Tough Salave ' a Back at Practice

I may have said this way too often, but Joe Salave’a is one tough sumbitch.

He played last year in ungodly pain in his foot, pain caused by plantar fasciitis that would have had most of us calling in sick to our day jobs. After one game he was standing there in his bare feet patiently answering my questions, probably hearing all of them for the tenth time. He never complained, never begged off to go to the trainer’s room.

Salave’a was a late arrival at camp following the death of his mother in Samoa. “I think I need these guys more than they need me, just to get over this.” he said.

The Redskins are a better team due to his presence as a player and, perhaps more importantly, as a man.