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Personal sports injuries?

MGLICKERMGLICKER Posts: 7,995 ✭✭✭
What are your stories?

Ended up in the ER from a Jr. High flag football game a long time ago. Sprained knee or something. On crutches for a few days.

Lots of other little stuff, but nothing major.

Comments

  • sparky64sparky64 Posts: 7,036 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Mine are baseball vs. teeth related. Twice. image

    "If I say something in the woods and my wife isn't there to hear it.....am I still wrong?"

    My Washington Quarter Registry set...in progress

  • SanctionIISanctionII Posts: 12,119 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Many bumps, bruises, cuts, sprains, broken bones, broken teeth etc. were sustained by me over the years that I played sports, both competitively and recreationally.

    Nothing noteworthy.

    However, I do have a story about an injury I caused to another, during a game of sandlot baseball played one summer back in 1969. And another about my own baseball injury.

    It was between my 7th and 8th grade year. A bunch of kids got together at the local middle school and played baseball. In my neighborhood was a state run home for orphaned/abandoned boys. Many of the boys in this state run home (a large group of buildings in a campus like setting that dated back to the early 1900's) were hard nosed and very tough. Many of them hung out together in what could be called gangs. Many of the kids were Latino and there was a pecking order among these kids. The Alpha Males were at the top of the social structure. They were the boys the others looked up to and after. Many of the followers of the Alpha Males were very loyal.

    The neighborhood kids who lived with their parents and siblings were very wary of the state home kids and did not do anything to offend them. The state home kids would pick upon and beat up some of the neighborhood kids that they viewed as timid and weak.

    Well during the baseball game the team I was on played against a team comprised of the kids from the state home. The leader of this group of kids was a tall, slim, muscular Latino boy who was an Alpha Male. Kids at school knew not to offend him because he would pick fights (and would have lots of back up). In our baseball game he was the pitcher for his team.

    So I was at bat and the Alpha Male was pitching. He and I had not had any prior confrontations, but he viewed me as someone that could be picked on. I of course stayed away from him and his friends to avoid circumstances that could get me beat up.

    So during my time at bat the Alpha Male threw pitches my way. One such pitch I swung at and hit solidly.

    The ball leaped from my bat in a line drive. The line drive resulted in the baseball heading straight to the Alpha Male pitcher. BAMMMMM!!!!

    The baseball hit the pitcher square in the left eye, right in the center of the eye and the eye orbit. The pitcher screamed, reflexively pulled both hands up to cover his face and dropped to the ground like a rock. He rolled around on the ground, screaming in pain. I was shocked, yet I ran to first base. No one tried to field the ball and throw me out. Boys on both teams stopped and converged on the fallen pitcher. I went over from first base to see. He eventually sat up and pulled his hands down from his face. His left eye was completely shut. The eyelid, and surrounding portion of his face, under the skin (which luckily did not rupture or tear) were a deep, deep purple, scarlet and black from the internal bleeding stemming from countless ruptured blood vessels. Swelling was also taking place that cause the injury area to morph into something surreal.

    I was scared out of my mind. I was worried that the pitcher was seriously and permanently injured (maybe losing sight in his eye or losing his eye completely). I was also scared that he and/or his friends would get enraged at me and beat me to a pulp (everyone was so shocked that this thought did not cross anyone's mind but me that day). I was also scared that days or weeks after the line drive dropped the pitcher that he and his friends would track me down and beat me to a pulp (this also did not happen but I had nightmares that it would).

    The pitcher left the game and sought medical treatment. I did not see him for a number of days. When I finally did see him his eye was covered with a large white bandage. As he healed from his injury eventually the bandage came off and he started to wear a pair of cool, large sunglasses (might as well look like Joe Cool while your bruising heals). He eventually would take off his sunglasses to let people look at his face and left eye. The swelling and bruising were hideous (particularly the eyeball itself, whose blood vessels had ruptured and turned all parts of the eyeball a blood red color). Eventually the swelling and bruising faded and his face returned to normal. He and I talked a little. I said I was sorry about hitting the baseball that struck him and injured him. Luckily for him the injury caused no lasting damage to his eye or eyesight. I think that he eventually viewed his injury; the shocking appearance of his eye and face; and his recovery from the injury as something of a "Badge" of honor that spoke to how tough he was. I also realize how much this incident must have hurt this young boy both physically and emotionally (particularly since he had no mom and dad from whom he could seek comfort, assurance, love and care).

    I had tried out for the middle school baseball team in 7th grade and did not make the cut. I suffered a bad injury to my right index finger when a baseball I was fielding at 1st base for a double play hit the dirt in front of me and skidded into the tip of my index finger instead of bouncing up into my glove. The fingernail was torn off, blood was everywhere, my index finger swelled to the thickness of a big cucumber and all joints in the finger down to the knuckle were jammed so hard by the impact that I could not bend my finger for months. To this day my right index finger is thicker that my left index finger due to this injury.

    These two incidents in middle school resulted in injury to me and to the Alpha Male pitcher. They caused me to lose interest in playing the sport (ended up playing recreational softball instead).

    I eventually turned to basketball, playing in high school and college. Many hoops injuries were suffered by me and observed by me in others, but none were remotely close to the severity of the injury my line drive inflicted on the Alpha Male pitcher that day long ago in the summer of 1969.



  • sparky64sparky64 Posts: 7,036 ✭✭✭✭✭
    ^^^^^
    Those are great stories and you tell them well. So vivid.
    Thanks.

    "If I say something in the woods and my wife isn't there to hear it.....am I still wrong?"

    My Washington Quarter Registry set...in progress

  • MGLICKERMGLICKER Posts: 7,995 ✭✭✭


    << <i>^^^^^
    Those are great stories and you tell them well. So vivid.
    Thanks. >>



    Great detail and glad that the kid was ok.
  • TabeTabe Posts: 6,064 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Here's mine:

    I singled during a co-ed slowpitch softball game, rounded first. The defense threw the ball around a bit and I took off for second. About 2/3 of the way there, the other team's second baseman stood directly in the baseline, right in my path. She was like 5'4", maybe 110 lbs - a LOT smaller than me. Co-ed rules say you can't plow people over so I jumped around her to avoid the collision. When I did so, I landed facing the third base line - perpendicular to the direction all of my momentum was going. My knee buckled and I dropped like a rock. I had torn my ACL, torn my meniscus, and sustained four different bone bruises. As you might imagine, the pain was pretty awful. I went and got checked out and the quack I saw told me I had a "partial" tear in my ACL and that it would heal on its own. A year later, I was still having discomfort and my knee went "out" on me for probably the 20th time. I got it checked by another doctor, he told me I had a fully torn ACL - and that it was fully torn originally and that he "can't fathom how [the original doctor] could have called it a partial tear". I had surgery a month later, took seemingly forever to heal, tore the meniscus in my other knee during the recovery (unquestionably the most excruciating pain I've ever experienced in my life - nothing else comes even close), and eventually recovered. Took probably 2-1/2 years after the surgery to feel normal again. I still get occasional discomfort in both knees.

    And, might not be chivalrous to say, but if I were in that situation again, I'd flatten the second baseman. Not running her over was not worth the 3-1/2 years of misery and thousands of dollars in expense.
  • MGLICKERMGLICKER Posts: 7,995 ✭✭✭


    << <i>And, might not be chivalrous to say, but if I were in that situation again, I'd flatten the second baseman. >>



    Probably a good reason to stay out of co-ed games.

    Just reminded me or a co-ed volley ball game that we played 20 years ago.

    Came down from an attempted spike (legal) and landed face down with my elbow smashed into my rib cage. Intense pain for 24 hours and could barely move for about 4 days. Figured the docs couldn't do anything so I stayed away an recovered.

    Last time that I played.
  • perkdogperkdog Posts: 30,658 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I played beer league softball for 21 years, pretty much all in the outfield never had any injuries until my last season in the playoffs.

    I hit a towering HR and when I came out of the batters box..( I did my Manny Ramirez style out of the box then a light run ) well I thought my bat swung around and hit me in the calf cause I had a quick intense pain in the muscle and went down to one knee and it was a calf strain, NASTY NASTY, the thing hurt for a month. Funny thing it was the second game of a best of seven series for the Championship so I sat out the next game which we won for a 3-0 lead, I decided to play in game four which we WON but I hit 5 of the EXACT same ground outs to the SS I could not hit with my calf hurting but we won and I retired. image
  • jeffcbayjeffcbay Posts: 8,949 ✭✭✭✭
    I also play summer and fall beer league softball (17 years and counting). I've always played first base, so my chances of getting hurt are pretty slim. By far the worst thing that's happened to me while playing happened in October 2012. I was standing in the on-deck circle when the guy at the plate tried to crush a ball but ended up missing it entirely, however during his swing he lost the grip of his back and it flew back and smacked me directly in the mouth. I had zero time to react. The spinning bat's barrel connected with the front of my teeth. Broke my front three top teeth, fractured my maxilla (face) bone, and had a nasty cut on the inside of my bottom lip. I turned around and went down on one knee with my hand over my mouth. Once I realized my teeth were in a different part of my mouth I instantly stood up and mumbled "ER" to one of my buddies. He drove me there where they did all they could with it being after 10pm. The next morning I went to the dentist where they managed to save one tooth but had to yank what remained of the other two teeth. The crazy part was, I was so beside myself about possibly missing the rest of the season, and maybe never coming back to the game entirely, that I decided to play the very next week (against my wife's best wishes) and ended up going 7 for 8 with 6 runs scored including a 3-run homer! It's amazing what a little focus and determination does for someone.

    This is what it looked like on the night it happened (before they yanked the busted teeth). Good times! image

    image
  • Broke my thumb senior high school. Played the season with tape in 1983. It made me us my other hand and became a better point guard. After season figured out I broke it. Mom and dad not big on spending money on doctors back then. My thumb locks at times now. I look at and smile. Reminds me I can get thru hard times.

    Played in game 1983 high school with glass in ball of my foot. Brother popped blister and found the glass. Still have no clue why I never felt it.

    Pick up basketball game looked down and watched point of my shoe bend back and role my ankle. Ligament damage. Crutches for 6 weeks.

    I will stop at three. My body is starting to ache with the reminders.
  • MGLICKERMGLICKER Posts: 7,995 ✭✭✭
    I recall a fellow that was in a basketball league in my early twenties.

    He mangled his leg at basketball. When we moved on to Spring softball, his wife forbid him to play as he was injury prone.

    No problem fielding the incoming BP balls he figured. One smashed into his nose and broke it.

    He had some splaining to do.
  • alnavmanalnavman Posts: 4,129 ✭✭✭
    broke my thumb playing baseball, got hit by pitch, right thumb and its still crooked. broke arm playing football, threw a pass and instead of tackling me, my arm got tackled, was in a cast on my arm for several months, almost had to have bone grafts, that was how bad I broke my arm. And the arm is still crooked also, can't wait for the day soon when arthritis starts affecting both. The football game was also the last of our annual thanksgiving day games, too many of us got hurt that last year.


    my son played freshman football with not injuries and then got a concussion playing basketball his freshman year....we were all worried about the football but basketball did him in. He also had the assorted sprained ankles during his four years.
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