In sports jargon, one of the biggest compliments that coaches, fans, and the media can bestow upon an athlete is to say he plays with a great deal of heart. Far more respect and appreciation is given to the type of player who lays it all on the line than is granted to one with greater athletic ability who sometimes seems to coast because he can afford to do so. An athlete is able to perform at a professional level because his arms and legs allow him to accomplish what regular folk cannot. But to reach the ultimate plateau of champion, this is said to be determined by an intangible quality that resides within the athlete's heart. Of course, this is all figuratively speaking. When you say that an athlete plays his heart out, what you really mean is that he plays with an aggressive, inexhaustible attitude, that his desire for victory is superior to that of his opponent. The heart is not literally responsible for such desire or lack thereof. Its very important job is strictly to pump blood throughout the body. So when an athlete literally rather than figuratively has a bad ticker, the potential results are far more severe than being banished to the bench, traded to a less desirable locale, or failing to sustain the dream of playing ball for a living and being paid a king's ransom. When an athlete's bad heart is a medical rather than emotional diagnosis, it is an actual matter of life and death, for the nature of his job requires him to push the organ to its limits.
At 6'-11", 285-pounds, Eddy Curry was the fourth overall pick of the 2001 NBA draft by the Chicago Bulls. This early bloomer was drafted right out of high school and is regarded as one of the best low post players in the league. The sky seemed to be the limit for him. But his limitations were brought considerably closer to the ground last March when he noticed some irregularities in his heartbeat during warm-ups. He checked himself into a hospital and after a battery of tests, he was ordered to sit out the remainder of the season while doctors tried to determine what caused his heart to accelerate. Results were inconclusive, but during the exams Curry's doctors found he had a slightly enlarged heart, something not necessarily related to his arrhythmia because the heart can become larger in athletes based on the amount of exercise they put in.
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