Sam Maresh Suffers Another Setback

You may recall the strange, sad story of Minnesota linebacker recruit Sam Maresh, a burly young man who seemingly saw his nascent football career ended by a heart defect that required open-heart surgery.

Doctors said he'd never play again, but Maresh vowed he would. A couple of months ago it seemed like he'd make good on that vow. Happy times for all. Then this happened:

Less than a year after undergoing heart surgery, Minnesota linebacker recruit Sam Maresh has a tumor in his calf.

Yeesh. The tumor's been tested and is very likely not cancerous, thankfully, but that's one wildly improbable bad break mere months after a first wildly improbable bad break. Maresh thinks he might be getting a message:

"Sam left the doctor's office discouraged and even made a comment, 'Maybe God doesn't want me to play football,'" Bill Maresh's message reads.

On the bright side, if Maresh's football career is cut short by a woodpecker flying into his esophagus he's got a job waiting for him as a cooler in Vegas.

FWIW, Tim Brewster's response was "Sam Maresh has another challenge to overcome," which should really be read as "SAMMARESH HASANOTHER CHALLENGETO OVERCOME WOO CAFFIENE."