You're OK, It's Just A Bruise: A Doctor's Sideline Secrets About Pro Football's Most Outrageous Team [Paperback]

Rob Huizenga M.D. (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 15, 1995

The dramatic, hilarious, and controversial insider's look at what really happens on the sidelines and in the locker rooms of the NFL.

Hired by the Los Angeles Raiders in 1983 as the team internist, Rob Huizenga worked on the sidelines and in the locker room of every game. That first year was the epitome of Raiders football-- the silver-and-black team of renegades steamrolled opponents and defeated the Washington Redskins in the Super Bowl. For nearly ten years, Huizenga lived in the real NFL trenches, a battlefield atmosphere where getting hurt and partying hard was the name of the game. Jam-packed with close-up anecdotes about football's warriors, this book reveals:

* The mind games and methods of mysterious Raiders owner Al Davis
* The truth about drug and steroid use in the NFL
* The pressure on players to perform even when threatened by serious injury
* Harrowing and hilarious true stories about the side of football fans never see
* The wild life and tragic death of Lyle Alzado

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Huizenga joined the L.A. Raiders in 1983 as the team internist and resigned in 1990, disillusioned at the way pro football, and the Raiders in particular, treated, or failed to treat, players' medical problems. The title was the tag line of his orthopedic colleague, Robert Rosenfeld, who used it with virtually every injured athlete and winked at the use of all sorts of pills by team members. While president of the NFL Physicians' Association, Huizenga campaigned against the use of anabolic steroids, but his proposal to ban them was quietly squelched by the owners in 1992. Here he continues the battle by detailing the case of Lyle Alzado, an ex-Raider who died in 1992 from, among other causes, decades-long use of muscle builders. The author has suggestions for making football less lethal but seems pessimistic about their adoption. A shocker, a sort of Ball Four about the grid game.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

What young, sports-minded doctor would turn down an opportunity to work for the Los Angeles Raiders? Huizenga certainly couldn't. He was the team internist from 1983 to 1990. While mastering the arcane skills of sports medicine in the raw, Huizenga discovered the prevalence of drug, alcohol, and steroid abuse in the National Football League and the extent to which good medicine takes a back seat to the good of the team. His personal crusade for medical care that emphasizes health led to a clash with a team orthopedist, who dismissed a player's potentially life-threatening physical condition with the comment that became the book's title. Management backed the orthopedist. This doctor's view of the inner workings of the Raider organization and the NFL will entertain readers while providing the average fan with a better understanding of football. Recommended for popular sports collections.
--Terry Madden, Boise State Univ. Lib., Id.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 326 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin (August 15, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312136277
• ISBN-13: 978-0312136277
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #155,670 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars For Raider & non-Raider fans alike...!, June 6, 2000

By 

ALEX SOWDEN - See all my reviews

This review is from: You're OK, It's Just A Bruise: A Doctor's Sideline Secrets About Pro Football's Most Outrageous Team (Paperback)

Rob Huizenga's account of his time as medical intern for the Los Angeles Raiders provides a provocative behind-the-scenes look at the reality of NFL football that is by turns hysterically funny and deeply disturbing. He conveys both the perverse attraction of being part of a team "camped out at the edge of reality", and also the shocked disbelief at the suspect and highly dangerous extremes that football players will go to in order to play while injured and so preserve their job. As team intern from 1983 to 1990, Huizenga faced a unique dilemma: his concern as a responsible doctor for his patients, the players, continually conflicted with their own desire to play through potentially crippling injuries. His frequent confrontations as well with team owner Al Davis over the treatment of players clearly illustrates why Davis's obsessive "win at all costs" attitude has made he and his team NFL pariahs. More generally, Huizenga pointedly shows how the intense pressure upon players from team, fans and the league itself, to consistently perform at the highest possible level drives individuals to abuse themselves and their bodies with a myriad of chemical substances. For Raider and non-Raider fans alike, Huizenga's book makes for compulsive reading. His experiences highlight the extreme "otherness" of NFL football, in which lies its principle attraction - the oddball characters who play it, the unorthodox means they endure to keep playing, and the high mental and physical cost that they pay for success in such a ferocious game.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN!, November 11, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: You're OK, It's Just A Bruise: A Doctor's Sideline Secrets About Pro Football's Most Outrageous Team (Paperback)

If you're a football fan, you'll love this book. But more importantly, if you're not a football fan, you'll still love this book! Dr. Robert Huizenga allows the reader a very voyeuristic look at numerous secretive aspects of professional football that run the gamut from frightening to hysterical. Unlike many other football books, which seem to get bogged down with boring statistical facts and non-relatable themes, "You're Okay, It's Just A Bruise" takes a brutally honest look at the lives of these players, both on and off the field. It also exposes the unethical medical practices and rampant drug use that Huizenga encountered and desperately tried to stop when he was the team doctor for the L.A. Raiders. He exposes all with a point of view that is not only first hand, but brutally honest, intelligent, humorous, and incredibly touching. The author's very visual writing style immediately draws you in - as if you're right there with him on the sidelines. Huizenga is a brilliant story teller with a strong flair for comedy. The locker room antics alone will have you laughing out loud. It's not often that a book causes me to laugh, cry, think, and learn. But when it does - it makes a strong impression.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutly eye opening., May 17, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: You're OK, It's Just A Bruise: A Doctor's Sideline Secrets About Pro Football's Most Outrageous Team (Paperback)

I have read a lot of books but never something that has given me a new appreciation for a sport. I highly recommed everyone who likes football, and even if you don't, to read this book; and if your asperation is to play in the NFL then this is required reading. It gives new insight into the demands of the NFL, the pain that players will play with just to win. I am a die hard Raider fan, always have been always will be, but this book touches on new aspects of the game, even if you do not like the Raiders it is an excellent read and it should be read to understand what is expected of players today in the NFL. I just hope that someone new has taken up Dr. Huizenga's cause to clean up the NFL.