In anticipation of tonight's National Championship game between the Louisville Cardinals and the Michigan Wolverines, ESPN has been airing program after program reminding the nation of the last time that the Wolverines were in this position. Since the Final Four was determined, we've had Michigan's "Fab 5" shoved down our throats. Between Jalen Rose being interviewed by everyone in Bristol, CT and the ESPN 30 for 30 documentary about the team, it's been hard to ignore all the references that have been made to the team. The movie did, however, bring up one interesting point that I would like to explore further: the exploitation of NCAA athletes.
When the "Fab 5" were recruited coming out of high school in 1991, it was the first time that a college program had brought in so many of the top national recruits at one time. Four of the five were ranked in the top 10 nationally and all five were ranked in the top 100 (Ray Jackson was the only one ranked outside the top 10, at #84). Almost from the beginning they began to live up to the hype, making the National Championship game in their very first season together, losing to the Duke Blue Devils by 20 points. After the game, the "Fab 5" became a huge marketing source for the University of Michigan, bringing in more than $10 million to the university and Nike for everything from shoes to plain black socks. The next season the "Fab 5" returned to the National Championship game, losing this time to North Carolina on one of the most memorable plays in NCAA tournament history, Chris Webber calling a timeout that the team didn't have, resulting in a technical foul and ultimately a loss.
What did the "Fab 5" get out of their fame? What did they get out of being an enormous cash cow for their university? According to the documentary, a few free tacos. This, and countless other examples over the last two-plus decades, have led to many people asking why we don't pay these players some sort of stipend for all that they do for the university. These players get their likeness put on every article of clothing you can think of, they are put into video games, they are used to bring in more recruits to the university to ensure that the cycle continues, and yet they don't see a dime of those profits. No matter how good they are, they are supposedly "amateurs" and unable to receive any money at all until they make the jump to the professional level. The NCAA will tell you that the universities that these players attend are supposed to be grooming them for the rest of their lives, are supposed to be looking out for their best interests. Yet they are exploiting these very same kids to bring millions of dollars into their schools. The argument for paying players is certainly a compelling one, and one that I wholeheartedly understand.
That being said, I do not think it is feasible. There are too many issues that would have to be figured out before you could even begin to think about paying players. How much would you pay them? How would smaller schools be able to compete with the larger ones? They do not have the kind of budgets that a "Power 6" school does. Does everyone on the team get paid at the same level or do the superstars get paid more than the bench warmers? What about the lesser known sports, how do you reconcile the pay scale for them? Does the hockey team get paid less than the basketball team? Does the tennis team get paid at all? Then there's the issues of men versus women. Men's sports traditionally bring in far more money than the women's, does that mean that the men should get paid more than their female counterparts? All of these questions and many, many more need to be answered if we want to give these kids what is arguable their fair share of these profits.
Until these questions are answered in a way that is fair to everyone, universities are going to continue to make millions on socks while star players just hope to get a free taco every now and again.
Monday, April 8, 2013
Sunday, April 7, 2013
Tis the Season... (part II)
In Thursday's post I outlined the current scandal happening within the Auburn University football program, but they are far from the only university currently in the midst of controversy. The University of Rutgers basketball team has been in the news recently due to the egregious acts of their recently fired head coach, Mike Rice. Now that we've had some time to absorb the full scope of the situation, let's take a moment to examine it objectively.
Here's what we know: On Tuesday of last week, Outside the Lines aired video tapes showing coach Rice blatantly abusing several members of the Rutgers basketball team. The tapes shows Rice frequently shoving players in the back, kicking them in the behind, and throwing basketballs at them. The tapes also show Rice verbally abusing his players, using many expletives and homophobic slurs. According to the segment, then-AD Tim Pernetti was shown these videos back in December and chose to simply suspend the coach for three games and fine him $50,000. The videotapes were provided to the AD by then-director of basketball operations Eric Murdock, who was subsequently suspended and did not have his contract renewed by the school. He has since filed a lawsuit against the university, claiming that the school chose to suspend him and allow his contract to expire solely due to his concerns about coach Rice's treatment of the players. Murdock has since come under investigation by the FBI. They are investigating whether Murdock is attempting to extort the university, as the university claims that Murdock demanded nearly $1 million dollars from them to keep the videotape out of the public eye, and when they refused, he went to ESPN with the tapes.
It is clear in this situation that Rice absolutely deserved to lose his job. The behavior he exhibited on these tapes clearly warrants his termination as coach, and furthermore, almost certainly guarantees that he will never be the head coach of another major program. No AD will be able, or willing, to stick their head out for this guy, no matter how talented of a coach he may be, after seeing the things that we all saw in the OTL report. It is also clear that AD Tim Pernetti also deserved to lose his job. His decision to merely suspend and fine Rice after seeing the videotapes was, at best, a severe lapse of judgement. At worst, it was a half-hearted attempt to sweep everything under the rug and hope that he would be able to keep all of this from getting out in the public eye. Either way it is an offense worthy of his termination as well.
What is unknown at this time is what role that the university president, Robert Barchi, played in all of this. It has been reported that Barchi was shown the videotape in the same time frame as Pernetti. Barchi denies these reports and claims that he was unaware of the tape until recently and saw it for the first time last week. No matter when Barchi saw the tape, I don't think there is any way that he can come out of this situation with his job intact. If the reports are true and Barchi saw the tapes in December, he is just as culpable as Pernetti in the cover-up, perhaps more-so since he is the president of the university and the superior to Pernetti. If what Barchi says is true and he didn't see the tapes until just recently, that may be even more damning. That would mean that Barchi signed off on the suspension and fining of one of his employees without so much as asking a simple "Why?". If that is the case, that would give the NCAA an open door to come in and hand down sanctions to the university, claiming "a lack of institutional control", such as they did when the Penn State scandal occurred. Either scenario seems to spell the end for Barchi as president of Rutgers University and several faculty members have signed petitions to have him removed from the position.
Coaches have an obligation to get the most they can out of every single one of their players. It is there job to know what they need to do to motivate each player to achieve that goal. The tactics that Rice used were so far beyond what are acceptable motivational tactics that it's bordering on criminal. Several of his players have been so affected by coach Rice's torment that they have been forced to transfer out of Rutgers. Many of them have even been so traumatized that they are now receiving counseling to deal with what they have been through. Coach Rice's actions are nothing short of appalling. The choices that Pernetti made when presented with the situation are equally appalling, but the deceit or ignorance of Barchi just may be the most appalling of them all.
Here's what we know: On Tuesday of last week, Outside the Lines aired video tapes showing coach Rice blatantly abusing several members of the Rutgers basketball team. The tapes shows Rice frequently shoving players in the back, kicking them in the behind, and throwing basketballs at them. The tapes also show Rice verbally abusing his players, using many expletives and homophobic slurs. According to the segment, then-AD Tim Pernetti was shown these videos back in December and chose to simply suspend the coach for three games and fine him $50,000. The videotapes were provided to the AD by then-director of basketball operations Eric Murdock, who was subsequently suspended and did not have his contract renewed by the school. He has since filed a lawsuit against the university, claiming that the school chose to suspend him and allow his contract to expire solely due to his concerns about coach Rice's treatment of the players. Murdock has since come under investigation by the FBI. They are investigating whether Murdock is attempting to extort the university, as the university claims that Murdock demanded nearly $1 million dollars from them to keep the videotape out of the public eye, and when they refused, he went to ESPN with the tapes.
It is clear in this situation that Rice absolutely deserved to lose his job. The behavior he exhibited on these tapes clearly warrants his termination as coach, and furthermore, almost certainly guarantees that he will never be the head coach of another major program. No AD will be able, or willing, to stick their head out for this guy, no matter how talented of a coach he may be, after seeing the things that we all saw in the OTL report. It is also clear that AD Tim Pernetti also deserved to lose his job. His decision to merely suspend and fine Rice after seeing the videotapes was, at best, a severe lapse of judgement. At worst, it was a half-hearted attempt to sweep everything under the rug and hope that he would be able to keep all of this from getting out in the public eye. Either way it is an offense worthy of his termination as well.
What is unknown at this time is what role that the university president, Robert Barchi, played in all of this. It has been reported that Barchi was shown the videotape in the same time frame as Pernetti. Barchi denies these reports and claims that he was unaware of the tape until recently and saw it for the first time last week. No matter when Barchi saw the tape, I don't think there is any way that he can come out of this situation with his job intact. If the reports are true and Barchi saw the tapes in December, he is just as culpable as Pernetti in the cover-up, perhaps more-so since he is the president of the university and the superior to Pernetti. If what Barchi says is true and he didn't see the tapes until just recently, that may be even more damning. That would mean that Barchi signed off on the suspension and fining of one of his employees without so much as asking a simple "Why?". If that is the case, that would give the NCAA an open door to come in and hand down sanctions to the university, claiming "a lack of institutional control", such as they did when the Penn State scandal occurred. Either scenario seems to spell the end for Barchi as president of Rutgers University and several faculty members have signed petitions to have him removed from the position.
Coaches have an obligation to get the most they can out of every single one of their players. It is there job to know what they need to do to motivate each player to achieve that goal. The tactics that Rice used were so far beyond what are acceptable motivational tactics that it's bordering on criminal. Several of his players have been so affected by coach Rice's torment that they have been forced to transfer out of Rutgers. Many of them have even been so traumatized that they are now receiving counseling to deal with what they have been through. Coach Rice's actions are nothing short of appalling. The choices that Pernetti made when presented with the situation are equally appalling, but the deceit or ignorance of Barchi just may be the most appalling of them all.
Friday, April 5, 2013
When Rednecks Try Parkour
Last day of my vacation and I don't have the energy to make a post, so here's another one of my favorite videos from YouTube. Sit back and enjoy what happens when a redneck tries his hand at parkour.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZZ7IVqj9EY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZZ7IVqj9EY
Thursday, April 4, 2013
Tis the Season...
...For reported NCAA violations. With the college football season over for months and the basketball season winding down to it's conclusion, now is the time where fans are bombarded with reports of programs coming under investigation for reportedly violating the myriad NCAA rules. While a lot of these reports turn out to be unfounded and ignored, one of them seems to have legs. If true, it could mean devastation for one very prominent SEC program, the Auburn Tigers.
It has been reported that the Auburn Tigers, under the direction of then-Head Coach Gene Chizik, had the grades changed of up to nine players during the team's 2010 National Championship run, including RB Michael Dyer, who went on to become the offensive player of the game. While there have been allegations against this particular program before dealing with Cam Newton, this report seems to have much of a bite to it. The report uses quotes from former Auburn Tiger players and outlines a culture of blatant disregard for the rules of the NCAA. If the changing of players grades was not bad enough, the report also alleges that the program paid upwards of several thousands of dollars to players who were draft eligible in an attempt to persuade them to forgo the draft and come back to Auburn for one more season. Further on in the report, it is also alleged that then-Defensive Coordinator Will Muschamp, who is now the Head Coach at the University of Florida, paid a player $400 after the player had a bad day. As would be expected, both Gene Chizik and Will Muschamp vehemently deny all of the allegations levied in the report.
If these allegations are proven to be true, this might be the best case for the "death penalty" that I have ever seen. I was not alive during the events at SMU that led to them being the only program to receive such a stiff penalty, but from what I know of the situation, the current situation at Auburn comes as close to those circumstances as I have ever heard of. Paying players to stay at the school is eerily similar to SMU paying players to come there. Impermissible benefits are impermissible, period. Paying players is paying players, period. While I do not think that the NCAA will have the gall to ever hand down such a stiff penalty ever again, I think it's the only way to stop not only Auburn, but many other programs who are doing the very same thing. Anyone who watches college football is pretty aware that most of these programs are, at the very least, bending the rules so they can maintain a competitive edge. The fact that the NCAA hands down penalties that, in most cases, amount to a slap on the wrist just encourages these programs to push the limits to see what they can get away with. The only way that this is going to stop is if the NCAA grows a backbone and hands down a "death penalty".
It has been reported that the Auburn Tigers, under the direction of then-Head Coach Gene Chizik, had the grades changed of up to nine players during the team's 2010 National Championship run, including RB Michael Dyer, who went on to become the offensive player of the game. While there have been allegations against this particular program before dealing with Cam Newton, this report seems to have much of a bite to it. The report uses quotes from former Auburn Tiger players and outlines a culture of blatant disregard for the rules of the NCAA. If the changing of players grades was not bad enough, the report also alleges that the program paid upwards of several thousands of dollars to players who were draft eligible in an attempt to persuade them to forgo the draft and come back to Auburn for one more season. Further on in the report, it is also alleged that then-Defensive Coordinator Will Muschamp, who is now the Head Coach at the University of Florida, paid a player $400 after the player had a bad day. As would be expected, both Gene Chizik and Will Muschamp vehemently deny all of the allegations levied in the report.
If these allegations are proven to be true, this might be the best case for the "death penalty" that I have ever seen. I was not alive during the events at SMU that led to them being the only program to receive such a stiff penalty, but from what I know of the situation, the current situation at Auburn comes as close to those circumstances as I have ever heard of. Paying players to stay at the school is eerily similar to SMU paying players to come there. Impermissible benefits are impermissible, period. Paying players is paying players, period. While I do not think that the NCAA will have the gall to ever hand down such a stiff penalty ever again, I think it's the only way to stop not only Auburn, but many other programs who are doing the very same thing. Anyone who watches college football is pretty aware that most of these programs are, at the very least, bending the rules so they can maintain a competitive edge. The fact that the NCAA hands down penalties that, in most cases, amount to a slap on the wrist just encourages these programs to push the limits to see what they can get away with. The only way that this is going to stop is if the NCAA grows a backbone and hands down a "death penalty".
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Travel Blows
I have been awake since noon and have been on flights for six hours. It's safe to say that I'm a very sleepy panda, so no blog post today. Instead, I present to you my favorite YouTube video of recent memory. Enjoy, you can thank me later :-)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLI4EuDckgM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLI4EuDckgM
CARson Gets in a CAR and Drives to the CARdinals*
This year's trade market in the NFL has been the most active that I have ever seen in my two decades of following the sport. Not only has the market been very active, but it has for the first time in my memory involved a number of well known players. Percy Harvin and Anquan Boldin were traded earlier in this offseason, and within the last 48 hours three more trades have been completed involving some big names in the sport. Not necessarily big production, mind you, but big names nonetheless.
The first trade that we had was the Cleveland Browns trading their back-up quarterback Colt McCoy to the San Francisco 49ers. The 49ers have recognized that they are going to need a competent back-up for Colin Kaepernick. The pistol offense that they run can expose the quarterback to a lot of punishment and if you're going to survive in the NFL, you need to be prepared to deal with losing your starting quarterback. McCoy became expendable when the Browns brought in Jason Campbell to compete with Brandon Weeden. San Francisco only had to give up, essentially, a seventh round pick to acquire McCoy. The full trade was SF giving up 5th and 7th round selections and Cleveland sending McCoy and a 6th back to SF. The fifth round pick that San Francisco gave up is only six selections away from the sixth that Cleveland sent back, so that's basically a wash. In true Cleveland Browns fashion, they got robbed here. McCoy has never been much of a decent player, but I think that they could have, and should have, been able to secure more than just a seventh round pick for him.
The second trade was one that I mentioned would happen in a post I made a few days ago (read it here: http://aspoonfulofsports.blogspot.com/2013/03/bye-bye-birdie.html). Matt Flynn has officially been traded to the Oakland Raiders. This is a trade that makes sense for everyone involved. Seattle receives a fifth round pick in next year's draft and a conditional seventh round pick in the 2015 draft. Oakland manages to bring in something the franchise has lacked since the days of Rich Gannon, a quarterback with some actual talent. And Matt Flynn will, ostensibly, finally get a chance to be a starting quarterback in the NFL, something he has been coveting since making a name for himself filling in for Aaron Rodgers back in 2010 and 2011. This is one of the few trades where everyone involved wins.
With the acquisition of Matt Flynn, the Oakland Raiders' previous starting quarterback, Carson Palmer, also became expendable. With a salary of $13 million this season and an unwillingness to restructure his contract, it was clear to everyone that Palmer was not going to go into this season as a Raider. With the Cardinals having a glaring need for a quarterback, having released their previous starting QB Kevin Kolb, they decided to pull the trigger, shipping one of their two sixth round picks in this year's draft and a getting Palmer and a sixth round pick in return.
There you have it folks, a recap of what has become a wild off-season in the NFL. Here's hoping that it stays this wild going into the draft.
*the title is my wonderful fiancee's attempt at being clever. I love her, so I'm keeping it.
The first trade that we had was the Cleveland Browns trading their back-up quarterback Colt McCoy to the San Francisco 49ers. The 49ers have recognized that they are going to need a competent back-up for Colin Kaepernick. The pistol offense that they run can expose the quarterback to a lot of punishment and if you're going to survive in the NFL, you need to be prepared to deal with losing your starting quarterback. McCoy became expendable when the Browns brought in Jason Campbell to compete with Brandon Weeden. San Francisco only had to give up, essentially, a seventh round pick to acquire McCoy. The full trade was SF giving up 5th and 7th round selections and Cleveland sending McCoy and a 6th back to SF. The fifth round pick that San Francisco gave up is only six selections away from the sixth that Cleveland sent back, so that's basically a wash. In true Cleveland Browns fashion, they got robbed here. McCoy has never been much of a decent player, but I think that they could have, and should have, been able to secure more than just a seventh round pick for him.
The second trade was one that I mentioned would happen in a post I made a few days ago (read it here: http://aspoonfulofsports.blogspot.com/2013/03/bye-bye-birdie.html). Matt Flynn has officially been traded to the Oakland Raiders. This is a trade that makes sense for everyone involved. Seattle receives a fifth round pick in next year's draft and a conditional seventh round pick in the 2015 draft. Oakland manages to bring in something the franchise has lacked since the days of Rich Gannon, a quarterback with some actual talent. And Matt Flynn will, ostensibly, finally get a chance to be a starting quarterback in the NFL, something he has been coveting since making a name for himself filling in for Aaron Rodgers back in 2010 and 2011. This is one of the few trades where everyone involved wins.
With the acquisition of Matt Flynn, the Oakland Raiders' previous starting quarterback, Carson Palmer, also became expendable. With a salary of $13 million this season and an unwillingness to restructure his contract, it was clear to everyone that Palmer was not going to go into this season as a Raider. With the Cardinals having a glaring need for a quarterback, having released their previous starting QB Kevin Kolb, they decided to pull the trigger, shipping one of their two sixth round picks in this year's draft and a getting Palmer and a sixth round pick in return.
There you have it folks, a recap of what has become a wild off-season in the NFL. Here's hoping that it stays this wild going into the draft.
*the title is my wonderful fiancee's attempt at being clever. I love her, so I'm keeping it.
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Not for the Squeamish
DISCLAIMER: As the title implies, today's post is not for the faint of heart. If you are disturbed by graphic descriptions or visualization of injuries, then you should probably skip this post and come back tomorrow when this blog returns to a more "family-friendly" nature.
With the disclaimer out of the way, we can get to the heart of this post. Yesterday we witnessed one of the most gruesome injuries that I have ever had the displeasure to see. Kevin Ware broke his leg in Louisville's game against the Duke Blue Devils. I made a post about it on Facebook and one of my friends (Elizabeth "Breezy" Brown) suggest that I write something about bad sports injuries. That got me thinking and today I've decided to give you what I think are the most gruesome injuries in the five major American sports: football (college or pro), basketball (college or pro), MLB, NHL, and NASCAR The injuries are arranged by severity.
NASCAR: I think it's hard to argue that the worst injury in this sport would be the crash that killed Dale Earnhardt. While several other have been killed in wrecks during a race (Adam Petty and Kenny Irwin, among others), Earnhardt was the sport's biggest star. Earnhardt was instrumental in bringing the sport from small scale interest, mostly in the South, all the way to a national audience. When Earnhardt was killed during the 2001 Daytona 500, it sent shock waves throughout the sport, and NASCAR has yet to fully recover.
"Honorable" mention goes to the aforementioned Adam Petty and Kenny Irwin crashes.
Football: Along similar lines of the Earnhardt crash, the injury that I chose for the football category was sustained by Tulane DB Devon Walker. Many players have sustained very serious injuries playing football. It's a very violent sport, and on rare occasions, lives are forever altered by the decision to play football. I chose this injury for two reasons. The first reason is that, although several other players have been paralyzed during a game, this is the first one that I have heard of where the players' heart actually stopped as a direct result of the hit. The second is for the fact that it happened to a kid. He was just twenty-two years old and in the prime of his life. To have such a serious injury at such a young age is the reason he is my choice for the worst football injury.
"Honorable" mention goes to the knee injuries suffered by Marcus Lattimore and Willis McGahee, and the broken leg suffered by Joe Theismann. I have never seen legs bend like that, and I hope I never do again.
NHL: Slightly less severe in nature than the previous two injuries, my choice for the worst NHL injury has to be the one sustained by former Buffalo Sabres goalie Clint Malarchuk. During a game in 1989, a player crashed into the net, and in doing so, his skate came up and severed Clint Malarchuk's carotid artery. How on earth Clint survived this injury is beyond me, but he did and has gone on to live a full life and is now an assistant coach with the Calgary Flames. How that man can stand to be anywhere near a hockey arena is also beyond me.
I honestly do not follow hockey, so I'm not well-versed enough to have an "honorable" mention for the NHL.
Basketball: Basketball isn't a sport that is known for it's physical nature. The worst injuries usually amount to sprained ankles or torn ligaments or muscles. Bad injuries in their own right, but not all that gruesome Then there's the injury that Kevin Ware suffered in the Louisville/Duke game. I didn't witness the injury live, but my curiosity got the better of me and I found the replay on YouTube later that day. I almost wish that I wouldn't have. I very nearly gagged at the sight of it, and they didn't even show the worst of it. The injury he sustained caused six inches of bone to protrude from the skin. I shudder even as I write that.
As I said, basketball isn't known for it's injuries, so I don't have an "honorable" mention here either.
MLB: In closing this post, I've decided to go a slightly different, lighter note with the MLB category. During a spring training game in 2001 Randy Johnson, then pitching for the Arizona Diamondbacks, threw a fastball against the San Francisco Giants that, somehow, struck and killed a dove that had the misfortune of coming between the ball and home plate. An explosion of feathers and one dead bird later, the game eventually continued, and terrible sports fans everywhere have been laughing ever since.
"Honorable" mentions here go to Jason Kendall breaking his ankle in a game in 1999 and to Chris Snyder who fractured a testicle in 2008
For those of you who haven't seen footage of the injuries, check out the following links:
With the disclaimer out of the way, we can get to the heart of this post. Yesterday we witnessed one of the most gruesome injuries that I have ever had the displeasure to see. Kevin Ware broke his leg in Louisville's game against the Duke Blue Devils. I made a post about it on Facebook and one of my friends (Elizabeth "Breezy" Brown) suggest that I write something about bad sports injuries. That got me thinking and today I've decided to give you what I think are the most gruesome injuries in the five major American sports: football (college or pro), basketball (college or pro), MLB, NHL, and NASCAR The injuries are arranged by severity.
NASCAR: I think it's hard to argue that the worst injury in this sport would be the crash that killed Dale Earnhardt. While several other have been killed in wrecks during a race (Adam Petty and Kenny Irwin, among others), Earnhardt was the sport's biggest star. Earnhardt was instrumental in bringing the sport from small scale interest, mostly in the South, all the way to a national audience. When Earnhardt was killed during the 2001 Daytona 500, it sent shock waves throughout the sport, and NASCAR has yet to fully recover.
"Honorable" mention goes to the aforementioned Adam Petty and Kenny Irwin crashes.
Football: Along similar lines of the Earnhardt crash, the injury that I chose for the football category was sustained by Tulane DB Devon Walker. Many players have sustained very serious injuries playing football. It's a very violent sport, and on rare occasions, lives are forever altered by the decision to play football. I chose this injury for two reasons. The first reason is that, although several other players have been paralyzed during a game, this is the first one that I have heard of where the players' heart actually stopped as a direct result of the hit. The second is for the fact that it happened to a kid. He was just twenty-two years old and in the prime of his life. To have such a serious injury at such a young age is the reason he is my choice for the worst football injury.
"Honorable" mention goes to the knee injuries suffered by Marcus Lattimore and Willis McGahee, and the broken leg suffered by Joe Theismann. I have never seen legs bend like that, and I hope I never do again.
NHL: Slightly less severe in nature than the previous two injuries, my choice for the worst NHL injury has to be the one sustained by former Buffalo Sabres goalie Clint Malarchuk. During a game in 1989, a player crashed into the net, and in doing so, his skate came up and severed Clint Malarchuk's carotid artery. How on earth Clint survived this injury is beyond me, but he did and has gone on to live a full life and is now an assistant coach with the Calgary Flames. How that man can stand to be anywhere near a hockey arena is also beyond me.
I honestly do not follow hockey, so I'm not well-versed enough to have an "honorable" mention for the NHL.
Basketball: Basketball isn't a sport that is known for it's physical nature. The worst injuries usually amount to sprained ankles or torn ligaments or muscles. Bad injuries in their own right, but not all that gruesome Then there's the injury that Kevin Ware suffered in the Louisville/Duke game. I didn't witness the injury live, but my curiosity got the better of me and I found the replay on YouTube later that day. I almost wish that I wouldn't have. I very nearly gagged at the sight of it, and they didn't even show the worst of it. The injury he sustained caused six inches of bone to protrude from the skin. I shudder even as I write that.
As I said, basketball isn't known for it's injuries, so I don't have an "honorable" mention here either.
MLB: In closing this post, I've decided to go a slightly different, lighter note with the MLB category. During a spring training game in 2001 Randy Johnson, then pitching for the Arizona Diamondbacks, threw a fastball against the San Francisco Giants that, somehow, struck and killed a dove that had the misfortune of coming between the ball and home plate. An explosion of feathers and one dead bird later, the game eventually continued, and terrible sports fans everywhere have been laughing ever since.
"Honorable" mentions here go to Jason Kendall breaking his ankle in a game in 1999 and to Chris Snyder who fractured a testicle in 2008
For those of you who haven't seen footage of the injuries, check out the following links:
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