Sports Wednesday Surgery for Taylor and a Big Question By FRANK LITSKY Lawrence Taylor underwent surgery Rosner said Taylor’s private room was Spirits Are Good yesterday to repair his ruptured right laden with flowers, baskets of fruit, tele- Reece said Taylor was happy and up- Achilles’ tendon. Now he must decide grams, cards and faxes, many of these beat. whether, at age 33, he will retire, as goodwill gestures from strangers. He said “I think I heard a crack in his retirement he had planned all season, or endure Randall Cunningham, the Philadelphia armor,” Reece said. “He’s going to take a heavy-duty rehabilitation and play pro Eagles’ quarterback, had sent flowers to look at the healing process, and if he heals football again. People close to him are Taylor’s Bergen County home. well my guess is that he’s coming back. I not sure what he will do. Hospital security was heavy, and incom- don’t think he wants to allow his last im- Taylor was injured Sunday during the ing telephone calls went to the hospital age to be laid out on a golf cart at Giants Giants’ 27-7 victory over the Green Bay switchboard and not to Taylor’s room. Stadium. But he said he was not near Packers. He is the premier outside line- Rosner said the only ones in the room making a decision.’” backer in football history and perhaps the with him were Taylor’s wife, Linda, and a Courrege, speaking from his Houston of- best defensive player ever, and in his. 12 nurse. fice, said he thought that if Taylor could play seasons with the Giants he has overcome “The only question the nurse asked,” again, he would. Young said Taylor had nev- all kinds of injuries. But none has been Rosner said, “was whether he would play er talked to him about retirement. Taylor is as serious as this tear of the long tendon football next year. He just smiled. When earning $1.45 million in this, the final year that attaches the ankle to the calf. she left the room, we both laughed. It’s of a three-year, $4.5-million contract. Dr. Russell Warren, the Giants’ ortho- bad enough that everyone else is asking Through the years, many athletes pedic surgeon, performed the operation the question, and now the nurse wants to have torn Achilles’ tendons. Dominique at the Hospital for Special Surgery in know.” Wilkins, the marquee player for the Atlan- New York. A statement from the Giants ta Hawks of the National Basketball As- said the surgery fasted about 1 hour 15 Knock, Knock, Knock sociation, underwent surgery on his right minutes. The tendon, completely torn On Sunday, Taylor had visits at home Achilles’ tendon in January. He resumed about 11/4 inches above the heel, was from Bill Parcells, the Giants’ former practice in July and started playing at full sewn together while Taylor received a coach, and Harry Carson, the retired line- speed when training camp began a month local anesthetic. backer. There were telephone calls from ago. In the Hawks’ two games this season, “The surgery went well,” the statement Wellington Mara, the Giants’ co-owner; he has averaged 31.5 points. said. Taylor will probably remain in the Bill Belichick, the Giants’ former defen- hospital today and perhaps tonight to sive coordinator and now the Cleveland Don’t Be Deceived be sure the wound is healing and that he Browns’ head coach, and Maurice Car- “I’ve had to work harder coming to camp keeps his weight off the leg. The lower thon, and Mark Bavaro, former team- than I ever had to work before,” he said. leg will be placed in a plaster cast for mates on the Giants. Rosner was there “The right leg is now stronger than the left four or five days to keep the swelling and talked with Taylor about the future, one. Anyone who thinks I can’t be as good down. Then, for two weeks, Taylor will but he said nothing was decided. as ever now at 32 is in for a big surprise.” wear a two-section cast with straps that “Will he retire?” Rosner said. “If you Gregg Brents is a 41-year-old vice presi- allow movement. Three or four weeks asked me Saturday, I would have said yes. dent of a New York consulting company after that, he will be fitted for a brace to Now I believe he has a thinking process to and also a professional platform tennis limit motion in the leg. He is scheduled go through about his future on the field.” player. He tore his left Achilles’ tendon in to wear the brace for eight to 10 weeks, No one seems sure what Taylor will do. Not March, and Dr. Jacob Rozbruch, the and if his mobility progresses he will be Rosner, nor Beasley Reece, Taylor’s close chief of orthopedic surgery at Beth Israel allowed to do light running in February friend and former teammate, nor Joe Cour- Medical Center North in New York, oper- or March. rege, his agent, nor George Young, the Gi- ated in April. In July, Brents played tennis Steve Rosner, Taylor’s business agent, ants’ general manager, nor Taylor himself. with 50 percent movement, and in August visited Taylor in the recovery room and Reece, now a sports broadcaster for he returned to platform tennis, with its said Taylor was in pain, although his WVIT-TV in Hartford, spoke by telephone severe stop-and-go movements. He has spirits were good, “When you have a guy with Taylor for a half-hour Sunday night. Reached the finals of the first two profes- who has willed away almost every injury “I’ve thought about everything,” Taylor sional tournaments this season. he’s ever had,” Rosner said, “it’s tough told him. “I’m more concerned about re- “I have a 10-inch zigzag scar down the to see him laid up like this. It affected covering. As for the future, I’m not in the back of the leg,” he said. “It looks vicious, me and I think it affected him.” process of deciding that right now.” but I have no pain and full mobility.” For more on Dr. Rozbruch, visit www.JacobRozbruchMD.com.