ESPN's magazine has an article this week on Shane. http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/77...-espn-magazine

It includes many perceptive comments but begins with a discussion of the physical ailments that accompany his continuing to play like, well, Shane Battier. Here are some selections that begin with a discussion of his feet.

"...one toenail is in its infancy, sprouting shyly from a grisly, raw nail bed that looks as if it was scooped out with a melon baller. The other is dead and black, in an advanced stage of necrosis. Pick a spot, any spot. His arthritic ankles need to be professionally massaged and manipulated before every game ...His knees are gnarled and painful, bruised purple... A thigh bruise is from something he can't remember. An obstinate butt contusion, which simply won't heal, is from taking charges... Back pain... Playing defense the way Battier does, which often includes standing motionless while huge, fast men propel their bodies into his chest, is hell on the skeletal system. Pain is background noise. It's a fact of life..."

It also includes the idea that Shane is...

"a Heat oddball, the ultimate team guy on the ultimate individual team, the ultimate fundamental player in the ultimate flash city. He wears Peak shoes, the only NBA player to regularly wear the Chinese brand. He says things like, "Bill Russell once said, 'Hustle is skill.'""

Anyway, hope I didn't quote too much, but it's good to see he's hanging in there (his $55 million in salary, so far, probably reduces the pain somewhat)