Don't Mess With Hurricanes

Read an interesting CNN piece today about how hurricane waves can cause damage to innocent ocean swimmers that most people probably don't realize.

Aside from the known damage that hurricanes can cause to property and human life, Dr. Roy Cragway Jr. a physician with Atlantic General Hospital in Berlin, Maryland says that hurricane waves can cause a variety of less obvious damage.

Hurricane Danielle never reached the US, but swimmers still acquired cervical and shoulder damage. Additionally, hurricane waves can be so forceful that they can rupture eardrums. Usually ear damage is slight, bur Dr. Cragway says surgery is sometimes required.

Of course, Cragway also mentions that you can break your neck diving into water and a handful of other freak injuries that can happen any day at the beach. Nevertheless, hurricanes are obviously not worth messing with.

The Danger Of Plane Beverage Carts

Jerome Boateng, 22, a new signing for Manchester City, will be out several weeks after aggravating a previously existing knee injury when an airplane beverage cart smashed into him.

Boateng originally tore a tendon in his knee during an actual soccer game in early August, but he was recovering fine until his latest mishap.

"I imagined my start at City to be quite different, of course," Boateng says.

The demon beverage cart has delayed Boateng's return at least a month.

I'm terrified of flying because I'm scared of heights. Never accounted for the dangers of the plane's soda armories.

Loop, Swoop And Pull vs. Bunny Ears

I've always found freak injuries to be funny, but they're even better when they happen to guys who are paid to keep their bodies in superhuman shape like professional athletes. Sure, we all hurt ourselves doing something stupid from time to time. That's life. But when a professional baseball player hurts himself trying to tie his shoes, a difficult activity for a third grader, sure, but not an athlete, I lose it.

Sure enough, pitcher Ricky Nolasco of the Florida Marlins was bent over tying his shoes last week when he felt a sharp pain in his knee, an injury that turned out to be a torn meniscus.

"Obviously, it's the toughest thing I've ever dealt with on the baseball field," said Nolasco, who has won 13 or more games in each of the past three seasons. "Nobody understands what it's like until they actually deal with it. There's not much I can do now."

The injury was originally considered to be a possible season-ender, but Nolasco has made incredible strides in just nine days and may make his next start. I guess that's where the professional athlete advantage comes in. If you or I tore our meniscus tying our shoes, it would take way more than nine days to heal.

But still, come'on Ricky, loop, swoop and pull, it's not that hard! You're on my fantasy team, I need you!

Pogo Stick Back Flips = Certain Fall

Saw this on Tosh.0 the other day and had to pass it along. This guy somehow does eight or nine back flips on a pogo stick down his street before (spoiler alert!) taking an epic fall. He got right up and seems OK, but since the fall was epic and the feat was unbelievable on its own I think we can include it on Wile E.

Injury Oopsie!

We can only assume that Tim MacMahon of ESPN Dallas was trying to explain that rookie Cowboys receiver Dez Bryant was able to make sharp cuts while running at practice today, but MacMahon's actual story could have used a quick read-through. The actual text says that "Bryant ran and cut off his right foot for the first time since suffering the injury during a July 30 practice."

Chris Liss of Rotowire caught the error this morning, but it has yet to be corrected on ESPN's site.

Bryant is attempting to recover from a high-ankle sprain that has plagued him for much of training camp. He won't play in Sunday's game against the Houston Texans, but a return to action isn't far off since Bryant's foot is indeed still attached to his body.

Stingray Tail Impales 10-Year-Old

Touch tank aquariums around the globe may have to reconsider their stance on allowing human contact with stingrays. Quentin Tokar, 10, joins The Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin, on the list of people who have recently been seriously injured by the velvety sea creatures.

Tokar was on vacation in the Outer Banks with his family last week when a nearby fisherman caught a stingray. He tried to pull the animal's long, pointy tail off (I assume because it's inedible?) but the dagger went flying. It came to a stop, impaled in Tokar's chest, and hitting his liver.

Tokar estimates that the tail flew eight to ten feet through the air before nestling in his body. The five inch barb was almost entirely absorbed by his body.

"I don't really have words for what it felt like. I just pretty much started screaming, 'Get it outta me,'" he said.

Tokar was rushed to Johns Hopkins Children’s Center where the tail was removed. He is expected to make a full recovery.

Apparently a nurse happened to be on site at the pier and prevented Tokar from almost certain death. Irwin pulled the tail out of his body following his stingray encounter and quickly died from blood loss. Bystanders wanted to do the same for Tokar and while that would seem like a normal reaction, it is exactly the opposite of what you should do. The nurse ensured that Tokar didn't suffer Irwin's fate.

So if you ever get impaled by a stingray tail, don't pull it out. Seek professional help.

Chipper Is Out...Again

If I listed Mark Prior, Ken Griffey Jr., Jake Peavy, Carl Pavano, Chipper Jones and Kerry Wood together, I’ll bet the first thing that comes to your mind is that these guys are among the most injury prone baseball players in the world.

Some guys are just cursed. No matter how hard they train, how healthy they eat, and how careful they are, they get hurt year after year. Chipper could be the captain of the Al-Injury Prone team, and sure enough, he’s out for the season after tearing his ACL in Tuesday night’s game.

Jones also tore his ACL during his rookie season, and has missed 25 games or more in six of the last seven seasons, about to be seven of eight, excluding last year.

Obviously, he's very, very disappointed. I would almost describe it as numb," agent BB Abbott told the AP. "He knows this will be a big blow to the team. Obviously, he has been going very well recently and felt like he was really contributing to the team's success. This is real disappointing for him."

Hard to believe that Jones is that shocked by his most recent injury. At this point shouldn't he just expect it?