What is an Indirect hernia, and how serious is it?

Not that serious, but I believe it usually requires surgery (though usually it can be repaired using laparoscopic surgery.) The healing time is supposedly only a week or so (he'd probably take a little longer to return to playing, maybe another week or two) unless the surgeons have to operate the traditional way (then it's a six week or so recovery). The trainer seemed to say that it wasn't serious enough to require immediate attention unless it was painful for Francis (the Chron article said that Francis could keep playing as long as it didn't bother him.) So, maybe he doesn't need to have the surgery to repair it (but I don't think it will "heal" on its own.)

Of course, I could be wrong about all this because I am not a doctor and may have misunderstood the person who was telling me this.