Bo Jackson has been suffering in intermittent silence.
The multi-sport legend will undergo a procedure later this week to address a bout of chronic hiccups he has dealt with since July 2022, he said Wednesday during an appearance on “McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning” on WJOX-FM.
When asked about seeing fellow Auburn legend Frank Thomas’ statue dedication at Plainsman Park in April, Thomas revealed he did not attend because he was busy dealing with the hiccups:
“I wasn’t there because of dealing with hiccups. I’ve had the hiccups since last July and I’m getting a medical procedure done the end of this week, I think, to try to remedy it. I’ve been busy sitting at the hospital sitting with the doctor’s poking me, shining lights down my throat, probing me every way they can to find out why I’ve got these hiccups. That’s the only reason I wasn’t there.”
He was later asked if the doctors had figured out the cause of the condition. They had not, and Jackson has apparently tried remedies remedying from the cliché to the, um, exotic:
“Hell no. I have done everything: scare me, hang upside down, drink water, smell the ass of a porcupine. It doesn’t work.”
That sounds like a miserable experience for the former NFL Pro Bowler and MLB All-Star. The procedure will hopefully take care of the issue, otherwise Jackson might end up in the annals of chronic hiccups, which are led by Charles Osborne and his still-unexplained 68-year case of hiccups.
The causes of hiccups can be incredibly murky with a wide range of potential causes, which usually isn’t an issue when they go away after a few minutes, but it can make cases like Jackson’s a true ordeal.
Jackson has been enjoying retirement since 1994 and still enjoys a unique legend as maybe the most athletic person to step onto a baseball field field, and one of the fastest people to ever run the ball in the NFL. He spent nine seasons in MLB with the Kansas City Royals, Chicago White Sox and California Angels and played four seasons in the NFL with the Los Angeles Rams.
