Dawyne Bowe- Lasik

LarryJohnson27 · 05-03-2007, 07:56 PM

Much has been made with Bowe and his drops early in his career, and his eye issue, but all that was said to have stopped after the lasik surgery. Searching around message boards, I've heard everything from the eye problem being minor to is being horrible. My question is was it really the surgery? Did it make that much of a difference? How much did he really improve?

Paranoidmoonduck · 05-03-2007, 08:01 PM

I didn't watch much of Bowe before last year, but I heard the difference was like night and day. That said, Bowe did display an occasional case of the drops last year that appeared to be more concentration than lack of hand to eye coordination.

Staubach12 · 05-03-2007, 08:01 PM

He was nearly legally bling befor the surgery, so I would say it was a big issue. It really helped out his carrer. His drops improved senior year, though there does still appear to be a very small problem with that. So, it was a big part but I also think he devoted himsleft to improving that. Hopefully he'll continue to improve it.

LarryJohnson27 · 05-03-2007, 08:03 PM

It's been said he didn't start playing football until his Junior year of high school, so I guess we can expect improvement in just about everywhere.

metafour · 05-03-2007, 10:27 PM

The stuff about him being nearly "legally blind" is BS. The guy wouldn't be able to play football period if he was "that" blind. The surgery has helped but he still drops catchable balls if thats what you're asking. He didn't go from being blind to catching the ball ala Jerry Rice.

JC the Savior · 05-03-2007, 11:48 PM

I'm sure it was also a major psychological (confidence) improvement as well.

myinnerself · 05-04-2007, 12:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by metafour

The stuff about him being nearly "legally blind" is BS. The guy wouldn't be able to play football period if he was "that" blind. The surgery has helped but he still drops catchable balls if thats what you're asking. He didn't go from being blind to catching the ball ala Jerry Rice.

Exactly what I was thinking. Maybe he was almost legally blind, but I GUARANTEE he had contacts. My vision isn't that bad, but if I didn't have my contacts I simply couldn't play football period.

HoopsDemon12 · 05-04-2007, 12:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by metafour

The stuff about him being nearly "legally blind" is BS. The guy wouldn't be able to play football period if he was "that" blind. The surgery has helped but he still drops catchable balls if thats what you're asking. He didn't go from being blind to catching the ball ala Jerry Rice.

Quote:

Originally Posted by myinnerself

Exactly what I was thinking. Maybe he was almost legally blind, but I GUARANTEE he had contacts. My vision isn't that bad, but if I didn't have my contacts I simply couldn't play football period.

The problem with contacts is they get knocked out when you get hit hard enough?

metafour · 05-04-2007, 01:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by myinnerself

Exactly what I was thinking. Maybe he was almost legally blind, but I GUARANTEE he had contacts. My vision isn't that bad, but if I didn't have my contacts I simply couldn't play football period.

To me the whole LASIK surgery thing grew as an attempt to explain Bowe's problems in the past. He took a lot of criticism from LSU fans because of his enormous drop problems, so it makes perfectly good sense to use eye surgery as a crutch. I'm sure right after the surgery he was asked about it and the obvious reaction would be to say something like "its helping immensely...I could barely see before I got the surgery." The media tends to blow everything out of proportion so a story such as this one likely went from Bowe being "barely able to see" to Bowe being "nearly legally blind" in about a week.

soybean · 05-04-2007, 01:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by metafour

To me the whole LASIK surgery thing grew as an attempt to explain Bowe's problems in the past. He took a lot of criticism from LSU fans because of his enormous drop problems, so it makes perfectly good sense to use eye surgery as a crutch. I'm sure right after the surgery he was asked about it and the obvious reaction would be to say something like "its helping immensely...I could barely see before I got the surgery." The media tends to blow everything out of proportion so a story such as this one likely went from Bowe being "barely able to see" to Bowe being "nearly legally blind" in about a week.

I agree, I'm not buyin the whole, legally blind bit. Do you honestly think he'd be on the field if he was "legally blind"? Even if he was wearing contacts it shouldn't have been a HUGE difference from contacts --> lasik, except a minor discomfort.

myinnerself · 05-04-2007, 01:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HoopsDemon12

The problem with contacts is they get knocked out when you get hit hard enough?

Ha, no man. I guarantee a ton of NFL players wear contact lenses. I know me and several teammates during high school wore contacts and I can't remember them ever giving me problems, and trust me, its like impossible for them to get knocked out from getting hit hard. The only issue with contacts and football is possibly getting dirt or grass in your eyes, which is a problem for any person with eyes.

constant cough · 05-04-2007, 10:02 AM

Auburn 05' is the game that stand out in my mind as his worst game as far as dropped balls. Unlike you guys though I take him at his word since from what I saw from him in 06' he improved considerably.

RaiderDude · 05-04-2007, 10:28 AM

Without Russell, Bowe is a early 3rd rd pick

myinnerself · 05-04-2007, 10:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RaiderDude

Without Russell, Bowe is a early 3rd rd pick

Ha, some might say without Bowe and Davis that Russell doesn't go as early as he did.

LarryJohnson27 · 05-04-2007, 12:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RaiderDude

Without Russell, Bowe is a early 3rd rd pick

I totally disagree. Russell has nothing to do with Bowe's nice size and speed combination, ability to beat press coverage, or throw some wonderful blocks. As a matter of fact, in Bowe's best performance, Senior Bowl week, Russell was nowhere around.

kmartin575 · 05-04-2007, 01:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LarryJohnson27

I totally disagree. Russell has nothing to do with Bowe's nice size and speed combination, ability to beat press coverage, or throw some wonderful blocks. As a matter of fact, in Bowe's best performance, Senior Bowl week, Russell was nowhere around.

Consider the source. No reason to believe RaiderDude seriously believes that. He also is obvlivious to the fact that Russell is the next Ryan Leaf.

theogt · 05-05-2007, 01:01 AM

Whatever happened, his completion percentage rose significantly and his drops dropped significantly.

myinnerself · 05-05-2007, 01:20 AM

Yeah, I wanna make it clear that I really like him as a receiver, and am bummed that he went somewhere in the division, but this whole "he was legally blind" stuff just doesn't make sense to me.

BlindSite · 05-05-2007, 03:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by myinnerself

Ha, some might say without Bowe and Davis that Russell doesn't go as early as he did.

I'd say he never would have won the start in camp.

wogitalia · 05-05-2007, 07:26 AM

It could very well have had a psychological affect on him. Placebo effect in a way, only not a placebo. Knowing that your eyes are now "perfect" would I imagine give someone who has been used to not seeing well great confidence. WR is very much a confidence position, it is why you get so many egotistical guys playing the position, you have to have extreme confidence. LASIK probably fixed his eyes a bit but it probably had a bigger affect on his confidence.

slightlyabroncosfan · 05-05-2007, 09:55 AM

He said that last season he saw three balls coming at him at once, and he just tried to grab the middle one.

theogt · 05-05-2007, 01:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wogitalia

It could very well have had a psychological affect on him. Placebo effect in a way, only not a placebo. Knowing that your eyes are now "perfect" would I imagine give someone who has been used to not seeing well great confidence. WR is very much a confidence position, it is why you get so many egotistical guys playing the position, you have to have extreme confidence. LASIK probably fixed his eyes a bit but it probably had a bigger affect on his confidence.

It could have been, yes, but if you've ever played sports with contacts, you'd know it's not a very easy thing. Sweat and movement aren't very friendly to contacts.

Bobo · 05-05-2007, 01:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by myinnerself

Ha, no man. I guarantee a ton of NFL players wear contact lenses. I know me and several teammates during high school wore contacts and I can't remember them ever giving me problems, and trust me, its like impossible for them to get knocked out from getting hit hard. The only issue with contacts and football is possibly getting dirt or grass in your eyes, which is a problem for any person with eyes.

Well I did the impossable in high school.

theogt · 05-05-2007, 01:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bobo

Well I did the impossable in high school.

Ditto. It's not like they have to pop out. THey can just slide to the side of your eye, which is a royal pain.

Acreboy · 05-05-2007, 03:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LarryJohnson27

Much has been made with Bowe and his drops early in his career, and his eye issue, but all that was said to have stopped after the lasik surgery. Searching around message boards, I've heard everything from the eye problem being minor to is being horrible. My question is was it really the surgery? Did it make that much of a difference? How much did he really improve?

LSU fan here. Dwayne used to joke about seeing 3 footballs being thrown at him and he'd just have to concentrate on catching the ball in the middle.

The surgery helped him a lot.