Joe Theisman's broken leg

In My Humble Opinion
1

[humble apologies to Joe for broaching the topic]:

I must be about the only American currently living to have missed seeing the accidental annihilation of Joe Theisman’s leg in that Monday night football game lo these many years ago. [Was it Lawrence Taylor?]An extremely morbid urge prompted me to do some Internet archive-hunting for a photo or video footage [I KNOW this is ghoulish], and after a LOT of fruitless searching, I realized one thing: I had scores of hits for references to the incident. It’s a benchmark for awfulness, and not only with respect to sports injuries. Judging by the slice of national consciousness represented on the Web, it has achieved for many the status of a life-altering event. [Somewhere I found it on a list of the Top 100 Worst Male Moments in History, lost the link, sorry. It was pretty high up.] I was flabbergasted by the vivid impression this made on so many.

So, my question is, “Where were you when…you first saw the footage in question?” Has it altered your life in any way, if so, is it a guy thing or is that a sexist question, or both?

2

I saw it when it happened. I didn’t really notice his leg being bent in a way that it shouldn’t have. I do, however, remember seeing LT jumping up immediately, apparently having realized what he had done.

That is, I didn’t notice it the first time I saw it.

After the replayed it a couple of times, I thought to myself, “That doesn’t look good.”

3

I remember thinking, “Gee…too bad it wasn’t his jaw that got broken…”

4

As a Giants fan who was living in Northern Virginia at the time, I remember it vividly.

I was watching it in the living room TV at the house I shared with my family. Present was Dad, longtime Giants fan. I don’t know if anyone else was there watching the game specifically.

The play was a flea-flicker. Whenever someone does a trick play against us, I get nervous we are about to be highlight fodder and was concerned. Then LT, who was not fooled on the play, got to him and dove into him right as another player had him around the legs.

My first reaction was “A SACK! WOO!” Then, I saw that LT wasd frantically waving at the sidelines. He was gesturing for someone - ANYONE - to come out and help. He knew this was not good. The announcers initially took the tact of, what happened? Let’s check out the replay.

I don’t remember 100%, but I think they showed a view of the hit which was not as graphic and didn’t really show anythign other than the QB being taken down.

When they did show the definitive view, however, it was sickening.

As his leg was planted and stuck in place, LT swooped over him and took him down. His leg literally snapped in half. You know the socks that football players wear? In the replay, you saw the bone pushing through the sock like another knee-type joint was suddenly there.

They alternated between shots of Theisman writhing in pain and slamming the turf and the replay, which they apologized as they showed it - again and again. I think the way they handled this by repeatedly showing it, even with the disclaimer, is what helped influence sportscasters to NOT do that.

I remember feeling sick, knowing that Theisman’s career was over. However, I also remember thinking, “Now watch us lose this game,” and sure enough, a suddenly more tentative Giants defense allowed the back-up QB to lead the Redskins to a come-from-behind win.

They recently showed the footage on Monday Night Football as they made a list of the most horrific things seen in the show’s history. I shivered when I saw it.

Even though I have seen some fucked up things in sports along these lines - Bo Jackson’s injury comes to mind, the hockey goalie whose throat was opened up by an errant skate blade, and several pitchers whose arms snapped in half literally upon throwing a pitch (this happened only a week or so to a minor leaguer, in fact) - that stands out for me, probably because I saw it live and was emotionally involved with both LT and also Theisman being a big Giants fan and Redskins hater.

Yer pal,
Satan

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[sub]Thanks for the ringing endorsement, honey!*[/sub]

5

On the subject of bone breakage:

I was on the sidelines taking pictures when Bryant Young of the San Francisco 49ers got his leg broken when Ken Norton Jr. accidentally rammed into him a couple of years ago. At first, I didn’t realize how serious it was, but as Young stayed down on the ground longer and longer, my feeling turned from “Wow, hope he’s okay,” to “Jesus H. Christ, just what the heck happened?”

6

I remember seeing the play happen. I wasn’t a big football in those days, but I do remember seeing it and thinking it was the worst injury I’d ever seen in football.
Taylor’s reaction was particularly striking, since he an image for brutality, and seeing him appalled like that was very intense.

I also remember seeing Theisman on some TV talk show shortly before the snap. He was the cockiest, most arrogant athelete I’d ever seen, and that’s saying alot. I remember the interviewer asked him who the greatest quarterback in football was, and he sort of said, “oh, you mean present company excluded?”

So remember, folks, instant karma’s gonna get you, and sometimes it’s going to send LT to break your leg.

7

I saw it later that night. It was the lead story on the 11 o’clock news. Saw it 40 times in the week after. (it was on every show, it seemed)

8

I was watching the game. Pretty impressive. My favorite story about it may well not be true, but it makes me smile anyway. The way I heard it the Giants were all mumbling things like, “sorry, man.” And Theisman, ever the asshole, said, “I’ll be back.” LT responded, “Not tonight, you won’t.”

The worst scene i ever saw on t.v. was many many years ago on Wide World of Sports - a guy was trying for some world record lift, and when he got the bar over his head, his legs just kind of crumbled. As I recall it, his knees sort of blew out and his upper leg slipped down where his lower legs were. And of course they kept showing it over and over in slow motion. If it grosses out a little boy, it has to be pretty fucking gross!

9

When I saw the pitcher this week snap his arm, I immediately thought of Dave Dravecky, the SF Giants pitcher who snapped his arm in the middle of a pitch. He had some kind of bone cancer, had sat out a year or so, and was making his comeback.

Unfortunately, he had to hame his arm amputated. FWIW, He is a born-again Christian evangelist and is using his testimony as an outreach ministry.

10

Actually, this was Tony Saunders of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. He initially broke it last spring, before the 1999 season started and recently tried a comeback in the minor leagues before breaking it again. Incredible.

And, as far as the OP goes, I was watching the game in question when it happened. As a Giants and Redskins hater, I usually hope for a fatal lightning storm to strike the field during these games (especially if one of those teams are playing Dallas, but I digress), but even I was aghast at Theisman’s injury. I gained immediate respect for LT’s class act after he realised the brutality of his sack.

I’ve seen this clip so many times it’s running on loop in my head right now. shivers

11

The goalie who had the artery in his neck cliced open was Clint Malarchuk of the Buffalo Sabres. They were playing the St. Louis Blues when one of the players went down right in front of Malarchuk causing the near fatal wound. It was horrific to watch as blood was coming out at a nearly Monty Python-esque rate. And then it started coming out in spurts…with each beat of his heart. The trainer saved this guys life, but the ice was absolutely red all around the goal crease. And several people at the game had to be treated becuase it made them ill to see that. This was about 10 years ago. If you notice most goalies these days wear some sort of neck protection. IMO that easily eclipsed Joe Theisman’s injury as the most gruesome I have ever seen in sports.

12

I saw Joe break his leg live, and in itself it was memorable, but I don’t remember where I was or who I was with.

I think the baseball player who broke his ankle sliding into home might be just as bad, although i don’t think I saw that one live.

I’m also trying to remember if I saw the collapse of umpire John Sherry live. That was pretty awful.

13

As a long time Giants fan, I remember the game well.

It was a Monday Night game. In those days, the Giants and Redskins were the strongest teams in the NFC East, and they were both built in the same image: both were built around massive offensive and defensive lines, and the power running game.

I had NEVER liked Theismann as a pro (being an Irish Catholic kid, naturally I rooted for him at Notre Dame). But no matter how much I disliked him, I was as heartsick as everyone else watching. I think the meory of moments like that is the reason that, while fans are always griping about “overpaid” baseball and basketball players, you almost never hear anyone begrudging a football player his paycheck. We all know that what happened to Theismann could happen to any player, and so we don’t envy them!

Footnote: Theismann was less than a faithful family man. In fact, the night of this incident, Theismann was lying sedated in the hospital. And Theismann’s wife told a group of newsmen, “This is the first time since we got married that I know where Joe is spending the night.”

As it happened, Theismann checked out of the hospital NOT with his wife, but with blonde actress Cathy Lee “Wonder Woman” Crosby.

14

I remember a Cincinatti Bengal had a pretty nasty break in a game a while ago(Thinking the last name started with a K). I’m also thinking it may have even been a superbowl, but was probably at least a playoff game. He dove for the tackle, and grabbed the guy, but his leg got trapped behind him and snapped. His momentum caused him to roll a few times, and the leg kind of flapped around. I only saw the really gruesome footage once, then they switched showing a view where you could see what happened, but not in as much detail. I think he came back though.

15

Yeah, I remember that one, too. His name was Tim Krumrie, and the Bengals were playing the 49ers in a Super Bowl. I don’t remember the number, but it was the second of the two SB meetings between those two teams. IIRC, this game is remembered fondly by Niner fans for a dramatic game-winning drive led by Joe Montana.

I think Krumrie did ultimately recover, and played again. He’s now the Bengals’ defensive line coach, if memory serves.

The one that rattled me most wasn’t quite a bone break, strictly speaking, but it was bad enough. Napoleon McCallum of the Raiders (I think they were the LA Raiders at the time) had his knee pretty gruesomely dislocated in a MNF game against the 49ers. He went down in a pile, with Ken Norton, Jr. hanging on to him low, and his knee bent about 90 degrees forward (the wrong way!). Apparently, an artery was severed in the process and he needed emergency surgery that night to save the leg. It ended McCallum’s NFL career, but I saw him interviewed recently, and he seems to be more or less fine now.

16

Jason Kendall of the Pittsburgh Pirates broke his ankle last year (right before he was supposed to play in the All-Star game, no less) and I’ve been told it rivals Theismann’s for gruesomeness. They had to have a disclaimer on TV before they showed replays, it was so disgusting.

Montfort mentioned Tony Saunders. It’s really a shame about him. Tom Browning and John Smiley (along with Dravecky) suffered a similar fate a while back. None ever made a successful comeback, IIRC, which convinces me further that you have to be out of your mind to be a pitcher.

17

If you want to be a pitcher, be a knuckleballer, then you can pitch until you’re 50 or something.