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Wetzel on Matta

By 11W Staff - 26 March 2012
15 Comments

"It’s this attitude that’s turned a negative into an inspiration, a rallying cry and a lesson for a basketball team and beyond." (Yahoo Sports)

Source rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/news?slug=dw-wetzel_east_region_matta...

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Comments

Poe McKnoe on 26 Mar 2012 - 10:28pm #

Man, I had no idea about half the stuff this man faces each day. Very inspirational, and actually quite shocking.

Tony on 26 Mar 2012 - 10:41pm #

I feel like less of a basketball fan because I had no idea he had this issue.

JakeBuckeye on 26 Mar 2012 - 11:24pm #

I don't think any of us did? If I'm correct he JUST revealed this stuff to the public to CBS Sports.

October 20th: National Kenneth Guiton Day

RedStorm45 on 26 Mar 2012 - 11:36pm #

Nah, I knew about the procedure in '07. I mean, when he talked about Sully's back he compared it to his own condition. Plus, you can see the raised seat he has every game compared to the rest of the bench. Not WIDELY known but this isn't the first story ever done about it.

JakeBuckeye on 26 Mar 2012 - 11:56pm #

That contradicts the original CBS article a week or so ago that covered Matta's condition.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/story/17954267/despite-handicap-buckeyes-coach-matta-presses-on-stays-active

No one is aware of the days when Ohio State coach Thad Matta's two daughters had to yank off his sneakers, how he is laid out, relegated flat in his bed following a game or a recruiting trip, and how he cannot lift a suitcase or take out the garbage.

During games, Matta roams the sidelines -- wearing black tennis shoes -- with a slight limp. However, few are aware of his condition.

"We've kept it quiet," Thad Matta added.

"It's not as if he's ashamed of it, but he's a private person, so that's why he hasn't told people," Barbara Matta said.

Matta is ready to disclose his condition to the world. His close friends are aware.

There's also these pieces that say this is the first time his condition has been revealed to the open public:

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-03-25/sports/chi-mattas-condition-offers-more-inspiration-for-ohio-state-20120325_1_thad-matta-ohio-state-inspiration

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/news?slug=dw-wetzel_east_region_matta_ohio_state_032412

Outside of the Ohio State basketball family, almost no one knew there was anything wrong. And even within it, or with his family, he rarely mentioned it.

Unless your a friend of Thad's, you must be misspeaking when you say you knew about the condition or that it had been previously written about. It certainly seems that me and Tony shouldn't feel like any less of fans or less in the know for not knowing about coach Matta's condition.

October 20th: National Kenneth Guiton Day

William on 27 Mar 2012 - 12:20am #

No, I'll have to search for the article, but I remember this being mentioned before, sometime last year or possibly earlier than that. Matta at first kept this under wraps, but eventually let people know. Found it, 2009 was the first time it was released to my knowledge: http://thequad.blogs.nytimes.com/tag/thad-matta/#

JakeBuckeye on 27 Mar 2012 - 12:42am #

Thanks Will. And my apologies to you, RedStorm. I don't get why CBS tried to make it seem like their coverage was completely original and exclusive. Coach Matta certianly is something special and I'm glad he's our guy.

October 20th: National Kenneth Guiton Day

Orlando Buckeye on 27 Mar 2012 - 6:25am #

I knew of his condition previously. I could have sworn I read about it on this site, maybe back when the Villian injured his back. I guess this is just the first article where his disability has been made the main topic.

RedStorm45 on 27 Mar 2012 - 9:10am #

Of course not, I wasn't saying you were "less of fans." I'm saying it was somewhat known, but not known by everyone. My dad is a doctor who followed the story (I believe he knows one of Thad's doctors). I had a chance to go to an Agonis Club pre-season kickoff thing in '08 and Thad mentioned it briefly of how it has affected him in practice. Plus, as has been mentioned, E.T. and Sully both had back problems and he said he had an extra appreciation and wanted to take extra caution. Then again, I didn't realize he fell down putting pants on, but I did know he lost feeling to his foot. Pretty odd by CBS to market it this way but it is probably the first time Thad has opened up about it nationally.

Miller on 27 Mar 2012 - 10:36am #

I had heard hiim speak previously to some local (Columbus) sportsradio guys about dealing with the back injury and hoping for the nerves to regenerate in his leg -- but no, I don't think there was ever any indication that his problem with THIS significant.

Poe McKnoe on 27 Mar 2012 - 11:23am #

This.

yrro on 27 Mar 2012 - 1:04pm #

Yeah, it's hard to follow buckeye hoops and not know he had some issue with his back, but I never realized just how debilitating it was. He still seems very fired up and energetic during the games.

awwwwwwop on 27 Mar 2012 - 12:46am #

Does anybody know of any video of the team cutting down the nets?

Edit: Try this link for the replay which includes post game interviews and the net cutting if you have the march madness on demand thing. Just click over to saturday on the little day ticker and then click our game and click replay. Fast forward to really close to the end. they show all the players and Coach Matta

http://www.ncaa.com/mml/player/console.html?gameid=http://www.cbssports....

"Who cares? Go Bucks." - Aaron Untch

flipbuckeye on 27 Mar 2012 - 7:12am #

MANLY TEARS.

Doc on 27 Mar 2012 - 11:40am #

I've seen Coach tailgating before Fball games a few years ago and he had a brace on his foot/ankle. He was hobbling around pretty good then. It was early in the season and he was wearing shorts. His tailgate always had some recruits around it. Matta was always very approachable then and would talk to anyone who said hi to him. This was a few years back(2 maybe 3). I haven't seen him recently.