The worst cringe-inducing sport related injuries

Lyle Morissette

Sports Editor

Sprained ankles, broken fingers – ruptured testicles. Most athletes have experienced some sort of injury in their playing career, hopefully with the exception of that last one.

To be frank, injuries are an athlete’s kryptonite, their Achilles heel; as a hazard of the workplace, they are put into harm’s way more often than most professions. But how some of these injuries come to take place is another matter altogether. And the circumstances can range from anywhere between simply cringing to painfully gagging.

The sheer shock value of some of these injuries is astounding, and they can honestly only be (re)watched by the most emotionless or hardy of people.

So in the spirit of the beginning of the fall sports blitz, hit the jump to find out what could easily be the most painful injuries ever sustained during the modern sporting era.

These five injuries are so cringing and gruesome that you have to see them—or queasily look away—to fully understand their severity and life-long effects.

-Dave Dravecky (1989): After having a cancerous tumor and half his deltoid musculature removed from his left throwing arm, Dravecky made a triumphant return to baseball. In his second start back, his arm snapped in half while throwing a pitch. The diagnosis: the cancer had returned, and his entire arm had to be amputated.

-Joe Theismann (1985): This injury has somewhat become the poster child of sports injury infamy. This is simply one that must be seen to be understood, and one in which ended this Pro-Bowler’s playing career. Upon being sacked by Lawrence Taylor, the behemoth of a lineman landed directly on Theismann’s lower right leg, snapping both of the bones in his lower leg. Words cannot do this one justice, a YouTube look-up is a must.

-Napoleon McCallum (1994): This one also has to be seen to be understood. While going down to the turf, the RB’s cleat got stuck into the ground and his knee buckled in nearly every which way that it is not supposed to be able to. The result: a ruptured artery, three torn ligaments, and extensive nerve damage in his left knee. Additionally, his calf and hamstring muscles were ripped bare of the bone. Proceed with caution.

-Clint Malarchuk (1989): The former Buffalo Sabres goaltender may be the owner of the most infamous and unlucky injury of all-time: a slit jugular vein in his throat as a result of an errant skate of a teammate. While Malarchuk stayed conscious during the entire ordeal, nine fans fainted, two experienced heart attacks, and three players threw up. 300 stitches and four days later, he returned to practice. Talk about taking one for the team.