Amar’e Stoudemire is on the DL after punching a fire extinguisher. See other bizarre accidents that have sidelined athletes, from an overly aggressive sneeze to a casualty of Guitar Hero.
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Tempers are bound to flare during the NBA playoffs—especially when you’re playing the Miami Heat. But it’s generally not a good idea to cool off by going after a fire extinguisher. Yet that’s exactly what New York Knicks forward Amar’e Stoudemire did this week after his team lost a second-straight playoff game to LeBron James and company. In a post-game tirade in the Knicks’ locker room, Stoudemire punched through a glass case containing the extinguisher and severely cut himself. "Half of his hand was just hanging off,” a witness told ESPN. “It was really bad. Blood was just squirting out. That's why they had the paramedics come in, because they thought he might have punctured an artery because of how much blood was coming out." Stoudemire will likely miss the rest of the playoffs, and there will not be a rematch.
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Mayonnaise may not be the best condiment for an athlete’s health, but it’s hardly known to cause injuries. Yet last month, Miami Marlins pitcher Mark Buerhle nearly missed his first start after he sliced the thumb on his throwing hand while trying to open a jar of mayo a few hours before a game. “I came in to make a sandwich and they said ‘You know we have people who can make sandwiches for you,’’’ Buehrle told the Palm Beach Post. “[I said] ‘I’m a grown man, I can make my own sandwich.’ It was just a complete freak thing.” Buehrle went 6 innings, struck out 5, but got the loss.
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In 2008, New York Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress accidentally shot himself in the thigh with a gun he had taken into a Manhattan nightclub. He also shot his NFL career in the foot. "I had a drink in my left hand," Burress explained to Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel. "I'm just walking up the stairs. And, you know, it was dark. And I kind of, you know, missed a step. That's when I felt my gun ... started to slide. I went to grab it ... to stop it from falling. POW!" Burress was later convicted of a weapons possession charge and served nearly two years in prison. Upon his release last year, he got a another chance at football—Burress was signed by the New York Jets.
A torn rotator cuff or a damaged elbow is to be expected from a major-league pitcher, but a wrist injury from a video game? In 2006 the Detroit Tigers’ rookie reliever missed some of the playoffs after playing too much Guitar Hero. When Zumaya complained to trainers of soreness in his forearm, they noticed that his injury was “more consistent with guitar playing than pitching.” And he was known to love the Playstation 2 game. Zumaya agreed to swear off Guitar Hero for the rest of the post-season and came back for the World Series, which the Tigers lost. This year the 27-year-old Zumaya had more bad news: he was released by the Minnesota Twins and will miss the entire 2012 season due to an actual pitching injury.
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Baseball players are always adjusting themselves in public—and sometimes it may even be a steal sign. But in the 1990s, Seattle Mariners star Ken Griffey Jr. landed on the DL when his protective cup accidentally pinched his testicle. Years after that incident, Griffey’s teammate Adrian Beltre took a groundball to the groin and was sidelined with an even more painful injury. "When I look down, after the game, it wasn't a pretty sight,'' Beltre told the Boston Globe. "My testicle got the size of a grapefruit. Thank God it didn't really damage anything. It took me two weeks. It was a tear. A lot of blood inside, but it didn't damage anything. Everything is okay.'' Not that Junior was sympathetic. When Beltre returned to the lineup, Griffey asked the stadium PA to play The Nutcracker Suite as Beltre came to the plate for the first time.
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Excessive celebration on a football field can draw a penalty, but in 2001 it caused an actual injury. After Arizona Cardinals kicker Bill Gramática put a 43-yard field goal through the uprights against the Giants, the 23-year-old rookie jumped up and down on the field—and blew out his knee. Though Gramática remained in the game, he missed the rest of the season with a torn ACL.
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Given how much Sammy Sosa was accused of using steroids throughout his career, you think he might have learned to take the occasional antihistamine. In 2004 the Chicago Cubs slugger had to pull himself out of the lineup when he sprained several ligaments in his back—while sneezing. "It would have been better if I had hit off the wall or we have a fight or something, but this ... you know what I mean?" Sosa admitted. "What can you do? Some things in life you cannot control. This is strange that it happened."
There are lots of nightmare injuries in sports, but few come while a player is actually dreaming. In 1990 Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Glenallen Hill missed a game because he hurt himself while trying to escape imaginary spiders in his sleep. ''I have a phobia about spiders,'' Hill said of the experience, which put him on a 15-day DL. ''In the nightmare, I was trying to get away from spiders.'' Hill claimed that he bounced off a wall and climbed the stairs in his apartment. ''When I woke up I was on a couch and my wife, Mika, was screaming, ‘Honey, wake up!’” When he did, he had cuts on his toes and elbows, and carpet burns on his knees. The bizarre episode also earned Hill a new nickname from his teammates: “Spider-Man.”
During the 1974 NBA preseason, Milwaukee Bucks center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar went up for a rebound, took a finger in the eye from Don Nelson, and came down with a broken hand. That is, after he punched the post holding the backboard in frustration. Three years later, Kareem’s temper got the best of him again. After taking an elbow in the stomach from Kent Benson, who was playing in his very first NBA game, Abdul-Jabbar punched Benson in the face. He broke his hand again and missed two months of the season.
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No one doubts Jimmie Johnson’s skills on a NASCAR track, but when it comes to golf carts, he may want to take some lessons. In 2006, while playing at a charity golf event, Johnson broke his wrist when he was riding on the roof of a cart and fell. “I was in a golf cart and the driver took a sharp turn," Johnson said in a statement. "I wasn't holding on tight enough, landed awkwardly on the ground and heard a little pop. It was a fluke deal, but fortunately we're in the off season and I don't plan to miss any additional time.” Not only did Johnson win the Sprint Cup the next year, but he also had some fun with the accident years later, appearing in an ad for ESPN behind the wheel of a golf cart.
