Athletes who excel with injuries are rare but inspiring

	Rick DiPietro (prone) somehow stopped 114 of the 127 shots he saw againts the Sabres while playing with a torn hip and concussion effects. AP
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I got a kick out of Peyton Manning's Mastercard commerical where the guy serving coffee gets knocked over by a blast of steam in the face and Manning urges him to "rub some dirt on it." In this age of pitch counts and other bubblewrap training techniques and long preventative shut-downs, it can be hard to believe that the athlete's credo once resembled the black knight who loses assorted limbs in Monty Python & The Holy Grail and keeps fighting while insisting, "Come on, it's only a flesh wound!"

It was recently revealed that Islanders goaltender Rick DiPietro weathered four first-round playoff games against the vaunted Buffalo Sabres with a torn hip and the after-effects of two concussions. That he played well, even in defeat, is a throwback testament to his resolve as well as his talent. He's also expected to live, and be fine for next season. So is Sidney Crosby, who battled through the Penguins' five-game series against Ottawa on a broken foot.

I concede that going out there with a potentially life- or career-threatening injury doesn't make sense, but it is nice to see someone stay in the lineup while suffering from those pesky "flu-like" symptoms once in a while. It's inspiring -- dopubly so when they play well -- and it makes it easier for the paying public to begrudge an athlete his plump paycheck.

So, I'd just like to pause and tearily salute a few of my favorite examples of the Python black knight mentality:

Chris Simms. Following in the bloodcurdling tradition of Jim McMahon, who quarterbacked the Bears with a lacerated kidney that left him peeing purple after a 1984 game, Simms insisted on staying in against the Carolina Panthers last Sept. 24 out of the desire to keep his team from falling into an 0-3 hole. His ribs aching after a nasty hit, and fighting the effects of dehydration, Simms led the Bucs back from a 20-7 first-half hole. He ended up completing 13 passes for 139 yards and a TD here while playing with what was later found to be a ruptured spleen that required surgery. Alas, his heroic effort went for naught as the Bucs lost, 26-24.

Michael Jordan: OK, it wasn't technically an injury, but a good stomach flu can make even the hardiest among us assume the fetal position. Jordan played all of Game 5 of the 1997 NBA Finals on the verge of blowing chunks and passing out. Often dizzy and wobbling, he resurrected himself long enough to score 17 points after the Bulls fell behind the Utah Jazz by 16 in the second quarter, and again in the fourth when he sparked a 10-0 run that erased a 77-69 deficit. His three-pointer with 26 seconds left pretty much nailed Chicago's 90-88 win propelled them toward the NBA title.