Jordan, Payton spoiled Chicago fans

Oh, stop all the weeping over Derrick Rose’s injuries.

First of all, the latest medical opinion Monday was that there is no structural damage to his ailing back.

Second of all, your agonizing over Rose’s injury indicates you were spoiled by the two greatest athletes in Chicago sports history.

In other cities, some tremendous players with tremendous upsides blew out knees or tore shoulders.

We have had a few of those. Dick Butkus and Gale Sayers come to mind, as do Mark Prior and Kerry Wood.

Even Butkus and Sayers played well enough long enough to make the Hall of Fame, so it’s hard to lament what might have been.

With all due respect to the likes of those guys and Ernie Banks, Frank Thomas and Bobby Hull, our best athletes of all time were Michael Jordan and Walter Payton.

Both were nearly indestructible over the course of their careers. Expecting Rose to be is unrealistic.

Payton missed one game during his 13 seasons with the Bears. Matt Forte missed four times that many last season.

Jordan is more relevant to Rose. Their sport is basketball, rigorous but not exactly defined by violence.

Jordan’s durability became legendary after he missed 64 of 82 games with a broken foot during his second NBA year.

Even after sitting out, Jordan clamored his way back into the lineup against the wishes of Bulls chairman Jerry Reinsdorf.

During Jordan’s other 11 full seasons with the Bulls, he played in 885 of 902 regular-season games. His Airness played 240 of 246 games during the Bulls’ first three championship seasons and all 246 during their final three championship seasons.

I know you’re thinking, “What about Jordan retiring, missing one season and playing only 17 games in another?”

That had nothing to do with injuries, and not even the interruption could keep Jordan from returning as good and as healthy as ever to win three more NBA titles.

Pretty remarkable, and enough so for him to stand in the endurance Hall of Fame with Payton.

Now Rose’s career is challenged by adversity, and we’re supposed to feel sorry because this could signal the beginning of the Carlos Boozer era?

No, feel fortunate that Jordan and Payton were fortunate enough to provide us with a combined 25 relatively healthy seasons.

Rose hasn’t been so lucky, and some blame Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau for playing him last week at New Orleans when he didn’t have to. If Rose would have been given more rest he still might have aggravated his back the next time he did play.

Rose could have broken down in Boston. The back was so fragile that no matter what it likely would get worse last week, this week or next week.

If Thibodeau held out Rose until the playoffs, the back might have given out in April anyway. That’s the nature of these injurious times.

I remember looking across the court at Magic Johnson spending breaks on the bench with electrodes hooked up to his aching body parts.

If Rose and us are lucky, he’ll respond the rest of his career as productively as Johnson did.

But injuries are a crapshoot and often are going to happen regardless of any precautions.

Give thanks that Michael Jordan and Walter Payton stayed healthy long enough to provide all the excitement any one town deserves.

If Derrick Rose can’t, well, that’s sports, so stop the weeping, hope for the best and brace for the worst.