David Price might have the sports world’s first Fortnite-related injury
By Nick Tylwalk
His manager doesn’t think so, but the Boston media is at least speculating that David Price missed a start due to the hottest video game on the planet.
The last time a video game became a bona fide mainstream sensation, Pokemon GO had people walking into traffic. Fortnite hasn’t caused any grievous bodily harm, but it might have been what kept Boston Red Sox pitcher David Price from making his scheduled start Wednesday night.
Price didn’t pitch in New York because he was diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome. That can happen to any of us, but the interesting thing is that some members of the Boston press are hinting that it might be due to the pitcher’s love for some battle royale.
WEEI actually asked Price’s manager, Alex Cora, if it could have been Fortnite that led to his injury. He didn’t say yes, but this isn’t a definitive no, either:
"When he comes here tomorrow, we’ll talk about it. We’ll talk with Brad [Pearson, trainer] and see where we’re at. From what I know, David has played video games his whole life. It seems like Fortnite now is the one everybody is playing, but last year, I saw a lot of guys playing FIFA. That’s a lot of playing, too. So, there’s a lot of teams playing Fortnite, too."
Cora is right in saying that lots of teams play Fortnite. Athletes are people just like us normal folk, and they get caught up in the latest gaming crazes same as anyone else. Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster even famously called playing the game with Drake and streamer par excellence better than scoring an NFL touchdown.
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But even Smith-Schuster knows when to put down the controller (at least we think he does). If Price actually misses time because he played too much Fortnite, that’s both a sign of the times and a slightly more sinister twist on how massively popular the game is right now. We’re thinking he should stick with what makes him the millions instead of trying for another victory royale, but that’s just us.