The Scariest Moment in Sports History

[bhambruiser]

I was listening to some sports talk this morning and they were talking about the scariest moment in sports history.

Mine would have to be:

Theisman Breaks Leg on National TV...I wasn't old enough to know what was going on, but the replay is hard to watch everytime.

Anyway- share yours

[VitaminD]

Theisman's injury is probably my #1 as well. For the purpose of meaningful dialogue, here's a few more:

- Moises Alou's gruesome ankle fracture/dislocation rounding first in St. Louis.

- Jason Kendall's similar ankle dislocation/fracture when he skidded across first base... and that sat on the ground ARGUING THE CALL while his foot hung limp 90 degrees from where it should.

- Dave Dravecky's comeback from cancer ending with the pitch where his arm broke and kind of fluttered through a follow-through.

- Kermit Washington suckerpunching Rudy Tomjanovich.

- Jesse Boulerice slashing Andrew Long across the face in a minor-league hockey game.

These come close, Theisman's is worse.

[See Red]

Theisman's isn't up there for me because it was a leg and not a head injury. An injury that could potentially kill a man is soooo much worse than one that could end a man's career.

I would say the one that comes to my mind first is Todd Bertuzzi cheapshotting Steve Moore because Moore went headfirst into the ice and didn't move for a while.

[officeglenn]

I always find it scary when a player goes down and doesn't get up for a while. The one that springs to mind was when Broncos LB John Mobley broke his back on the field.

Of course, there are a few from pro wrestling as well ? I know, it's not a sport, but they're still scary. Like Owen Hart piledriving Steve Austin, Chris Benoit dropping Sabu right on his head, or Sid breaking his leg in the ring. I still cringe anytime I watch one of those matches.

[Stampman]

Theisman is up there--

BUT number one was a Russian diver at a University comeptition in Edmonton--his head hit the platform and he just plummeted into the water --he did not survive...

There are some runnerups in the NHL--McSorley goes ape on Mike Bullard-MCsorley attacks Brashear, Bertuzzi on Moore, to name three ...

[NJTank]

Heres one taht ended up being a tragedy Hank Gathers.

[fiasco!]

clint malarchuk's neck getting sliced to the vertebrae by a skate.

nothing was worse than that.

guaranteed.

click here if you don't know the story.

[Nick 1733]

Okay, I'll mention some others not listed.

Ed McCaffrey getting his leg broken.

Bryant Young getting his leg broken. (at least I think that's who it was, circa 1999 49ers against the Giants on MNF)

wrestling stuff:

Darren Drozdov getting his neck broken and ended up paralyzed.

Hardcore Holly getting dropped straight on his neck by Brock Lesnar.

[oakland ehs]

most of the ones posted here are one's i'd say, so i'll post one that actually happened in a game i was playing in...

about 3 years ago in hockey (i play defense), i was chasing a guy who was going towards the boards to get the puck, and i was fairly close so i knew i'd lay the hit on him as soon as he was sideways to the boards and close to the puck. i shoot right handed, but i feel more comfortable hitting with my right shoulder, so i went to lift my stick over him so that my right shoulder was in position, but he must have been losing balance or something and my stick clipped him about 5 feet from the boards.

he went headfirst in and didn't get up, typical hit from behind scenario, except i never laid a hit on him or did anything illegal (at least intentionally).

the guy didn't move for about 5 minutes and didn't get up for about 10. no penalty called, and thankfully he got up on his own and was able to skate off the ice. but for those 10 minutes i was almost shaking because i thought i had possibly broken his neck, crippled him, or even killed him.

actually i thought of one now. trent mccleary of the canadiens going down to block a shot from the blueline, and the slapshot hit him right in the throat. awful awful awful.

[NJTank]

Oh yeah Milarchuk yeah that does take the cake I still dont know how he survived it.

[LMU]

Of the ones that I've actually seen, the Kendall one's up there, especially with his bone sticking out through the sock. The Malarchuk one was REALLY bad... saw that on one of those FSN shows, and the Hank Gathers one really hits home, seeing as how I am going to LMU and all.

[black_gold_capone]

what about Owen Hart dying on PPV

[CC97]

Clint Malarchuk for sure... plus in a similar incident Trent McCleary.

Steve Moore and Scott Niedermeyer were both scary, both of them the live television audience weren't sure what happened for a few minutes until the replay, my first thought was they just collapsed on their own.

Gregg Zaun a couple of months ago started to choke on his tounge after taking a knee to the head sliding into second base.

[Juddley]

The worst thing I saw growing up was watching a game between the Expos and the Reds. John McSherry was the Home Plate Umpire, but you could tell he wasn't feeling well. I think sometime in the 3rd inning or so, he motioned to the crew behind home plate to get out there, but it was too late. He collapsed on the field of a heart attack. I think he died a few hours later at the hospital That was the scariest thing I saw with sports involved.

[pollux]

Trent McLeary's injury was, in my mind, the most frightening thing I ever saw on live TV. Not only because it was a clear and direct shot to his throat, but also seeing him skate back to the bench and collapsing in front of the medical staff. Everybody knew there was something going really wrong that night. And when I think of it I had never seen other players as worried about somebody else as that night.

Another injury that hasn't been mentioned is Brian Savage getting clipped by one of the Kings players after missing a one-time shot (I think it was Laperriere). He collapsed on the ice and began convulsing for about 5-10 minutes. Ended up with broken vertebrae...

I had heard of Clink Malarchuk's injury, but it is the first time I see a picture of it. Had it been on TV at that time, this would have to be #1 on my list.

[DEAD!]

Clink Malarchuk's was the worst I've seen, just because of the amount of blood he lost. How he survived that is beyond me

One death that has always been in my mind was Ayrton Senna. I watched the race live and couldn't believe it when it was announced he was dead. It was the sort of feeling some of you NASCAR fans had when Earnhardt died in a crash.

[HatCityEnforcer]

The Malarchuk one is probably gonna be tops on anyone's list....

However, there's another one that's right up there as well on the ol' scare list as well..

Mark Howe and his run-in with the net....

[Bleujayone]

Daryl Stingley getting drilled in a meaningless pre-season game by Jack Tatum August 12, 1978 . I was very young at the time, and I thought Stingley was dead. It was also the moment when I began to realize football was more than a game. People don't lose the abilty to walk playing games- this was serious. I cringe when I se the footage. Thankfully they don't show it anywhere near as often as Theisman's leg getting broken- I'm guessing because as painful as that was, his life wasn't radically altered the way Stingley's was.

Stingley alomst had to go through that again when 20 years later his own so was involved in a scary hit of his own playing Arena football with the Albany Firebirds. Thankfully, his son ended up walking away.

[bhambruiser]

another one I was surprised hasn't been mentioned.

The 1989 World Series Earthquake Game between the A's and the Giants

I remember watching what I think was highlights on ABC and then all of the sudden all of these shots of the field came up and it was mentioned there was an earthquake.

[gashouser27]

Definitely Dravecky breaking his arm after cancer..I mean you could see it fluttering and it had to amputated.

Maybe a tie with Tatum paralyzing Stingley. The other stuff was bad but this stuff was tragic.

From a long time ago Emile Griffin killing Bernie Parent in the ring..

But that is boxing ..kind of in a class by itself