In the past two weeks, there has been a rash of freak sports injuries that have spawned this week’s ‘Top 8.’ From the QMJHL’s Jason Fuchs losing the tip of his finger blocking a slap shot, to Don Baylor breaking his femur on a ceremonial first pitch, to (arguably the worst of the three) Mitch Callahan, the Kelowna Rockets phenom who took a shot to the mouth and Tweeted the picture for the world to see, there have been some seriously gruesome moments that make the hair on the back of your neck stand on end.
While all three could crack this Top 8, we’re going to take a look at some of the most obscure, horrifying injuries in sports history:
8: Anderson Silva’s broken leg
At first glance, it looks Photoshopped. Silva goes for a kick on Chris Weidman and Weidman immediately check the kick down. Silva’s shin proceeds to shatter and wrap around the calf of Weidman. Weidman won the match.
7: Bo Jackson
Bo Jackson may be the most skilled athlete to play a team sport…ever! Jackson is the only athlete to be a pro-athlete in two professional sports – as an outfielder for the Kansas City Royals and a running back for the Oakland Raiders – and some say he’d have been a Hall of Fame candidate in both sports had his career not been cut short by a freak injury to his hip on a tackle by Kevin Walker. Jackson’s injury is nowhere near as gut-wrenching as the other injuries on this list, but his injury may be the most iconic.
6. Terrell Davis going blind
In the 1998 Super Bowl, Davis got hit so hard he went blind. Moreover, he still went back out on the field a few plays later to run the ball again. Upon getting decimated by the defense once again, trainers realised that Davis was likely concussed or suffering from extreme migraines, so they rushed him to the locker room…no kidding.
5. Anthony Van Loo dies on field
That’s not a typo. Soccer player Van Loo suffered a cardiac arrest on the field, collapsed to the grass, and flat lined. Van Loo had a pre-existing heart condition that his teammates were aware of, and luckily, doctors had built in a defibrillating device on his heart that revived him after a few stomach-in-your-throat moments.
4. Wayne Shelford’s torn scrotum
Do you know how you know you’ve become a man? By tearing your scrotum open during a rugby match, hobbling to the sideline, having doctors stitch it up right there on the field whilst camera crews capture the pseudo-vasectomy live, and playing the rest of the game. That’s how you know you’re a man. Or, perhaps you’re just a bat shit crazy English rugby player – it’s a fine line, gents.
3. Salim Sdiri gets Sparta’d
Remember that iconic final scene from the movie 300 when Leonidas surrenders his armour and tosses a spear at the head of the almighty Xerxes? It’s badass in a movie, sure, but for Sdiri, it was the hard reality of what can happen when you turn your back on a javelin competition.
2. Kevin Ware
It’s something straight out of a horror movie. Louisville’s Kevin Ware went up to block a three point shot against Duke and what happened next wasn’t in the script. As Ware landed he suffered a compound fracture to his right leg that pushed his broken bone through the skin of his shins as the bottom half of his leg hung lifeless. Amazingly, Ware told trainers, “I’m fine, just win the game.” It’s amazing what shock and adrenaline can do to the body.
1. Clint Malarchuk’s skate to throat.
Malarchuk, the goalie for the Buffalo Sabres, got the bad end of a hard play on the net when the skate of St. Louis Blues forward Steve Tuttle came up and cut his throat. Malarchuk skated off the ice on his own two feet, but the way in which the blood was gushing from his neck made the scene look Hollywood-esque.