Say what you want about Derrick Rose, call him a coward, call him selfish call him exactly what adjective comes to mind but one thing you can't call him is stupid. The 2013 Decision, in which Derrick Rose opted to sit out a full year while recovering from an ACL injury he suffered in last years First Round of the NBA playoffs may have been one of the more influential decisions made by an athlete in a long time. If you ask me the adjectives I'd use to describe the two time NBA All Star and 2011's Most Valuable Player would be somewhere along the lines of brilliant and influential. For once an athlete was able to stand up for himself and prove that not only does he understand the value of his career but, he also understands the business aspect of professional sports. Too many times we've seen athletes rush back from major injuries only to further their injuries, lose the ability to play at the level they once played at and ultimately prematurely end their career, do the names Brandon Roy, Bo Jackson, Yao Ming or another one of Chicago's very own Gale Sayers ring a bell? The 2013 version of The Decision finally gave athletes not only a precedent for future decisions involving injury, but leverage to gauge their own bodies. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to deduce that every one heals differently and as athlete it's very crucial to understand that mental confidence leads to physical confidence, especially for athletes like Rose who make a living off his explosion and superior athleticism, two things a bum knee can hinder. One must understand first and foremost professional sports is a business, each decision made in professional sports is generally in the best interest of the Owner and the money that comes out of his pocket. He has the responsibility to not only provide fans with a team that makes fans want to pay the price of admission and sit in the seats and watch a winning representative of the city, but owners are also responsible for protecting their investments which are their players. The Bulls organization exemplified the "protection" part by allowing Rose to come back at his own pace, even if his own pace ruled out him providing a single minute for a very talented Bulls roster who not only had a shot at winning an NBA title with him in the lineup but, nonetheless overcame several key injuries before bowing out to the defending champion Miami Heat in the 2nd round. There were no rumblings from the people who mattered most inside the organization like Bulls Chairmen Jerry Reinsdorf, his teammates who backed his decision publicly or his Head Coach Tom Thibodeaux who said, "Right from the start, I thought Jerry set the tone for it. He made it clear about how we were going to approach it. We were never going to rush him back. We weren't going to allow him to rush himself back. He heeded Jerry's advice right from the beginning." The choice Rose made this season was not an easy one and although as fans we tend to let our emotions play into our thoughts about the personal decisions and performances of today's athletes, we must factor in that at the end of the day these athletes are human and they must lookout for their own best interest.
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