Amar’e Stoudemire

If you’ve ever had a strong feeling in the “Is a taco a sandwich?” debate, you might be willing to argue whether goggles should qualify as a mask.

We’re not going down that rabbit hole. cheap nfl custom jerseys Even if goggles are less burdensome and uncomfortable than a full mask, Amar’e Stouedmire suffered through enough irritation on his road to the goggles to deserve a mention here.

The six-time All-Star suffered two eye injuries during the 2008-09 campaign. The first was a partially torn iris in his right eye from having it poked by then-teammate Boris Diaw during training camp. Then in February, he was poked in the same eye by Al Thornton and needed to have surgery to repair a partially detached retina.

Stoudemire’s recovery sounds a million times more agonizing than playing basketball in a mask.

“I had to pretty much lay down on the table for 22 hours a day for 10 straight days in order to reattach the retina,” Stoudemire told David Letterman in 2011, via ESPN. “You can’t move at all. Honestly, it was torture.”nike nfl jerseys cheap

It was also Stoudemire’s key for returning to action. He never suited up again without goggles, playing six more seasons in the NBA before finishing his career in Israel. Two of his All-Star selections came after the eye ailments, as he averaged 24.2 points and 8.6 assists from 2009 to 2011.

Horace Grant played 17 seasons in the NBA, won four championships and even made an All-Star roster. None of those is the initial thought when he comes to mind.

Grant was to goggles what Allen Iverson was to cornrows.nfl jerseys cheap nike

Grant’s specs started as a necessity. nike nfl jersey cheap His vision was “just barely good enough to drive in Illinois,” according to a 1991 article from the Chicago Tribune. But Grant said in a Reddit AMA that he kept them on after having Lasik surgery “to help make it cool to wear goggles for the kids.”