This story is excerpted from My Giant Life by Lawrence Taylor with Williams Wyatt. To buy the book, click here. Thirty-one years ago today, Joe Theismann suffered a career-ending injury at the hands of Taylor. The Hall of Fame defender describes what that scene was like.Joe Theismann and I are linked forever because of an unfortunate incident that happened on November 18, 1985, during a Monday night game at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C., against the Redskins.At the beginning of the second quarter, Theismann handed off to John Riggins. The Diesel bulled toward the middle of the line, putting his head down for the impact. Then he changed his tack, stopping and flipping the ball back to Theismann. They were trying a flea flicker. Theismann wanted to throw downfield to Art Monk.Unfortunately for the Redskins and Theismann, we read the play correctly. We were blitzing. It felt like our entire defense was pouring in on Theismann. I got a hold of him and pulled him down. As we went to the ground, my knee rammed into his lower right leg; Harry Carson and Gary Reasons also congregated at Theismann on the sack. He didnt get up. I didnt expect him to, either. I knew hed been hurt badly.Theismann later told the New York Times in a 2005 interview: The pain was unbelievable, it snapped like a breadstick. It sounded like two muzzled gunshots off my left shoulder. Pow, pow! It was at that point, I also found out what a magnificent machine the human body is. Almost immediately, from the knee down, all the feeling was gone in my right leg. The endorphins had kicked in, and I was not in pain.Everybody on the field saw Theismann sprawled out on the field and knew he was in trouble. I know I started hollering for the doctors to get to him in a hurry to give him some help. Initially, some of the Redskins thought I was taunting after the sack. That obviously wasnt the case.Its just one of those things that happened. I knew he was hurt when I heard him under the pile yelling and I understood. Thats why I tried to get everybody off him and get some help for him. I knew when youre sitting on the bottom of the pile -- I dont care if its a toe sprain, or an ankle sprain, I dont care what it is -- it seems like forever, like the people on top of you are never going to figure it out. All you want is the people to get off of you and to get some help. And to breathe again.Everybody just kind of stood around like nobody knew what had happened.At that juncture of his career, Theismann was still a decent football player and an icon in Washington. Of course, Id been playing against him for years. And during our time, we spent a lot of time together and wed see each other a lot. Just like anybody else, you hate to see somebody sit there and suffer. So I wanted to get some help out there for the sumbitch.What happened? He fractured both the tibia and the fibula. In other words, the lower leg bones in his right leg were broken between his ankle and knee. That end result left his leg bent gruesomely in different directions.A lot of time passed before they quit tending to Joe and got him off the field and on his way to the hospital. Jay Schroeder took over at quarterback. Nobody knew at the time that Theismann would never play again.An ESPN poll of viewers later voted that play as the NFLs Most Shocking Moment in History.Really, its not a moment I want to remember or care to see again. Ive never seen the play. Football is a tough game, so players are always going to get hurt while playing the game. Thats one of the hazards of the job. Believe me; Ive seen a lot worse hits on film than the one on Joe, though. Everyone who thinks they know me wants to talk about that Monday Night Football game. First of all, like I said, I have never watched the play, dont wont to watch it, and I never will watch it. I saw it in person. I dont want to see it again.I remember calling him the morning after I broke his leg. A woman answered the phone. I dont know if she was his girlfriend or wife at the time. I hear her say, Joe, Joe, that guy is on the phone! When he got on the phone, he told me that I had broken both the bones in his leg. I kidded him by telling him that I didnt do anything half-assed. I told him, If Im going to break them, Im going to break them both.To Joes credit, he never blamed me for what happened. Weve never had a problem. Ive never had a problem with Joe. And every time we see each other, we talk. We talked before then, we still talk, and there is no animosity there. I know his son very well. Hey, I did [Theismann] a favor. He had Lloyds of London [insurance]. He made about $3 million.Joe had a helluva a career, and he did well after the NFL. But hes always maintained that his legacy is that injury. As he told the Orlando Sentinel, Ill forever be known as the Godfather of Broken Legs.This excerpt from My Giant Life by Lawrence Taylor with William Wyatt is printed with the permission of Triumph Books. For more information and to order a copy, please visit this link. Cheap Authentic Shoes Sale . Its 1987 and a Brazilian playmaker, known as Mirandinha, is being paraded around St James Park to the passionate Newcastle fans. Cheap Authentic Shoes Online . PETERSBURG, Fla. http://www.cheapauthenticshoes.com/ . -- Former San Diego Chargers safety Paul Oliver was found dead at his Atlanta-area home Tuesday night, and a medical examiner said Wednesday that the ex-player committed suicide. Cheap Authentic Shoes From China .C. -- When North Carolina freshman Ryan Switzer reported to training camp in August he was a little miffed to learn he was third on the depth chart at punt returner. Authentic Shoes Wholesale . The (11-11-4) Jets are seventh in the Central Division with 26 points. Fifth place Dallas and sixth-seeded Nashville also have 26 points, but the Stars have three games in hand on Winnipeg while Nashville has two. A lot has changed for Sergio Perez in three years. Consigned to F1s scrapheap by McLaren three years ago, the Mexican driver has become one of the hottest commodities on the grid having revived his career at Force India.His career turnaround has been so significant that he has been a major player in this years driver market, even if he had a contract with Force India all along. Perezs unwillingness to publicly commit to another year came as his sponsors explored other options up and down the grid -- notably Williams and Renault. In Monza he said he had decided on what he wanted to do, and that it was what I always wanted.Speaking about his decision, Perez told ESPN: Its not easy, especially not knowing where youre going to be in the future and so on. Its your career and you keep asking a lot of questions to yourself - can it be better, or worse? But Im happy with my decision and I know its the best one for my career.The decision is expected to be another season at Force India -- putting Perez into an enviable position. That year will give him time to assess the lie of the land under 2017s big regulation changes at a team which continues to move up the pecking order and, as many observers have noted, put him in prime position for a 2018 seat at Ferrari without potentially damaging his current standing at a Renault team with no guarantees of being truly competitive next season.Flavour of the monthFormula One can be a fickle business, something Perez encapsulates better than most of his peers on the grid. Dropped by McLaren after one disappointing campaign in 2013, a career full of so much promise and potential seemed to have stalled prematurely.Vijay Mallya saved Perezs career in 2014, signing the driver who had been so impressive at Sauber in 2012. He scored a podium apiece in 2014 and 2015, but still seemed to be firmly in the shadow of Force India teammate Nico Hulkenberg -- who won the Le Mans 24 Hours for Porsche last season.The 2016 campaign has changed all that. His podiums in Monaco and Baku are among the best drives of the season, a glimpse of what might have been had his first year at McLaren not coincided with the teams first year without a top three finish since 1980.Asked if there was value in being flavour of the month in F1 when it came to the driver market, he said: Thats the case, definitely. Its a funny sport. But its Formula One, you are racing against the best. We are 22, but theres probably ten of us who are a really competing on a very close level of racing.Only one tenth would separate us, you know, in those top ten drivers in the paddock. So its not easy to stay here and carve out a long career. You have to work hard and give yourself a chance to work the best. If you dont perform quick enough you may not survive; its very rare that people survive in Formula One without the results. I didnt have the results at McLaren and I didnt stay. I have the results now and people think differently of you - its just the way the game works.For Perez, McLarens treatment of him in 2013 has played a big part in his career resurgence at Force India.Ive grown so much after my McLaren period, thats been important in my career. I had a tough time there and managed to overcome those problems at McLaren. It was close to finishing me very early on in my career. So it was great to be able to come back stronger... what doesnt killl you makes you stronger.dddddddddddd Thats what McLaren did to me, my time at McLaren, it just made me grow as a racing driver, as a person, right now Im much more complete.Right place, right timePerezs own teammate is a good example of this changing nature of F1 driver perceptions. After winning the Le Mans last year, Hulkenbergs name was among those mentioned as a possible candidate to replace Kimi Raikkonen at Ferrari along with Valtteri Bottas and Daniel Ricciardo. Perez, who was part of the Ferrari Academy until leaving for McLaren in 2013, was never a part of the conversation.Though a long shot for the Ferrari drive in 2016, Hulkenberg has frequently had to field questions about whether his best chance at a big move has passed him by. Despite being highly rated in the paddock the German is still waiting to stand on an F1 podium, something which has further magnified Perezs own success in the last three seasons.But Perez thinks the constant pressure of thinking about big drives is something which can hurt a driver and says it is something he has had to learn to ignore.When I was a bit younger I used to be obsessed with that, what would be available and what would not, and not enjoy so much the moment. Right now Im so bothered at all. My main focus is to enjoy the present... now I always know what Im doing next year I try to enjoy the moment, you know? In life, it changes all the time, so the most important thing is to enjoy the present.Asked if that obsession affected his driving when he was at McLaren in 2013, he said: It wasnt that, but theres a lot of pressure, very big pressure. You feel that maybe you might be out of the business, you might have missed your big chance... what you have to do is just get on with your job, enjoy it and remember how lucky you are to be part of this life. Thats it, enjoy life and get on with it.In the hands of sponsorsHis sponsors played a key role in the uncertainty around his future. The Mexican group of businesses have been with him since the start of his career and control his destiny, in conjunction with Perezs wishes. But Perez denies it is a case of business over passion when deciding his future - both he and his backers want to one day land in a car capable of winning a world championship.At the end of the day everything is down to the results, and results is the passion that drives us. The sponsors are here because they want to win with me, they have big ambitions, thats why we decide together. Im lucky to have sponsors who understand the sport and thats why its great we can decide together.Its important sponsors are happy and theyre willing to support the project - and they are [for his 2017 decision]. Im very happy because things are going in the right direction.A move to Renault or Williams in 2017 would have been uncertain, while staying at Force India would see him remain at a team pushing hard to finish fourth in this years constructors championship.When asked if Force India could maintain this years impressive form in 2017, and therefore cope with splitting resources this year, Perez hinted at his final decision, saying: No, I dont think so, I think we are going up. This team is going to keep improving and thats why its a great place to be... ' ' '