Aaron Gordon’s dog bite joins bizarre sports injuries list،
Sports is a tough activity, where players put their bodies on the line every time they suit up. Injuries are inevitable just from participating in the game. But sometimes players have to miss time for the most peculiar reasons.
That's what Denver Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon is currently experiencing, as he required 21 stitches after suffering lacerations to his face and right hand while being bitten by a family dog at Christmas. Gordon's absence should be short, but it's still a scary experience for everyone, and it's good that he's on the mend.
Gordon now joins a weird club: athletes who have been injured in extremely strange ways. From off-field accidents to celebrations gone wrong, here's a list of the weirdest ways players have missed the clock over the past 20 years.
GRAMATICAL BILL
While playing for the Arizona Cardinals in 2001, Bill Gramatica made a routine field goal to give his team a 3-0 lead in the first quarter of a mid-December game against the Arizona Giants. New York. The place kicker stood up in celebration, landed awkwardly and tore his ACL. “I can't tell you right now what I'm going to do,” Gramatica said of his celebrations a few months later, “but I know it's not going to blow up everywhere.”
CHRIS HANSON
Looking to energize his team, Jacksonville Jaguars coach Jack del Rio brought an ax and an oak stump into the locker room to remind the team to “keep chopping wood.” Jaguars punter Chris Hanson accidentally cut himself while swinging the ax, and as a result he missed the remainder of the 2003 season.
SAMMY SOSA
Sammy Sosa hit 35 home runs for the Chicago Cubs in 2004, but the moment many people remember from that season was when he strained his back from sneezing.
CLINT BARMES
Clint Barmes was hitting .329 during a stellar 2005 campaign for the Colorado Rockies when the unthinkable happened: He fell and broke his collarbone while carrying a package of deer meat he had given his teammate Todd Helton. Barmes would miss three months and finish the season hitting .289.
MIKHAIL YOUJNY
At the 2008 Miami Masters tennis tournament, Mikhail Youzhny scored a return into the net against Nicolas Almagro. Youzhny responded by smashing his forehead with his racket three times, drawing blood. The really strange thing? Youzhny ended up winning the match.
BRANDON INGE
In 2008, Detroit Tigers catcher Brandon Inge was adjusting a pillow behind his 3-year-old son's head when he pulled an oblique muscle and ended up on the 15-day injured list.
KENDRYS MORALES
Kendrys Morales hit a grand slam against the Seattle Mariners in May 2010. When he reached home plate, he jumped among his Los Angeles Angels teammates to celebrate…and broke his left leg when he landed. Morales would miss the rest of the season.
DUSTIN PENNER
The pancakes that former Los Angeles Kings forward Dustin Penner's wife makes must be delicious, because he suffered back spasms eating them in 2012. Luckily, he only missed one game.
ANTONIO BROWN
Then, with the Oakland Raiders, wide receiver Antonio Brown used improper foot protection at a French cryotherapy clinic in 2019 — and developed severe frostbite. In July.
Summer frostbite isn't an unprecedented reason for a player to miss time – that's what happened to Rickey Henderson once, after falling asleep on an ice pack – but it's certainly not something we expect.
ZACH PLESAC
Cleveland Indians pitcher Zach Plesac has been placed on injured reserve with a non-displaced fracture in his right thumb – a relatively normal thing for a pitcher to suffer in the course of his job. The fact is, according to Indians manager Terry Francona, Plesac didn't get hurt fielding a comebacker or throwing too hard; he fractured his thumb while “ripping off his shirt in a rather aggressive manner.” We've all been there.
DAVID NJOKU
Cleveland Browns tight end David Njoku had a pretty solid 2023 season, but it was nearly derailed by burns he suffered on his face and arm while trying to light a fireplace before the September game against the Baltimore Ravens. Njoku recovered in time for the match, however, and seemed in good spirits about the whole thing, tweeting “the flesh is weak” the day before the match and wear a full face mask upon arrival at the stadium.
