Okay, They Got Me

I'm not made out of fucking stone, people:

Although Johnathan Taylor is confined to a wheelchair due to partial paralysis from the waist down, his baseball career doesn't seem to be over.

Just more than three months after his life was forever changed, the former Georgia and North Cobb High School standout was selected by the Texas Rangers in the 33rd round of Major League Baseball's First-Year Player Draft on Wednesday.

On March 6, Taylor collided with teammate Zach Cone as the two chased a fly ball in the outfield. The collision left Cone with a concussion, but Taylor suffered a broken neck.

Obviously you're wondering "does this make Xmastime think of former Indiana legend Landon Turner?", and of course the answer would be yes:

On July 25, 1981, just four months after winning the NCAA Championship, Turner was in a one-car accident that left him paralyzed from the chest down.  Although he would never play in the NBA, Red Auerbach of the Boston Celtics selected him in the 1982 NBA Draft. It was a heartwarming gesture and a wonderful tribute to Landon’s hard work and contribution to the game during his collegiate career.

Auerbach may have been prodded a bit by that evil ogre, Robert Montgomery Knight:

 It also takes courage to compete against one's self-image. Landon Turner was developing into one of the best forwards in the country in 1981. For three years he had fought off the taunts of Bobby Knight, who urged him to quit, leave school, transfer, drop out, take a hike, get lost and all the rest.


''He didn't want me, but the team wanted me,'' Turner added. ''I knew I wasn't going to quit after three years. I could take whatever he could dish out.''

On July 25, Turner's car went off the road and crashed. He was unconscious for five days, and when he awoke, he was immobilized, unable to speak because of an emergency tracheotomy. One of his first visitors was Knight, who stopped crying outside the hospital room and put on his public face.

''You battled through all the stuff I put you through,'' Knight said, challenging him to battle this dreadful setback.

Knight went out and made speeches and set up a Landon Turner Trust Fund. He added $60,000 of his own money. Turner said, ''I think that's impressive.'' Red Auerbach drafted Turner and later awarded him a Boston Celtics championship ring.

Obviously I'm waiting for some, any, professional sports team to draft me.  I mean, camon.