ends brightly like mine did.
Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.
Monday, July 13, 2009
A few more words on John Hartson
When 15 Seconds Isn't Quite Fast Enough [UPDATE]
In advance of Cruzeiro’s mid-week return match against Argentine side Estudiantes in the Copa Libertadores final, the Brazilians sent out a team of reserves for its Campeonato match against Atletico Mineiro.
Apparently, striker Ze Carlos didn’t even want to spend his afternoon playing in a potential beat down as he managed to get himself sent off after just 15 seconds.
The real crime? Ze Carlos even apologized, to no avail.
"I slipped, went to control the ball, turned and my arm hit Renan in the face. I even said sorry but I ended up being sent off. It was not on purpose."
Really, what’s the point if you’re not going to intentionally try to get run so early? Ze Carlos’ efforts didn’t even earn him soccer’s fastest red card. It’s not even close really.
Just last December David Pratt of Chippenham Town (in England’s Southern Premier League) got a straight red for a reckless tackle just three seconds into a match. Before that, the fastest sending off was generally accepted to be 10 seconds. That distinction was held for the better part of two decades by Giuseppe Lorenzo of Bologna.
Cruzeiro lost the match 3-0. Not that they care much. Again they sent out a side full of reserves anyway, resting first team players in advance of their Wednesday return match against Estudiantes.
With the win Atletico took over first in the Campeonato.
Now with video! (well, as long as it stays up)
UF Quick Throw: Citeh Land Carlos Tevez
Tevez to Manchester City is now a done deal subject to a medical. If the Adebayor transfer goes through as well, we can only guess this means that Citeh is hording strikers like a James Bond villain ("All the world's strikers are mine, mine, MINE...bwahhhahaha").
[Sky]
[Guardian]
The Gold Cup sets World Cup standards of punishment
Aguirre smelt it, CONCACAF dealt itRemember that gigantic donnybrook late last week between Mexico and Panama, the one in which limbs were torn from bodies and players ran bleeding and delirious into the warm Houston night?
Yeah, well CONCACAF acted swiftly to dole out some punishments, and the only one feeling the pinch is Mexico coach Javier Aguirre, smarting from a three-match suspension. His wonderful leg-sweep near the sideline sparked a wonderful brawl, the likes of which hadn't been seen since that night in Detroit, and though plenty of shoving matches took place after the Cobra Kai move, only Aguirre is in the doghouse.
"The committee acknowledged that Mr. Aguirre is well known to them as a responsible person and it was their belief that this was an aberration rather than any aspect of his normal behavior," mumbled CONCACAF secretary Chuck Blazer in-between heavy abuse of the gratis buffet table.
Aguirre apologized, and we can all move on with our lives. At least until the next time it happens.
Read more on "The Gold Cup sets World Cup standards of punishment"...
Macheda's Week Gets Worse.
Poor old Macheda. Wagless and Watch-less. First of all his woman drops him like a hot potato and then two men bust into his crib, rob him of all his worldly possessions and rough up his mate. Yep, another footballer has fallen victim to armed robbery. This appears to be a real problem in the north west, especially with Manchester United and Liverpool players.
The robbery took place at Federico Macheda's home in Sale during the early hours of Sunday morning. The Italian striker's friend received a minor cut to his head, and there were reports of an incident in Manchester on Saturday evening that could have been connected to the crime, but police will not confirm that this is the case.
A bad week indeed. Still, Federico is a 17-year-old footballer. As you can see from the picture above, I'm sure he'll be selecting a new WAG soon and a fancy watch will make just a small dent in this week's wages.
We Need Your Help!
So the Foul Up in Baltimore is nearly upon us, and The UF email threads have been red hot with discussions of a banner. We were thinking of making one to tell the world that we exist. Being Chelsea v. Milan, we decided to scrap a generic slogan and make one relevant to the game itself, and after much debate, we just can't decide. So we want you to.
What should be on our Baltimore banner?
Unhealthy Fascination with Celebrity Babies Reaches Creepy New High
Someone please give the faculty at the University of St Andrews something to occupy their time as, in the absence of any meaningful science to be done in Scotland, they've come up with the above image.
It's a computer composite of Wayne and Colleen Rooney's child. The baby isn't due for another 3 months, but thanks to the Scots we already know it's going to be hideous. Seriously, that's a girl? It's looks like a Baby Koresh.
From the News of the World: "Last night scientist Ian Stephen said: "'It should be fun to see what their child looks like in 12 months' time. I think the images we have produced should be pretty spot-on.'"
If it is spot on, it will be the opposite of fun to look at that thing. Is infanticide still legal in Britain?
Sorry Scotland, but Free To Be had this one nailed back in the early 1970s. These are Wayne Rooney's kids.
When you first catch sight of your firstborn Wayne, just remember that it's alright to cry.
UF Quick Throw: John Hartson Diagnosed with Testicular and Brain Cancer.
Awful, awful news from Swansea this morning. Wimbledon, Arsenal, Celtic and Wales forward John Hartson has been diagnosed with brain and testicular cancer. He will undergo radiotheraphy and chemotherapy immediatley. The 34 year old visited his hospital complaining of headaches and underwent a series of tests this weekend.
"All the family, and John's friends, are doing all we can to support him and praying that he will make a full recovery." -Statement from Hartson's family.
Best wishes to the strapping striker and his family from all of us at UF central .
The Unprofessional Foul-Up: Less than Two Weeks!
Yes, we are very excited about our first ever UF roadtrip! We are packing up next week to head to Baltimore, Maryland, for Chelski versus AC Meelan, a trip that we have dubbed The Unprofessional Foul-Up. Find out more about our merry adventure after the hop, where we also need your help with local Baltimore pubs.
Most of us writers will be there, along with a devoted yet ragtag group of commenters (you know who you are). For those who are wondering, the plan is to arrive before the game for some tailgating. Next week I'll announce our ETA and exact location once we know when/where they'll be letting people in. Then, it's on to section 134 of the M&T Stadium in the AC Milan "fan zone," where 30-odd of us will enjoy a competitive competent match. And perhaps even Oguchi Onyewu's debut in red and black?
After the match, we are planning to retire to a local drinking establishment. Which is where we need your help. So far the suggestions have been the Wharf Rat and the Downtown Sports Exchange/Balls (wish I were making up that name). What do you folks think? We'd prefer to stay close to the stadium so that we can walk/stagger.
More soon. And we'll even try to do some live twittering and picture-taking from the game.
UF Quick Throw: Ade-Bye-Yor?
If we Quick Throw’d every Citeh rumor we’d be all-Citizens all-the-time. And when we thought we’d just do a complete round up this morning of everyone who has turned them down, they go and ruin it by making another splashing rumor. This time it's with someone actively wanting to leave their club.
Adebayor to the powder-blue Mancs?
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