While obviously paramedics, firefighters, police and combat arms soldiers are renowned for their bravery, athletes aren't just throwing balls, swinging bats and taking haphazard swipes at chunks of rubber. Athletes are risking their health and well-being every second they are playing their sport. No matter what sport an athlete is competing in, injury is never far away.
It essentially follows Isaac Newton's 18th rule of physics: "when speed and power get together, destruction and pain will be close by." Look it up, then look up gullible in the dictionary. But hopefully the point has been received: athletes push themselves and everyone around them to their bodies' absolute limits. When this happens, eventually something doesn't go the way it is supposed to, and oftentimes, an injury is the result.
With that said, welcome, you sadistic sports fan, to more of the most gruesome sports injuries of all time. We have listed similar injuries together, for the sake of variety. If this bothers you, we can gladly produce an article with the sporting world's most cringe-worthy leg breaks.
If you believe any have been overlooked, hit the comments section as hard as you can. Evander Holyfield gets an honorable mention. Having "Iron Mike" take a bite of anyone's ear is funny more than gruesome.
We thought that 20 sports injuries wasn't enough, so we decided to make a second list on sports injuries! Enjoy the list, keep a bucket close by. If it seems like I'm trying to make light of some of these injuries...I am. If you want to check out the first list we made, you can do that here.
20 20. The Hominick Hematoma
To start off this second list, we decided to look at an injury that looked gruesome but really didn't pose much of a threat to Canadian MMA fighter Mark Hominick. During his fight with Jose Aldo, Hominick sustained damage to his forehead which gradually swelled up into a baseball sized lump. The doctor took a look, but it posed no threat to Hominick's well-being, but just looked absolutely grotesque. He lost the fight but he won number 20 on this list.
19 19. Kaz Ishii - Line Drive to the Face
While most of pitcher Kazuhisa Ishii's career has been spent playing in Japan, his most gruesome moment came while playing for the LA Dodgers. As the title may indicate, in 2002 he took a line drive ball to the nose, essentially shattering part of his face. He required surgery to remove bone shards and did not play for the rest of that season.
18 18. More than One Pro Weightlifter: Dislocated Elbow
Janos Baranyai was the most recent, and suffered this disgusting injury during the 2008 Beijing Olympic games. He was trying to lift almost 150 kilograms, and his elbow joint just popped. Based on the look on his face, I'd be willing to bet that a dislocated elbow is painful. Jaehyouk Sa of South Korea suffered a very similar injury at the London Olympics, and made a very similar face.
17 17. Mitch Callahan: Puck to the Mouth
There are plenty of hockey stick and puck related trauma instances such as Bryan Berard and Steve Yserman, but the Grand Rapids Griffins' Callahan taking a howitzer to the teeth takes the cake. Ten teeth, a fractured jaw and a gnarly bunch of stitches gets a man on this list. This is another one that isn't life threatening, but is thoroughly disgusting. Mitch Callahan should be proud of the fact that he has redefined the phrase "spitting chicklets".
16 16. Carlos Beltran Collides With Mike Cameron
While this ended up on some sports blooper reels from 2005, this was still a nasty one. While diving for a fly ball, outfielders Carlos Beltran and Mike Cameron collided face to face. These types of fielder on fielder collisions happen all the time, but because of the shocking injuries sustained, these two men make the list. Both had broken bones in their faces, but Mike Cameron suffered the worst with multiple broken bones in his face, a season ending concussion and disruption to his sense of sight.
15 15. Tim Silvia, Renzo Gracie and Antonio Nogueira: Submission Related Broken Arm
Mixed martial arts submissions are some of the most painful looking manipulations in sport. Whether it is a choke, a kimura, a kneebar (think Frank Mir and Brock Lesnar's first fight) or even the dreaded and elusive omoplata, submissions appear to be the definition of displeasure. Gracie had his arm snapped by Kazushi Sakubura, while Frank Mir broke the arms of both Tim Silvia and Big Nog.
14 14. Kris Commons: "Dead Leg"
This one is right up there with Mark Hominick's entry on this list. Plenty of soccer ("football" for some, "South-American-Cry-Ball" for others) injuries seem faked. Whether this is a travesty for the game is another topic. Kris Commons was tackled by Kim Kallstrom back in 2012 and after he was taken to the hospital, it looked like he was growing a new friend on his thigh.
13 13. Trent McCleary: Collapsed Lung, Crushed Larynx
This gruesome injury comes in ahead of Mitch Callahan because while a brutalized mouth is disgusting, a collapsed larynx is potentially life threatening. McCleary was told by his doctors, after he was treated by the team's staff and in hospital, that he was very close to death. McCleary was never able to play the game again, as his larynx was thoroughly damaged and unable to be completely repaired.
12 12. Darryl Boyce: Who Put That Hole There?!
In case you haven't noticed, the hockey rink is a death trap. The ice is hard, the skates are sharp and the sticks are great weapons. Not to mention more than ten other angry people on the ice at all times. Ever notice those holes in the glass in the corners? Former Toronto Maple Leaf Darryl Boyce smacked his face into one back in 2011 while finishing a check against the Carolina Hurricanes. He had a massive gash in his face and half of his nose was pretty much hanging by a thread. Who would have thought holes in glass would have been a threat to players without visors?
11 11. Rashad Johnson: Dude Where's My Fingertip?
The Arizona Cardinals' safety lost the tip of his middle finger of his left hand during a game in September 2013. While it is most certain that such an injury would have been incredibly painful, he pulled out his "man-card," threw it down in the doctor's office, and was back on the field less than a month later. Not life threatening, but having a missing piece of finger inside a sweaty, dirty football glove can be a toxic nightmare. Johnson did suffer a minor infection, which could have been vastly worse if it had not been properly cared for.
10 10. Many Athletes (A Lot of Running Backs): Torn Knee Ligaments
It doesn't take a science degree to know that there are a lot of working parts in a knee. MCL, PCL, ACL, patellar tendon...the list goes on. In most contact sports, and sports with high joint impact; particularly football, basketball, occasionally track and field among others, an athlete's ligaments or tendons in the knee will be torn due to a blow or trauma. Dustin Keller suffered a massive knee injury against the Texans in 2013. He was hit in the knee, and tore his ACL, PCL and MCL. On top of that, he also dislocated his knee. He still hasn't got back to where he was beforehand.
Shaun Livingston of NBA fame is another athlete who sustained a truly gruesome knee injury, which we referenced in the first list, which you can see here. There was also Willis McGahee's horrible injury that you can see here.
9 9. Greg Louganis: Diving Board Concussion
As children, it is safe to assume that most of us were told, "be careful on the diving board and don't run around the pool!" Even world class athletes can't always avoid the dangers of pools. Louganis slammed his head off the diving board during a dive in 1986. While he only suffered a concussion, it looked like it could have been much worse. He was rotating quite fast and if the diving board had less give, he could have suffered a serious neck injury or possibly a skull fracture.
8 8. Salim Sdiri: Javelin
Who the long jump isn't a contact sport?! Salim Sdiri, a French long jumper was struck with a javelin back in 2007. He was in Rome at the time. Insert joke here about a spearing in a city with a history of gladiator battles. He was rushed to the hospital. After initially being released, he returned in less than a day after the javelin was found to have punctured both hi liver and a kidney.
7 7. Donald Audette, Jessica Dube, Taylor Hall, Craig Peacock (Just to name a few): Skate to the Face
While throwing a baseball too many times can leave an elbow or shoulder utterly destroyed, or a football tackle can leave a leg or knee mangled, a hockey injury can really mutilate a face for life. Figure skaters aside, hockey players with visors and cages on helmets may have less visibility, but they also don't risk a sharp blade carving into them every time they hit the ice. Hall and Audette all found out the wrong way. Jessica Dube took a skate to her pretty face back in 2007. Borje Salming was already referenced on our first list. If you're looking for Richard Zednik's horrible injury, you can find that here.
Craig Peacock plays in Great Britain. A couple of years ago he took a blade just above the mouth. It cut deep and the resulting injury looked like a cleft palate.
6 6. Rudy Tomjanovich: Skull Fracture
Tomjanovich was a great basketball player back in the 1970's. He played his entire career for the Rockets, and now works for them as a scout. The five time all-star sustained one of the worst injuries of all time back in 1977 when Kermit Washington threw a haymaker that fractured his skull, nose and jaw. Tomjanovich spent a large amount of time in recovery and was never the same player after this injury.
5 5. Dave Dravecky: Broken Arm
Dravecky was an MLB pitcher between 1982 and 1989. He played for the San Francisco Giants in 1988 when it was discovered that he had a cancerous tumor on his arm. While it was suspected to be non life-threatening, it was removed. He was advised to wait to return to baseball, but he started pitching again in 1989. While pitching against the Montreal Expos in August of that year, his upper arm bone (the humerus) audibly snapped. His cancer returned, and was again removed, but ultimately his career was over.
4 4. Mick Foley: The Tyson Experience
Whether you know him as Mick Foley, Cactus Jack, Mankind, Dude Love or Saint Mick, he is one of the craziest men ever to enter a wrestling ring...and possibly walk the Earth. In 1994 he got his head caught in the ropes during an event, and in the act of escaping, he ripped most of his ear off. Add that to his many falls from cages, rings and through tables, and it is clear that Mick Foley is a true masochist who just loves to entertain.
3 3. Jacob Olesen and Matt Nichols: Dislocated Ankle
Mostly disgusting, but by no means life threatening, one can spot a dislocated ankle by the foot pointing the opposite direction that it is supposed to. Danish soccer player Jacob Olesen suffered such an injury back in 2006. While this injury looks like absolute hell, it actually has a pretty forgiving recovery time. It took just six months before Olesen was back on the pitch.
Matt Nichols, the quarterback of the Edmonton Eskimos in the CFL suffered the same injury back in 2012. He recovered but sustained a torn ACL early in the 2013 season. Not to sound like a jerk but he's so injury prone I heard he slipped a disk in his back due to a towel whipping in the team shower. That last one was a joke, but the other two are true.
2 2. Giancarlo Stanton: A Baseball Hit Him But It Looks More Like Zorro Slashed His Face
Stanton took a fastball to the face about a week ago and suffered multiple lacerations, broken bones and dental damage. More like dental destruction. Stanton has released pictures of his face and after the accident it actually look like somebody had tried to give half of his face a Joker smile and succeeded multiple times. His injuries are healing well but the incident was disgusting.
If Roger Goodell was in charge of MLB there is no doubt that following injuries such as this, batters would be required to wear face masks.
1 1. Kevin Everett - Broken Back/Neck: Barely Seen But Terrifying
He suffered a career ending injury that involved serious neck injuries. Neck injuries can lead to paralysis or death and while he has been walking since the incident in 2007, which is incredibly lucky. Football player Kevin Everett suffered his injury in week 1 of the 2007 NFL season when he tackled Broncos' return man Domenik Hixon. He was walking again by December of that year.
Steve Moore had a similar injury, which was referenced in the first article, which you can see here.
While there may not have been massive pools of blood around these two athletes following their injuries, seeing an athlete with a potentially life threatening injury on the field or ice, is a truly unwelcome and gruesome sight.
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