Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Stupid Sports Injuries

There is some speculation – although not confirmed – that Ted Ginn Jr., of Ohio State injured his ankle during Monday night’s BCS championship game while celebrating with his teammates in the end zone after he returned a kickoff 93 yards for an early Buckeye lead. Fox Sports columnist Peter Schrager writes that Ginn isn’t the first athlete to get injured while celebrating a victorious moment. Other athletes, such as the Padres’ Jake Peavy, the Giants’ Bill Gramatica and Gus Ferotte (in two separate incidents), the Rockies’ Dustin Mohr and the Braves’ Terry Harper also fell into an elite group of athletes who suffered “stupid sports injuries” from celebrating a little too much.

But this kind of thing can happen to sports fans too. In fact, it happened to my brother when he was at a Bears game more than 20 years ago. When the Bears scored a touchdown on a great running play down the sideline, my brother jumped up in excitement. But when he landed, he felt a twinge in his knee. A visit to the doctor several weeks later revealed he had torn a ligament in his knee and needed surgery. I remember he was on crutches for most of the spring that year.

As for that great touchdown my brother was so excited about? It was called back because of a penalty.

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