Playing Doctor

You'd think with potentially millions of dollars professional athletes would be quite careful when it comes to taking care of their body.

However, apparently that's not always the case.

On Monday, [potentially injured Oakland A's outfielder Eric] Byrnes drove from his home in Half Moon Bay to Oakland for X-rays on his shoulder. The medical assistant asked him if he wanted to see them. He said yes, then after a few moments of trying to decipher them, said, "OK, what am I looking at?"


The assistant didn't know and the doctor wasn't in the office, but Byrnes explained Tuesday, "I drove an hour, I wanted to see what was going on."


He had an inspiration and requested an X-ray of his healthy left shoulder for comparison's sake. When he held up the X-rays, the shoulders looked the same.


"So I cleared myself," Byrnes said.

All those years of medical school that people go through in order to gain the knowledge necessary to become a practicing doctor? Nah, that's not really necessary.