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.

A fatal blow for child athletes

You can never have enough protection, especially when it comes to children who play sports. That’s what researchers concluded after a study presented by the American Heart Association found that children who play hockey, football, lacrosse or baseball risk sudden death from a hard blow to the chest even if they are wearing protective gear. If the chest is hit so hard in a particular spot above the heart, it can trigger an irregular heartbeat called ventricular fibrillation.

“If the blow occurs directly over the heart at a particular time in the heart’s cycle, the results can be catastrophic,” says Dr. Barry Maron of the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation. All it takes is a baseball, a baseball bat, hockey stick, a puck or any hard contact with another person to cause this phenomenon, resulting in collapse or sudden death. Researchers concluded that there needs to be better chest protection so young athletes can be safer.

Paterno injured on sidelines

Penn State coach Joe Paterno suffered a knee injury yesterday when he was knocked over by one of his own players who ran into the sidelines after a play ended. To make matters worse, Penn State also lost the game to the Wisconsin Badgers, 13-3. Paterno will turn 80 next month.

With all the pro, collegiate and high school games played across the country, I’m surprised this kind of thing doesn’t happen more often.