5 Infamous Injuries Suffered In Celebration
(CBS) Lions linebacker Stephen Tulloch will miss the remainder of the season after suffering a torn ACL upon in celebrating a sack in his team's 19-7 win over the Packers on Sunday.
While it's terrible for anyone to suffer any injury and certainly one this drastic, Tulloch isn't the first to deal with insult and injury simultaneously because of overzealous celebration. Here's a look at five other notable instances of players getting hurt while getting a little wild about their exploits.
Ryan Dempster in 2009
On a local level, Cubs right-hander Dempster did himself no favors back in July 2009 when he caught his foot on the dugout railing and then slammed his foot into the young while hopping it to run onto the field to celebrate a win. The result? A broken right big toe. Dempster missed nearly a month, and the Cubs missed the playoffs by 4.5 games.
Lindsey Vonn in 2009
Talk about irony. In one of the more bizarre injuries of a career filled with many, downhill skier Vonn sliced upon her right thumb on a celebratory bottle of champagne after a victory in the World Championships. She needed surgery on a tendon because of it but kept skiing that season.
Kendry Morales in 2010
Like Tulloch's injury, this one draws more sympathy than laughs because it was season-ending. After hitting a walk-off homer, Angels slugger Morales capped off his trot with one final big jump into home plate, where upon landing he suffered a fracture in his lower left leg.
Gus Frerotte in 1997
This is certainly an all-timer. After a touchdown against the rival Giants, Redskins quarterback Frerotte head-butted a padded-albeit-still-hard wall with his head (helmet still on) and had to leave the game because he was woozy and later suffered from spasms. Just what you'd expect out of your leader, right?
Bill Gramatica in 2001
This is more or less the crown jewel of self-inflicted celebration injuries, so of course it came from a kicker. After nailing a 42-yard field goal early in a game -- again, just a 42-harder and not a game-winner of any sort -- the Cardinals' Gramatica jumped in joy and then descended to the ground, where he suffered a torn ACL, presumably on account of not being a great athlete.
At least Gramatica had a good sense of humor about it.
"My jump was excellent," he said. "It was my landing I needed to work on. It was funny. It was part of my career. I talk about it all the time. You have to laugh about it."
