Robert Müller's Toughest Fight

OK ... OK ... I know what you're thinking. Not another post about Ice Hockey!!! And who is Robert Müller and why should we care about him?

Here at the Brothers McC, we often like to ramble on (and on and on and on) about things we know about. And sometimes we'll even ramble on about things we know hardly anything about. That's all part of the joy that is being us! But one of the topics that will keep on popping up on this page is sports. And, as I have found out, there are so many times that a sports story can be truly inspiring ('Miracle On Ice' and ' Rudy' and 'The Pride Of The Yankees' to name just a few). But it seems that there are so many great stories in this world that often some of them fall through the cracks of the general public’s radar.

Here’s a story that should be a front pager – if not on every newspaper, at least on every sports section.

This is the story of Robert Müller, the remarkable German goalie who has fought back from an operation to remove parts of a brain tumor. And, while still undergoing a full course of chemo- and radiation therapy, amazingly, he has returned to the nets in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga. He even stopped 96 of 100 shots for Kölner Haie in a 168-minute-long playoff match — the second longest game in hockey history!!! Müller then went on to backstop Kölner Haie (Cologne Sharks) to the DEL final and played well for Germany at the World Championship in Canada.

But then over this summer, the tumor started growing again, and in August he underwent a second operation. Then, a couple of weeks ago came bad news — Müller, just 28 and the father of two, has a rare and incurable form of tumor, and he has already exceeded the median survival period for those with the condition.

And yet despite this dark prognosis, Müller continues to inspire. He started practicing with Cologne last month, and last week he even dressed as the backup for a game in nearby Duisburg. (Fans there greeted him with a big ovation.) On Sunday, dressed for the first time in Cologne, he came onto the ice to finish the last eight minutes of an easy victory over Nuremberg Ice Tigers.

This is a great story – and you can read more about it here:

http://www.iihf.com/home-of-hockey/news/news-singleview/article/the-enemy-in-muellers-head.html?tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=955&cHash=d4ab3f01b3