This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Et tu, Rudy?

Sad, but … Et true. Gobert, too, with a Grade 2.

The biggest problem in sports has nothing to do with ego or economics or cheating or bad behavior. It centers on the unsuitable human anatomy. It isn't exorbitant player salaries or guaranteed contracts or Roger Goodell making $44 million a year or performance-enhancing drugs or corruption or too many commercials interrupting the flow at the end of games or lousy refereeing or gambling or the fact that only four teams make the college football playoff or Bill Belichick's weekly farce of a press conference.

No.

The worst thing going in sports is … the bad wheel.

From the femur down to the freaking toe bone.

Going this way, going that way, going the wrong way.

Going, going … Gone with the Bend.

Around here, it's reached the point of being ridiculous. Anybody know an athlete in Utah who hasn't dinged a leg? Anybody? Somebody?

The great ones, in particular, have struggled with the lower extremities. And it's not their fault. It just happens. They can condition all they want, work out all day long, realize how critical they are to the success of their team, be smart, cautious and careful. It won't matter. It never does. It happens, anyway.

Don't know what the deal is with the human leg, but I do know this: It must have been built for farming or chasing down slow-moving food, for picking berries or folding under an office desk all day. It certainly wasn't made for modern sports. Between ankles, feet and that wretched, ill-suited joint that causes so many athletes so much shelf time and rehab (the knee), they're knocking guys out and straight killing the fun and games.

The only sports people on the planet who like the limitations of the knee, the vulnerabilities, are orthopedists, who make great livings in their attempts to fix the damage that always comes.

Let's review what's happened locally the past few months:

• Dante Exum, one of the keys to the Jazz's present and future, as he's prepared himself to make a major step forward, blows his anterior cruciate ligament in a meaningless international game in Slovenia, on a play that didn't look all that severe (70 percent of torn ACLs don't), out for the year.

• Taysom Hill, after previously being lost for two of his three seasons at BYU, including a busted left knee and a broken bone in his left leg, is lost for the season in his team's first game with a Lisfranc fracture in the middle of his foot. It happened when he simply planted untouched on a cut that resulted in a touchdown.

• Chuckie Keeton, the one-time Heisman candidate, whose quarterback career at Utah State has been disrupted, if not defined, by knee injuries, losing large chunks of time in three previous seasons, sprained his MCL during the Washington game and was sidelined for another chunk, before reappearing late. One can only wonder at the numbers Keeton would have amassed in Logan had his knees stayed intact.

• Devontae Booker, who accounted for something like … what was it, 99 percent of Utah's offense, leading the Utes to a lofty perch in the national rankings, tears his meniscus and bruises his bone, requiring surgery and sending him off for 4-6 weeks, as his teammates drop two straight games, falling out of college football playoff contention.

• Britain Covey, a playmaking receiver and Utah's only real deep threat, hurts his ankle, hopping off the field and into a boot early against UCLA, and doesn't hit the field again.

And now, Gobert joins the Club de Limp.

While practicing on Wednesday, the single-most important player on the Jazz, the anchor to their defense and a huge part of everything they do, sprains his left knee, a Grade-2 twist that will keep him out indefinitely. The range for that type of sprain could be anywhere from six to eight weeks. And, right now, nobody knows, or nobody is saying, which end of that spectrum Gobert will fall toward.

One thing is certain: The Jazz will have to make do over that stretch without their starting point guard and their starting center. Not only does that interrupt the individual development of each, it ruptures the group dynamic, the group coordination that is so important in the young team's overall growth. Other players will have to compensate, but it will not be the same.

It's notable that in a time when so much concern and emphasis is being put on protecting the head, four of the biggest sports interests in the state — the Jazz, and Utah and BYU and Utah State football — have all had their seasons altered to some degree by injuries to the body's other end, not just with the star athletes listed here, but others, too. Guys like Troy McCormick, Evan Moeai, Siale Fakailoatonga, Tim Patrick, Chase Hansen, Adam Hine, Algie Brown, Jherremya Leuta-Douyere, Devonte Robinson, Dax Raymond, and David Moala.

Go to any other city or state or region, any other collection of teams, and the surgeons there are just as busy. Nobody, or maybe everybody, has a leg up.

GORDON MONSON hosts "The Big Show" with Spence Checketts weekdays from 3-7 p.m. on 97.5 FM and 1280 AM The Zone. Twitter: @GordonMonson.