zmanzzzz Posted December 8, 2007 Share Posted December 8, 2007 NUMBER 10 John Terry During the Carling Cup final between archrivals Chelsea and Arsenal, John Terry proved himself both brave and foolish. On a Chelsea corner kick, the ball crossed into the box and bounced in front of the net before Terry dropped his head in an attempt to head the ball in for a score. Unfortunately, for his face, Arsenal midfielder Abou Diaby was trying to clear the same ball with his boot. The result: The ball was cleared and Terry’s face was tattooed with shoe polish. After lying unconscious on the field for several minutes with a face full of blood, Terry was carried off on a stretcher with a neck brace. Miraculously, he didn’t suffer a concussion or any broken bones. NUMBER 9 Dave Dravecky In 1989, after having a cancerous tumor and half his deltoid muscle removed from his left throwing arm, Dave Dravecky made a triumphant return to baseball. In August 1989, Dravecky returned to Candlestick Park in San Francisco and won his first start, a 4-3 decision over the Cincinnati Reds. A week later, however, Dravecky’s arm snapped in half while throwing a pitch in Montreal. The cancer had returned, and doctors were forced to amputate the full arm. In the years since his retirement, Dravecky has become a Christian motivational speaker, having realized that God’s plan for him was much greater than the game of baseball. We guess surviving gruesome sports injuries is one way to find God. NUMBER 8 Sid Vicious On January 14, 2001, Sid Vicious, the punk rocker of the wrestling circuit, was the star of a World Championship Wrestling (WCW) main event. Prior to the match, Sid Vicious (aka Sycho Sid or Sid Justice) was talked into expanding his repertoire to include a few aerial maneuvers. When it came time to climb the ropes, Sid jumped off the top turnbuckle and came down feetfirst in an attempt to land his right boot on his opponent’s chops. Sadly, his left foot hit the canvas at an awkward angle and cracked both his tibia and fibula. One of the bones involved in this gruesome sports injury pierced his skin and his shin was bent at a 90-degree angle. NUMBER 7 Tyrone Prothro Alabama wide receiver Tyrone Prothro is known for two things: an incredible Hail Mary catch and a freakish injury. Before breaking both bones in his lower leg, Prothro showed what a superlative athlete he could be when he caught Brodie Croyle’s 50-yard bomb and hugged the defender in order to pluck the ball off the cornerback’s neck, where the pass landed. Shortly thereafter, however, Prothro’s career was severely damaged. In a 2005 game against Florida, Prothro went up for a catch and snapped his fibula and tibia as he came down. He has yet to return to football. NUMBER 6 Joe Theismann Theismann’s injury used to be the industry standard of gruesome sports injuries. After winning the MVP award in 1983, then carrying the Washington Redskins to a Super Bowl title, Theismann was one of the league’s greatest stars. Then, in a 1985 game on Monday Night Football, Lawrence Taylor sacked the star quarterback and landed directly on Theismann’s lower right leg. Like Sid Vicious and Tyrone Prothro, both bones in Theismann’s lower leg snapped. Theismann retired the next year and became one of football’s preeminent color commentators. NUMBER 5 Napoleon McCallum After an impressive 1986 rookie year as the Los Angeles Raiders’ running back, Napoleon McCallum left the NFL to serve a five-year commitment in the navy. He returned to the Raiders in 1990, but his career ended on opening night in 1994. In a Monday-night marquee matchup between the Raiders and 49ers, McCallum’s cleat got stuck in the ground as he was tackled. As a result, his left leg twisted in nearly every gruesome direction imaginable. He suffered a ruptured artery in his left knee, three torn ligaments, extensive nerve damage, while he also suffered the agonizing pain of having his calf and hamstring muscles ripped from the bone. Now, that’s a gruesome sports injury. NUMBER 4 Shaun Livingston Livingston is one of those majestic athletes whose basketball grace causes scouts to drool. Selected fourth overall in the 2004 NBA Draft, Livingston has been injury-prone throughout his brief career with the Los Angeles Clippers. But his most gruesome sports injury involved his knee on February 26, 2007. That night, as he drove to the basket, Livingston missed the layup and landed on his left leg. His knee buckled and snapped laterally. And in the realm of knee injuries, it is indeed rare to damage nearly every part of the knee at once; but Livingston tore the anterior cruciate ligament, the posterior cruciate ligament, and the lateral meniscus, while also spraining his medial collateral ligament and dislocating both the patella and the tibia-femoral joint. Not many surgeons get to see gruesome sports injuries of this caliber. NUMBER 3 Willis McGahee In the 2003 Fiesta Bowl, the Miami Hurricanes’ running back Willis McGahee was sprinting through Ohio State’s linebacking core when a defender’s forearm came flying into the picture at knee level. As McGahee’s body continued, his knee stopped and three of his ligaments were torn. Despite the severity of the injury, McGahee proved his detractors wrong by excelling through the first four years in the NFL. While he may not be the explosive back he might have been, McGahee is one of the league’s better rushers despite suffering a gruesome sports injury NUMBER 2 Allan Ray Allan Ray’s gruesome sports injury looked hideous, but it actually caused very little damage. In the 2006 Big East Tournament, Villanova’s star point guard was scrambling after a loose ball. As he lowered his head, an opponent’s finger moved up in pursuit of the ball and dug Ray’s eye slightly out of its socket, allowing his eyelid to slide in behind the eyeball. Fortunately for Ray, there was only soft tissue damage, and the eye’s vision has remained in tact. A Bronx native, Ray had a brief NBA career before moving to Italy, where he plays for Lottomatica Roma NUMBER 1 Clint Malarchuk This is the one gruesome sports injury in which death seemed probable. Clint Malarchuk was a journeyman goaltender who had just been traded to the Buffalo Sabres and the St. Louis Blues were in town on March 22, 1989. With the puck in the corner, St. Louis winger Steve Tuttle drove to the net with the Sabres’ defensemen Uwe Krupp giving chase. As the puck was centered, Krupp tackled and up-ended Tuttle, whose skate flew into the air and slit the jugular vein in Malarchuk’s throat. After the net slid off its moorings, Malarchuk dropped to his knees and held on to his throat. Blood spurt between his fingers and formed a growing crimson pool on the white ice around the crease. Although Malarchuk managed to stay conscious throughout this gruesome sports injury, nine spectators fainted, two suffered heart attacks and three players threw up on the ice. As Malarchuk fought off his desire to sleep, he prayed, asked if he was going to die, and told trainers to tell his mother he loves her. Four days later, with 300 stitches in his neck, Malarchuk returned to practice with the Sabres. SNAP, CRACK AND POP While it’s true that the sight of a gruesome sports injury is cringe-worthy, the sounds are really the worst part. For the athlete who hears his own bone crack, there must be nothing scarier than the fear of losing his livelihood. And for the other athletes and fans, an athlete’s screams fuel one’s own imagination, which is always capable of much worse than the eyes alone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keggerz Posted December 8, 2007 Share Posted December 8, 2007 reading that made my body ache Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGrunt Posted December 8, 2007 Share Posted December 8, 2007 NUMBER 5: McCallum Leg Break Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGrunt Posted December 8, 2007 Share Posted December 8, 2007 "Oh My God, What Happened?!?" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGrunt Posted December 8, 2007 Share Posted December 8, 2007 NUMBER 4: Shaun Livingston Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGrunt Posted December 8, 2007 Share Posted December 8, 2007 NUMBER 8: Sid Vicious Announcer2, "Look at the left foot!" Announcer1, "That is so difficult to watch; we've seen it already. Ugh" Announcer2, "Another angle!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGrunt Posted December 8, 2007 Share Posted December 8, 2007 ...wait for the replay, at the 00:22 second mark. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROYALWITCHEESE Posted December 9, 2007 Share Posted December 9, 2007 Good stuff. Fascinates me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chavez Posted December 9, 2007 Share Posted December 9, 2007 Although Malarchuk managed to stay conscious throughout this gruesome sports injury, nine spectators fainted, two suffered heart attacks and three players threw up on the ice. As Malarchuk fought off his desire to sleep, he prayed, asked if he was going to die, and told trainers to tell his mother he loves her. I recall reading an article on this - Malarchuk said he asked the linesman who was standing near him if he was going to die, and the ref just sorta went "ummm...." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chavez Posted December 9, 2007 Share Posted December 9, 2007 A few others - - Tim Krumrie's leg snap in the '89 SB - flapping in the wind. Stomach-churning - Jason Kendall busts his ankle; Robin Ventura of the White Sux had a similar injury (sliding into 2nd, I believe) - Fred-Ex's (Freddie Mitchell for all of those who have forgotten) broken leg in his freshman season, where the femur snapped while he was running and it flopped up and kicked him in the back of the head - I think it was a Michigan State/Wisconsin game during Lee Evans' senior year, but some kid snapped his leg big-time. Guh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STL Fan Posted December 9, 2007 Share Posted December 9, 2007 Moises Alou vs. the Cardinals after he rounded first and stopped to go back to first. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skrappy1 Posted December 9, 2007 Share Posted December 9, 2007 (edited) Don't forget this guy: kickboxer I also remember Bryant Young's leg injury about 10 years back being pretty bad, I believe it was during a MNF game. Edited December 9, 2007 by Skrappy1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaptainHook Posted December 9, 2007 Share Posted December 9, 2007 McCallum's always does it for me. The worst I've ever seen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randall Posted December 9, 2007 Share Posted December 9, 2007 Trent Green? The one from last year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGrunt Posted December 9, 2007 Share Posted December 9, 2007 NUMBER 7: Tyrone Prothro At first glance you can't really tell what happened. However, the replay show it all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGrunt Posted December 9, 2007 Share Posted December 9, 2007 Could-have-been NUMBER 1: Larry Johnson Sadly, this is the only video I could find, so the quality isn't the greatest. But I remember watching this play unfold and thinking, for sure, Larry Johnson was killed due to a snapped neck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Itals Posted December 9, 2007 Share Posted December 9, 2007 What? No Joe Theissman? When an injury freaks out Lawrence Taylor, you know it's bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slugs Posted December 9, 2007 Share Posted December 9, 2007 I have to say that I think this should be a top 10: Kermit Washington is best remembered for punching opposing player Rudy Tomjanovich during an on-court fight on December 9, 1977. Washington was currently engaged in a brawl when he saw Tomjanovich running towards the altercation, so Washington swung around to meet him. The punch, which took Tomjanovich by surprise, fractured his face about 1/3 of an inch away from his skull and left Tomjanovich unconscious in a pool of blood in the middle of the arena. Players involved often say that right after Tomjanovich collapsed, the silence at the arena, filled with shocked fans, was "the loudest silence you have ever heard." Upon later inspection by the doctors at the scene, it was discovered that Rudy was actually leaking spinal fluid into his mouth, and that not only his basketball career, but his life was in danger at that point. Tomjanovich would later recount that at the time of the incident, he believed a scoreboard fell on him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cdrudge Posted December 9, 2007 Share Posted December 9, 2007 What? No Joe Theissman? When an injury freaks out Lawrence Taylor, you know it's bad.He's there. It's number 6. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Itals Posted December 9, 2007 Share Posted December 9, 2007 Not sure how I missed that. Must learn to read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGrunt Posted December 9, 2007 Share Posted December 9, 2007 What? No Joe Theissman? When an injury freaks out Lawrence Taylor, you know it's bad. It's still worth a video appearance. Here it is: You're right. Some of the longer video's of Theissman's injury show Lawrence Taylor obviously grossed out after causing this injury. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slugs Posted December 10, 2007 Share Posted December 10, 2007 I must only guess that you guys are too young to remember the late 70s & the Rudy & Kermit moment. Geez, Joe T's break was nothing compared to that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshy Posted December 10, 2007 Share Posted December 10, 2007 I'm from England and was watching the Chelsea game when John Terry was booted in the face. It's a shame it didn't wake him up and make him see that England need a new captain Horrible injury though and at least he's fine now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delicious_bass Posted December 10, 2007 Share Posted December 10, 2007 (edited) They just showed the McGahee injury from the Fiesta Bowl when he was at the U. Add that to the list ETA: Whoops! Willis is on there... Edited December 11, 2007 by Delicious_bass Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigTen Posted December 10, 2007 Share Posted December 10, 2007 How Malarchuck survived is beyond me. Most scary thing I have ever seen. Props to those that save his life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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