The Worst Sports Injuries...

[MDC]

That I've caused (And there are a lot of them.)

Wow, you sound like a real bad-ass.

Well, I'm not very good at basketball fundamentally speaking, and I tend to play very brutaly on the basketball court. I figure that if I can knock out my opponent's best player and get ejected, I'm actually doing my team a favor. For one thing, I'm no big loss to my team. Secondly, if I can knock out their best player, I soften up the other guys so it's easier for my team to win.

Not fouling the other team's best player, but legitimately trying to hurt them?

How sinful.

[FiddySicks]

I used to play college rugby and saw some pretty bad ones. Once in a tournament vs San Francisco State, one of our players made a tackle on the runner and he went down right on his head, hard. And I mean HARD. He started convulsing and they had to clear the field and bring in the Medevac chopper. Luckily they were able to get him stabilized and were able to take him away in an ambulance, but it was still pretty scary. As soon as he was on his way to the hospital, the ref called us right back onto the field to finish the game. It was our very first game of my second season and I thought our new players (and my mom) we're going to have a heart attack when we we started playing again.

[DEAD!]

That I've caused (And there are a lot of them.)

Wow, you sound like a real bad-ass.

Well, I'm not very good at basketball fundamentally speaking, and I tend to play very brutaly on the basketball court. I figure that if I can knock out my opponent's best player and get ejected, I'm actually doing my team a favor. For one thing, I'm no big loss to my team. Secondly, if I can knock out their best player, I soften up the other guys so it's easier for my team to win.

Not fouling the other team's best player, but legitimately trying to hurt them?

How sinful.

God's OK with that. It's Thou Shall Not Kill, not Thou Shall Not Injure...

[BlueSky]

My first thought on seeing this thread was the McCallum MNF deal, then Theismann, but another 'once was enough to see it' injury I also remember was one of the 49ers defensive linemen. Had to Google this and found it was Bryant Young vs. the Giants in 1998.

He was pursuing a runner who was tackled right in front of him. IIRC Ken Norton was diving at the ballcarrier and when the runner went down Norton sailed over him and his helmet caught Young right in the shin. His leg just folded backwards in a 'V' as if there was a hinge centered on his shin. It was gruesome to watch.

[speedy]

Absolutely had to be McGahee in the Fiesta Bowl, ouch. Not nearly as bad as watching the referees go blind in overtime, but I digress.

[Panhead1]

That I've caused (And there are a lot of them.)

Wow, you sound like a real bad-ass.

Well, I'm not very good at basketball fundamentally speaking, and I tend to play very brutaly on the basketball court. I figure that if I can knock out my opponent's best player and get ejected, I'm actually doing my team a favor. For one thing, I'm no big loss to my team. Secondly, if I can knock out their best player, I soften up the other guys so it's easier for my team to win.

Not fouling the other team's best player, but legitimately trying to hurt them?

How sinful.

God's OK with that. It's Thou Shall Not Kill, not Thou Shall Not Injure...

Yeah. But again, I'm done acting like such a goon on these boards.

[Panhead1]

I used to play college rugby and saw some pretty bad ones. Once in a tournament vs San Francisco State, one of our players made a tackle on the runner and he went down right on his head, hard. And I mean HARD. He started convulsing and they had to clear the field and bring in the Medevac chopper. Luckily they were able to get him stabilized and were able to take him away in an ambulance, but it was still pretty scary. As soon as he was on his way to the hospital, the ref called us right back onto the field to finish the game. It was our very first game of my second season and I thought our new players (and my mom) we're going to have a heart attack when we we started playing again.

I'd expect a lot of such injuries to happen in rugby.

[tBBP]

Had to Google this and found it was Bryant Young vs. the Giants in 1998.

He was pursuing a runner who was tackled right in front of him. IIRC Ken Norton was diving at the ballcarrier and when the runner went down Norton sailed over him and his helmet caught Young right in the shin. His leg just folded backwards in a 'V' as if there was a hinge centered on his shin. It was gruesome to watch.

That's the first one that came to my mind, too. I can still see that play unfold in my head, how Bryant Young's leg got stuck out of shape. (I think a piece of bone might have even been sticking out.) I remember the air cast they had to put on his leg and everything. Nasty stuff.

All that said, outside of Clint Malarchuk, I think the absolute worst one I've seen, football wise, was Alabama WR Tyrone Prothro. Google this if you haven't seen it. It's possible dude's foot was already broke, but he went downfield on a long pass, went up for it, and some kind of way I guess the thing snapped as the defender rolled over him. As Prothro is tumbling over, you can see his foot waving in the wind like it was hanging by a thread, and when he finally rolls all the way over and realizes what's happened, he reaches for his foot but grabs his lower shin--by this time his foot was hanging pretty much right off his ankle bone like a dead piece of chicken. Needless to say, that was the end of his football career right there.

[DEAD!]

That I've caused (And there are a lot of them.)

Wow, you sound like a real bad-ass.

Well, I'm not very good at basketball fundamentally speaking, and I tend to play very brutaly on the basketball court. I figure that if I can knock out my opponent's best player and get ejected, I'm actually doing my team a favor. For one thing, I'm no big loss to my team. Secondly, if I can knock out their best player, I soften up the other guys so it's easier for my team to win.

Not fouling the other team's best player, but legitimately trying to hurt them?

How sinful.

God's OK with that. It's Thou Shall Not Kill, not Thou Shall Not Injure...

Yeah. But again, I'm done acting like such a goon on these boards.

... yeah you are not acting like a goon.. you ARE a goon

[Master Amino]

Gotta say that Shaun Livingston's "mega tear" takes the cake for me. EJ Henderson's injury was no slouch either. That thing was waving like a wet noodle...

[Saintsfan]

I used to play college rugby and saw some pretty bad ones. Once in a tournament vs San Francisco State, one of our players made a tackle on the runner and he went down right on his head, hard. And I mean HARD. He started convulsing and they had to clear the field and bring in the Medevac chopper. Luckily they were able to get him stabilized and were able to take him away in an ambulance, but it was still pretty scary. As soon as he was on his way to the hospital, the ref called us right back onto the field to finish the game. It was our very first game of my second season and I thought our new players (and my mom) we're going to have a heart attack when we we started playing again.

I'd expect a lot of such injuries to happen in rugby.

Interestingly, the higher up the game you go, the less injuries you get. With good tackling, scrummaging and rucking technique, injuries are really quite rare (serious ones at least).

[BaltimoreFan]

Last fall, my cousin had a pretty nasty softball injury. It was the opening Sunday of the season and we were playing a quadruple header because of a rain out the week before (so the season didn't run later than it usually does). In the fourth game my cousin was playing right center and I was playing 2nd base. My cousin got beat and their are no fences in this league. He ran back and got the ball, but when he threw it to left center. My cousin screams and the left center fielder is freaking out. We stopped the game and everyone ran out to see him. His arm was just hanging there. We all thought he dislocated his elbow and we told him to try and pop it back in. He tried and was unsuccessful so we called an ambulance. I went to the emergency room immediately after the game. My cousin was in the x-ray room when I got there. While I was waiting I saw an x-ray come up on one of the computer screens. I thought to myself, "oh that sucks that person broke their arm". Well it turned out to be my cousin's x-ray. He actually managed to break his arm throwing a softball in from the outfield. The doctors weren't too concerned and actually said it happens more often than you would think. He got a body scan to check for bone cancer and nothing came up. He actually had to go to shock trauma to have surgery on the arm. It was pretty crazy to see some get that injured in something thats supposed to be fun like slow pitch softball. I felt kinda bad too, because I had been trying to talk my cousin into playing for a couple of years, and he finally did.

[FiddySicks]

I used to play college rugby and saw some pretty bad ones. Once in a tournament vs San Francisco State, one of our players made a tackle on the runner and he went down right on his head, hard. And I mean HARD. He started convulsing and they had to clear the field and bring in the Medevac chopper. Luckily they were able to get him stabilized and were able to take him away in an ambulance, but it was still pretty scary. As soon as he was on his way to the hospital, the ref called us right back onto the field to finish the game. It was our very first game of my second season and I thought our new players (and my mom) we're going to have a heart attack when we we started playing again.

I'd expect a lot of such injuries to happen in rugby.

Interestingly, the higher up the game you go, the less injuries you get. With good tackling, scrummaging and rucking technique, injuries are really quite rare (serious ones at least).

The majority of injuries I saw playing rugby happened to players who weren't giving their all and got crushed by someone who was. That's pretty much what happened to this guy. He tried to hold back so that he wouldn't get hit as hard and he ended up taking the shot rather than giving it to the defender. I saw a decent amount of injuries in practice, mainly broken collar bones and ankles and such, for the exact same reason. Still though, less overall injuries than I saw in football.

[Viper]

Arsenal's Eduardo getting his leg broken by a studs-up challenge in a 2008 Premiership match. (Needless to say, the guy who did it was immediately sent off with a 3-match ban.) I can't find the before/after photo but it showed the broken bone on the verge of tearing through his sock.

[BlueSky]

Forgot my own that fits this category, it wasn't pretty but didn't really hurt at all. It's so minor that it barely belongs here but what the hell.

I was probably 15 or so and we were playing touch football and the defender batted a pass I was trying to catch. The ball came down over my outstretched hand, caught my pinky and dislocated it. It was literally sticking 90 degrees out from my hand and because of where it ended up, the edge of the finger bone broke the tiny little joint bone between the hand and finger.

My mom freaked out and couldn't watch the doc yank it back into place. They splinted it for a couple weeks and it was fine, though it still has kind of a funny motion when I bend it, nothing anyone else would notice but I do 'cause it's different from the other one.

[GMW79]

Napolean McCalum's knee injury in the 1994 MNF opener.

Clint Milarchuck getting his throat slashed

My first thought on seeing this thread was the McCallum MNF deal,

Yeah. McCallum's ankle was my first thought as well. That was just plain nasty. I remember watching that game and how they kept showing the replay over, and over, and over again.

I didn't see the Malarchuk slash live, but I watched the video online a while back and as a hockey player/fan that really scared me quite a bit.

I'm not such a fan of racing but one of the worst photos I've seen was one of an Indy or F1 racer about 10 years ago. The car was *flying* backwards with the *entire* front end ripped off and the driver's legs were very visibly hanging out amidst a mass of shredded metal and cables. Photographically it's an excellent picture, but the actual accident was terrible. IIRC, the driver lost both his legs as a result.

[goalieboy82]

early on when i was playing goalie, my achilles (both of them at one time or another) would felt like to me like it was "popping". i ended up needing a gastroc slide surgery on both of them (right archilles in december 2000 and my left one in may 2001). also i twice tore partly the cartilage in my left knee (that is what a doctor said when he looked at my MRI pictures). the first time i dont know officially when it happen (i stilled played) but the second happpen during when i was playing goalie (which ended up being my last game i ever played).

[tp49]

Ed McCaffrey's broken leg versus the New York Giants on September 10, 2001. That was the worst injury I'd seen since Theismann and Malarchuk. I'd also include Dave Dravecky breaking his arm against the Expos after coming back from cancer.

[ElwoodCuse]

Jason Kendall snapped his ankle off when it landed on first base funny. And his momentum caused him to run a couple steps on the bone sticking out of his leg too.

We've mentioned Malarchuk but don't forget Richard Zednik who also got a nasty neck cut and probably would have died were it not for the fast action of the medical staff at the arena.

And while it wasn't gross to look at, I was at a game where Donald Audette got his wrist skated over. He was lucky that they were able to reattach the tendons or else he'd have lost the use of his hand.