Antonio Cromartie Is Tougher Than You Are

San Diego Chargers cornerback Antonio Cromartie only had two picks for the entire 2008 season after tallying 10 last year. This could have been because offenses weren't throwing in his direction, or because things just didn't break his way.

Or it could have been the small issue of playing through a broken hip this season. Yeah, that might have been it now that I'm thinking about it, since he does run on his legs for a living, which as I was taught when I was young do indeed connect to the hipbone via the "legbone."

Cromartie did learn something from all of this medical drama:

“I don't have any disappointment about this season,” he said. “That taught me how to work through injury, play with injury. I was hurt the whole year. I learned from that.

Learned that maybe you should go to a hospital when you break your hip, or take a bit of time off, or do anything besides playing professional football (with the exception of taking up MMA as a casual side gig, or perhaps rugby just for funzies.) I also learned that Antonio Cromartie apparently doesn't feel pain, and has a greater fear of being cut from the team than he does for his own well-being, meaning he's an NFL player just like all the rest, and would play on a severed leg suffered in a bear attack to prevent someone from taking his roster spot.

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.